Guest guest Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 We live in the country - our back yard butts up against 36 acres of woods - so we have to keep the bugs out of our house. We just became vegetarians a little over a year ago. When we moved here three years ago we were seeing at least five roaches a day in the house, along with various spiders, so we called the exterminator. He comes every three months and sprays along the baseboards and outside the house. Today he came again and I've been trying to weigh the sides - toxic chemicals - bad, bad, bad - versus bugs in my house - bad, bad, bad. Since he has come, we have no bugs in the house except for the occassional lady bug, which I don't mind. For those errant spiders, we have a vacuum tube that we catch them in and then take them outside. But, now, being concious about what we eat, what we buy, and how we affect the environment, I'm thinking we don't want the toxic chemicals anymore, but I really don't want roaches in my house. How do you guys keep the bugs out of your houses? Is there a safe barrier to put around the walls to deter the bugs? I tried that mint tea trick to get rid of ants by my shed, but it didn't work. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks! Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Mix some garlic powder and water in a spray bottle and spray around doors, windows, and wherever else they can get in. Bugs hate the smell of garlic. Added bonus- your house smells like garlic!! Roaches hate bay leaves, so put those around. I refuse to actually kill bugs, so I've used these things and they have worked for us. Of course we don't live in the country... something to try anyway. Laura <redmountaindragon wrote: We live in the country - our back yard butts up against 36 acres of woods - so we have to keep the bugs out of our house. We just became vegetarians a little over a year ago. When we moved here three years ago we were seeing at least five roaches a day in the house, along with various spiders, so we called the exterminator. He comes every three months and sprays along the baseboards and outside the house. Today he came again and I've been trying to weigh the sides - toxic chemicals - bad, bad, bad - versus bugs in my house - bad, bad, bad. Since he has come, we have no bugs in the house except for the occassional lady bug, which I don't mind. For those errant spiders, we have a vacuum tube that we catch them in and then take them outside. But, now, being concious about what we eat, what we buy, and how we affect the environment, I'm thinking we don't want the toxic chemicals anymore, but I really don't want roaches in my house. How do you guys keep the bugs out of your houses? Is there a safe barrier to put around the walls to deter the bugs? I tried that mint tea trick to get rid of ants by my shed, but it didn't work. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks! Laura Kadee Sedtal Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life. Check out my new Classical 2 at http://launch.classical2/ Access over 1 million songs - Music Unlimited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 We use crushed catnip in muslin teabags. We place them around the house and have had great success in repeling the roaches. I have read a Germany company is making a kill product with this as an ingredient but that it is refined and much more potent than the leaves themeselves. We leave non poisonous spiders in the house as they eat the other bugs. Here is one link. You can find more if you google catnip and roaches. http://www.aquarianconceptscommunity.org/pdc_9907.html Thursday, August 26, 1999 Iowa State University scientists say catnip repels roaches. In fact, one form of the chemical in catnip repels cockroaches 100 times better than DEET, the basis for commercial bug repellents. Chris Peterson and Joel Coats said they began studying catnip a few years ago when a summer intern told them it was resistant to insects. Peterson also has found roach-repellant compounds in an inedible softball-sized fruit called the osage orange or hedgeapple. The discovery could lead to new nontoxic methods for curbing the tenacious insects. Roaches have sense organs on their antennae, feet and mouths. The " feelers " seem to be the spot affected by both catnip and osage oranges, the researchers said. HTH, Robin , " Laura " <redmountaindragon wrote: > > We live in the country - our back yard butts up against 36 acres of woods - so we have to > keep the bugs out of our house. We just became vegetarians a little over a year ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 I returned to post a clarification on the info I gave. But is glitching again - my post hasn't arrived yet. So, I will summarize: We use catnip in muslin teabags placed around the house. It has worked great for repeling roaches. We live in FL -lots of humidity. We buy dried catnip and crush some of it before placing in the bag. Every so often, we crush the bags again. When we start seeing roaches, we replace the catnip. The ingredient in catnip is supposed to be 100 X stronger than DEET and a German manufactureer is looking into making a kill product from the extracts. You can put the words catnip and roaches in a search engine for more info. Of course, we clean, throw out any paper or glued products we don't need, and make sure everything is dry. Even so, this isn't enough as our neighbors like to make piles of junk in their yard and when they carry them away - here come the bugs! They do this routinely so we have to be vigilant with the catnip on our side of the fence. Also, we don't bother our spiders as long as they are non-poisonous. They control the other bugs in the house. HTH , " Laura " <redmountaindragon wrote: > > We live in the country - our back yard butts up against 36 acres of woods - so we have to > keep the bugs out of our house. We just became vegetarians a little over a year ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 Hi Laura! We live in the woods, too, so I can relate. We had a big black ant problem. I used Orange Guard. It will kill insects if you spray it on them, but we don't kill bugs, so I just used it as a repellent. Ants are easy...they usually come in at one place and leave a line for others to follow, in this case to the garbage can in the kitchen. So it's easy to stop them. The Orange Guard worked great...I was very tired of throwing out about 20 ants a day! It was actually kind of comical. Water with orange peel juice might work the same as the Orange Guard. We've never had roaches but the Orange Guard ad said it's effective for them...don't know. http://www.ecosafetyproducts.com/Orange-Guard-Natural-Insect-Killer-p/es-o-103-0\ 32.htm No advice on spiders. I leave the little ones alone to do their thing (catch other bugs) and capture and release the big gnarly ones. OK, sometimes I make my husband do it. You know from living in the woods that there are some BIG spiders out there!!! We call it spider wrangling! Lisa Northern VA/DC/Maryland Veg*n Playgroup vegetarianchildren/ Want to start your own business? Learn how on Small Business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Hi Laura, Sorry for the late response... If you have companion animals (like me)- you might find this technique a helpful ant deterrent: place your dog/cat's food dish in another slightly larger bowl/dish filled with water. This creates a " moat " around the food that ants can't cross. I've lived in places with big ant problems, and they always go away after I construct the moats. no accessible food=no ants. as for spiders, the best approach might be acceptance. they help keep the other insects in check. so as long as they are off in a relatively unused corner of your house, you might just let them be (or even thank them for their service!). whenever I find spiders in less desirable locations (like near my bed or in the shower), i scoop them up in a plastic container and release them outside. oh yes, and i have heard that growing marigolds keeps flies away in summer. mine died rather quickly (the flowers), so i didn't have a good opportunity to test this. as for cockroaches, i would love advice! I know that keeping a clean house is probably the best deterrent, but some days I just don't feel like doing dishes. Am I doomed to accepting these little creatures as my roomates because I'm not as OCD as I wanna be? veganly, Maria earthmother <earthmother213 wrote: i don't have a lot of advice, but i do know that roaches, and many other bugs, are attracted by water, so it pays to make sure that all the water seals in your house are tight. less waste, too. On 12/5/06, Laura <redmountaindragon wrote: > > We live in the country - our back yard butts up against 36 acres of woods > - so we have to > keep the bugs out of our house. We just became vegetarians a little over a > year ago. When we > moved here three years ago we were seeing at least five roaches a day in > the house, along > with various spiders, so we called the exterminator. He comes every three > months and sprays > along the baseboards and outside the house. Today he came again and I've > been trying to > weigh the sides - toxic chemicals - bad, bad, bad - versus bugs in my > house - bad, bad, > bad. Since he has come, we have no bugs in the house except for the > occassional lady bug, > which I don't mind. For those errant spiders, we have a vacuum tube that > we catch them in > and then take them outside. > > But, now, being concious about what we eat, what we buy, and how we affect > the > environment, I'm thinking we don't want the toxic chemicals anymore, but I > really don't want > roaches in my house. > > How do you guys keep the bugs out of your houses? Is there a safe barrier > to put around the > walls to deter the bugs? I tried that mint tea trick to get rid of ants by > my shed, but it didn't > work. Any suggestions would be welcome! > > Thanks! > Laura > > > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at > http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to > http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to > provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a > qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health > professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Oh... bay leaves! cool. i think i'll make some little bay wreaths! sorry i was reading these backwards. thanks for the advice, Kadee! Kadee M <abbey_road3012 wrote: Mix some garlic powder and water in a spray bottle and spray around doors, windows, and wherever else they can get in. Bugs hate the smell of garlic. Added bonus- your house smells like garlic!! Roaches hate bay leaves, so put those around. I refuse to actually kill bugs, so I've used these things and they have worked for us. Of course we don't live in the country... something to try anyway. Laura <redmountaindragon wrote: We live in the country - our back yard butts up against 36 acres of woods - so we have to keep the bugs out of our house. We just became vegetarians a little over a year ago. When we moved here three years ago we were seeing at least five roaches a day in the house, along with various spiders, so we called the exterminator. He comes every three months and sprays along the baseboards and outside the house. Today he came again and I've been trying to weigh the sides - toxic chemicals - bad, bad, bad - versus bugs in my house - bad, bad, bad. Since he has come, we have no bugs in the house except for the occassional lady bug, which I don't mind. For those errant spiders, we have a vacuum tube that we catch them in and then take them outside. But, now, being concious about what we eat, what we buy, and how we affect the environment, I'm thinking we don't want the toxic chemicals anymore, but I really don't want roaches in my house. How do you guys keep the bugs out of your houses? Is there a safe barrier to put around the walls to deter the bugs? I tried that mint tea trick to get rid of ants by my shed, but it didn't work. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks! Laura Kadee Sedtal Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life. Check out my new Classical 2 at http://launch.classical2/ Access over 1 million songs - Music Unlimited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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