Organic Pest Control: Taming Ants, Fleas, Flies, Moths and Mosquitoes the Organic Way

It's a fact of life, unless you live in Antarctica, that pests will make themselves at home in your house or apartment.

There are a variety of insect pests you need to think of and no two are alike. Rather than spraying toxic chemicals into your home environment, consider using organic, non-toxic pest control. It's safe for your home's human occupants and for your pets as well. Pests will show up in the air, your carpeting, your kitchen counter and other places you'd rather not find them.

Let's take a look specifically at ant control for your home or recreational areas outside. Remember that organic pest control varies somewhat with the pest you're dealing with and that just like with inorganic chemical pest control, you don't always use the same thing for ants as you do for fleas. Here's a look at your organic options for ant infestation in your home.

For the organic treatment of ants, a common summertime pest, you need to make sure your countertops are free of crumbs and anything sticky or sweet. Cover your food well and keep your honey wrapped in a plastic baggy. Leave water sources off during the night and don't leave dirty dishes lying around. The same holds true for your deck or patio. Clean all food up after an outdoor meal and teach your children not to throw food into the yard, like watermelon pieces or other sweet foods.

Your organic pest control continues with a small spray bottle filled with soapy water that you can spray on the little beasts. Put cucumber peels or slices in your kitchen, especially where the ants come in. You can also put tea bags with mint tea in them or cloves around the places where the ants are very active. See if you can trace the column of ants back to their entry point and set out a line of cayenne pepper, citrus oil, lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds.

Ants won't cross those lines.

For serious organic pest control against ants, mix a small amount of honey with an equivalent amount of Borax and aspartame. Put about a teaspoon and a half of the mixture in a bottle and set the bottle (without a lid) on its side where ants are active. This acts as a kind of toxic bait that the ants bring back to their colony. Keep small animals and children away from this toxic bait.

Another organic pest control trick is to leave a low-wattage light bulb or nightlight around where the ants are.

It disrupts their day and night pattern and can confuse their patterns of food hunting.

If ants are on your deck outside, use your organic pest control skills and put a few cloves of garlic, previously cut into pieces, between the cracks of the deck slats. Ants don't like garlic and will steer clear of the strong odor.

You can use some of the same indoor tricks outdoors, especially those involving the use of cayenne pepper, citrus oil, lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds. You can't use the trick using the toxic bait outdoors as some small animals can get into it.

There's no reason to resort to harsh and dangerous chemicals, indoors or out, when perfectly acceptable organic pest control for ants will keep your home ant-free in a much safer way. As long as you keep your kitchen and the rest of your home clean and follow the above methods to discourage or kill ants, your summertime experience will be more enjoyable and healthier for you and your family.

"You know what's probably a good thing to hang on your porch in the summertime, to keep mosquitoes away from you and your guests Just a big bag of blood." - Jack Handy Deep Thoughts

What would warm weather and picnics be without mosquitoes? For many outdoorsmen and picnickers, they're a summertime standard. Fortunately, there are organic techniques you can use to keep mosquitoes out of your summer fun. There are a few toxic ways to rid the area or your skin of these critters but nontoxic, organic methods keep you and your children safe, too.

Some things are obvious. Close your windows on the side of the house that have no breeze. These insects don't like breezes so you can leave the other areas of the house open to the fresh air. Organic pest prevention starts with simple, easy ways to keep them out of your space in the first place.

Outside your home, you'll start your organic mosquito prevention by removing areas of standing water that don't need to be there. Things like bird baths, pet bowls and wading pools should be cleaned out and refreshed at least twice weekly.

Think about the water that collects in the eaves troughs and other outdoor areas.

If you're having a barbecue, your organic mosquito control can be as simple as putting some sage or rosemary on the coals.

Mosquitoes don't like those herbs and steer clear of them.

As for actual skin protection, consider a 30% concentration of oil of eucalyptus, which prevents bites for up to two hours.

Another organic skin protector is 2% soybean oil, which works for almost that long. In comparison, Citronella works poorly, keeping mosquitoes away for only 20 minutes. Another organic and natural substance involves mixing garlic juice and water in a 1 to 5 ratio, shaking it up and spraying it on your skin. Believe it or not, it can work for up to six hours.

You can hang strips of cloth that have been soaked in this substance and hang the cloths in areas where people will be.

The Neem tree in India provides another organic form of mosquito control. It contains a compound you can buy called Neem oil that repels mosquitoes effectively and is extremely safe around humans. Marigolds will act as an organic preventative against mosquitoes and other flying insects don't like them either. Finally, Avon's mosquito repellent is very safe and many people swear by it.

The alternative to organic pest control is the mosquito repellent called DEET. It is a chemical also known as N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide. It's a powerful chemical created by the US military in the 1940s. As DEET is so powerful, doctors recommend that children not be exposed to more than 10% DEET products. Many products containing the chemical are 100% DEET. The skin should be washed after you don't need the DEET any more. Some research has linked this chemical to toxic encephalopathy-a brain disease.

On a brighter note, an organic way of keeping mosquitoes out of the area is to plant a big tub of Thai lemongrass and put it nearby. It contains a natural organic oil, citronella, that is both safe and effective in repelling mosquitoes in a large area.

You don't have to ruin your outdoor fun with mosquitoes nor do you have to worry about using DEET, which carries some toxicity. Enjoy the outdoors using organic mosquito control techniques, which work very well and are safe for you, too.

There are also nontoxic, pheromone-based mosquito traps that you can buy for overall protection.

Flies have probably been on this earth for longer than humans have and yet, humans have taken over and would like the flies to take a hike. It seems they're buzzing around the kitchen all summer long and nothing, not even the fly swatter can get rid of them. Moths take over at night and hover around the patio light, making nuisances of themselves. Fortunately, there are several organic pest control methods that can keep them out of your living space.

One organic fly repellent is crushed mint. You can crush the fresh mint leaves (from your garden or the plant store) and put them into little sachets. Place them around your home and watch the flies disappear. In addition, bay leaves, eucalyptus leaves and cloves put in sachets or placed around the house will act as repellents of flies. It seems as though there are a lot or organic herbs that flies don't like.

Another great organic fly repellent that acts like flypaper involves mixing a quarter cup of corn syrup or maple syrup, a tablespoon of granulated sugar and a tablespoon of brown sugar in a bowl. Then you soak the mixture in brown craft paper and let it dry overnight. The next day, you can poke a hole in each strip and hang it with a paperclip or some string.

Flies are attracted to the organic mixture and get stuck on it, rendering them helpless.

It seems like science is helping us out more and more when it comes to organic fly repellents. You can now buy completely organic, nontoxic, pheromone-based fly trap for indoors or outdoors. Pheromones are chemical sex attractants for flies that draw them in and help them stick to the inside of the trap.

Moths are flying insects that are attracted to light and can sometimes end up in the house. Certain moths can get into your clothing and can eat away at the fabric. Fortunately, there are several organic pest control methods for moths. One involves putting cedar chips in a square of cheesecloth to make a sachet. One can also use cedar oil, also referred to as juniper oil and drench pieces of fabric to drive the flying bugs away.

Another organic and natural moth repellent involves using dried lemon peels. Place them in a clothes chest or tie some up in the cheesecloth to keep them out of your clothing. Other organic herbal remedies include making sachets containing lavender, rose petals or rosemary and placing them between the folds of your clothing or inside the closets.

Finally, science has helped us with moths as well, providing us with organic pheromone-based moth traps for your pantry or for clothing. Outdoors, a "bug zapper" is a light that is associated with a zap of electricity. This will keep moths and other flying insects to a minimum, as long as the "zapping" sound doesn't drive you crazy. Moths and flies are insects for which safe chemical repellents don't exist. This means that using organic methods for repelling the insects are going to be the safest choice by far and will help make the warm summer days and nights more comfortable.

What pet owner hasn't worried once or twice that their beloved pet had developed fleas? Worse yet, how many have worried that the fleas had spread to other parts of the house? Luckily, there are numerous organic flea control remedies that can both keep fleas from infesting your home and can get rid of them once a pet has been infested.

Those with pets need to know that for every flea they find on their pet, there can be more than thirty more fleas somewhere in that pet's environment. Your pet can get fleas from being outdoors or can get fleas through contact with a visitor's pet.

This is why its important to learn all about the organic flea repellent remedies available that will be both safe and effective on your pet.

Make sure you give your pet a bath and comb your pet on a regular basis. Pets that already have fleas should be combed with a comb that's been dipped in a glass of soapy water. Organic repellents and deterrents include the use of citrus products.

For example, you can pour a cup of boiling water over an entire sliced lemon, including the skin. Score the skin to release more citrus oil. Let the mixture soak and sponge it on the animal. Believe it or not, it will kill fleas immediately.

Another organic pest control remedy involves using Brewer's yeast and garlic, or apple cider vinegar in small amounts to the pet's food. This will repel fleas quite nicely. Cats, however, shouldn't consume garlic.

Topical organic remedies include cedar-based shampoo, cedar oil and sleeping mats that contain cedar chips. Fleas do not like cedar of any kind and will be repelled from areas where you put it. Other insects are repelled by organic cedar products as well.

In the horrible event that you find you've got fleas in your carpeting, you should first vacuum the entire carpet, paying special attention to low traffic areas. Seal the vacuum bag and get it out of thereAnother organic method for getting rid of fleas is to obtain a wide, shallow pan, like a cake pan, and fill it half-full with soapy water. Place the pan on the floor and shine a light over the area. The fleas will jump up to the heat of the lamp and will land in the water and, because the water is soapy, the fleas will simply drown. Do this for a few nights and it will make a big difference.

If you're desperate for a long-lasting organic and safe method of flea control in a room, purchase a nontoxic flea trap.

Basically, you place a sticky pad under a grid on the plastic device and plug it into a regular light socket. The light and heat from the device attracts fleas on a permanent basis from as far away as 25 feet. The fleas jump up, fall through the grid and stick onto the sticky pad. The sticky pad is easily replaceable when it is used up.

Finally, the best organic flea control for outdoor use involves buying flea control nematodes (worms) that are 100% safe and can be spread throughout the lawn and garden. These organic little creatures kill the flea larvae and pupae so that the fleas don't reach adulthood. That way, your pets won't be bringing in fleas from your yard.

Flea control doesn't have to be complicated nor does it have to involve the use of toxic chemicals.

Your pets don't deserve the toxicity and neither do you.

Quotes on Fleas