Ants
Banish ants from your pet's food dish by wiping the floor under and around it with a cloth dipped in kerosene. Then stand the food dish in a larger dish containing water. If ants are coming in through doors or windows, put a cinnamon stick across the path. They will not cross it. Mix three cups water, one cup sugar and four teaspoons boric acid powder for ant control. (Pour a over a cotton wad in a small dish or bottle cap.)
Sliced or crushed cucumbers to keep cockroaches away from food.
Mix equal parts of boric acid powder, powdered sugar, and cornmeal as a poison bait for cockroaches.
Mix equal parts of plaster of Paris and powdered sugar as a poison bait for cockroaches.
It is a little known fact that roaches like high places. If you put borax on TOP of your kitchen cabinets (not inside), and if space allows between ceiling and cabinets, the roaches will take the borax to their nests, killing all of them.
Keep a spray bottle of soapy water on hand. Spraying roaches directly with soapy water will kill them.
Walk through a room wearing white socks to detect fleas. Dark fleas jumping on the white background are easily seen.
Use banana peels to repel fleas.
Feed yeast to dogs to repel fleas.
Fleas HATE Stash Earl Grey. Tear open a few bags, scatter the tea about on your carpet, and vacuum up in a few days.
For flea control, add a little vinegar to your pet's drinking water to fight fleas and mange.
For flea control, add ½ teaspoon to the wash water or a few drops to the pet's shampoo.
Suspend a light bulb over a pan of oil or soapy water to attract and drown fleas during the night.
For a fly repellent - 2 cups vinegar, 1 cup Avon Skin So Soft, 1-cup water, 1-tablespoon Eucalyptus oil, 1 tablespoon citronella oil - Put in a spray bottle and spray dog's coat.
Mix water with cornstarch into a paste and apply. This is effective in drawing out the poisons of most insect bites and is an effective remedy for diaper rash.
Rub jewelweed on mosquito bites and poison ivy to control itch.
For mosquito bites apply lime juice diluted with water on bites with cotton ball.
Mozzies won't bite if you mix 4 parts glycerin, 4 parts alcohol, 1 part eucalyptus oil. Or make a solution of equal parts of isopropyl alcohol and methyl phthalate.
If you are using the barbeque, throw a bit of sage or rosemary on the coals to repel mosquitoes.
Put an opened bottle of Oil of Pennyroyal Essence in the room you want mosquito free.
Use Avon's Skin-So-Soft as an insect repellent for people and pets (good mosquito repellent). It helps relieve itching caused by insect bites and dry skin. Also, mix five parts water, one part Skin-So-Soft and mist on show animals. Brush in to make their coats gleam and keep insects off so your animal will not fidget.
Use hedge apples for control of crickets and spiders.
For grass and weeds growing between stones or bricks on walks or terraces, sprinkle 20 Mule Team borax powder and sweep into cracks (one application every other year).
Apply tobacco and snuff juice for wasp stings and bites.
Use beer or yeast dissolved in water in pit fall traps (cups sunk into the ground) to attract and drown snails and slugs.
Prevent mosquitoes from breeding in rain barrels by applying 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the water's surface.
Tick and Fly Spray - two cups white vinegar, one-cup Avon Skin-So-Soft bath oil, one cup water, one-tablespoon eucalyptus oil (available at drugstores and health food stores).
Pour hot boiling water and a strong cleaning detergent down the drain to eliminate nuisance gnats and flies.
Here are a few tips to help you get rid of those endless pests that always seem to want to destroy your hard work These methods are generally cheap and environmentally friendly!
General-purpose Bug Spray
· 1 quart water
· 1 garlic bulb
· 1 small onion
· 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
· 1 Tbsp liquid soap (hand soap only)
Chop or grind garlic and onion, add cayenne and mix with water. Let steep 1 hour, then add liquid soap. Store in a covered jar in the refrigerator up to one week. Use as a spray wherever insects are causing a problem
Animal Repellent Sprays
Cats
· 2 parts cayenne powder
· 3 parts dry mustard powder
· 5 parts flour
· Add sufficient water
Dogs
· 1 garlic
· 1 medium onion
· 1 liter of water
· 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Squirrels
· 1/2 ounce Tabasco sauce
· 1 teaspoon chili powder
· 1 pint water
· Dash of dish soap
Use as a spray on the plants and yard areas where these animals are causing a problem.
Aphids, Thrips | Stinging Nettle Spray | Cover 1 quart nettles with water, cover and steep for 3 weeks, dilute with 7 parts of water.
Aphids, June Beetles, Black Spot, Fungus Diseases | Rhubarb Spray | Steep 6 rhubarb leaves in 2 to 3 quarts of boiling water.
Chewing/Sucking Insects, Mildew, Leaf Spot, Rust, Spore Disease | Garlic Spray | Steep 3 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion and 1 teaspoon of very hot pepper in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes, then strain. Can be diluted with water 1:4.
Chewing/Sucking Insects | Pyrethrum Spray | Steep 1 Tbsp of dry flower heads in 2 quarts of hot water. Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cineraria folium) is an attractive perennial with marguerite daisy-like flowers.
White Flies | Mullein Spray | Steep 1 part mashed mullein leaves with five parts of water.
Aphids, Asparagus Larvae, Black Spot, Scale Insects | Tomato Leaves | Steep 10 chopped tomato leaves and 1 chopped onion in 1/2 cup of alcohol for a few minutes; apply with a swab.
Spider Mites, Cabbage Worms | Salt Solution | 1 oz. table salt in 1 gallon of water.
Mosaic Disease on Tomatoes and Peppers | Skim Milk Spray | Sour milk has been used against cabbageworms.
Potato Blight, Black Spot, Yellowing Tomato Leaves | Manure Tea (liquid) | 1/2 commercial bag of manure or 1 mesh onion bag full of old manure and straw steeped in 1/2 of a large plastic garbage can of water.
Mint is also a great way to keep ants outside..plant around your house and they'll attack the mint instead.
Most of these tips I knew, but there are a few I didn't....thanks for posting!
Sacred Circle Necklace
- Hedgewitch
on Nov. 12, 2011 at 4:48 PM