Using Natural Insecticides In The Home

No one wants bugs in their home. Not only is it disgusting, they can be damaging to stored food and the structure of the home. They can spread disease as well. However, you also do not want to load your home up with dangerous toxic chemicals in order to repel the bugs. What is the answer? Use natural insecticides to keep the bugs out of your home.

Boric Acid

Select natural insecticides that are safe for your kids and pets yet are deadly or repellant to insects. Boric acid is one good example. Mix some boric acid with sugar and then add water. Soak cotton balls in this boric acid solution and place the cotton balls where ants have been spotted. Boric acid is also useful against roaches. Put some in a squeeze bottle and squirt the powder along baseboards, behind appliances and anywhere you have seen a roach.

You can also use boric acid to get rid of termites by mixing it with propylene glycol which is the non-toxic form of anti-freeze. The glycol helps the boric acid seep into the wood to get at the termites. Boric acid can also be used as a natural insecticide for silverfish. Place it in your closet or attic or anywhere else you have spotted the critters. In fact, you can make a solution of boric acid by mixing it with boiling water and then using that to wipe down surfaces in your home. This will act to repel all kinds of crawling bugs.

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth is another natural insecticide you can use in your home. It is made out of the skeletal remains of tiny sea creatures and plankton and works by puncturing the insect's body which leads to dehydration. This is an effective solution for fighting moths, roaches and silverfish. Diatomaceous Earth also kills fleas, working in as little as one day.

Citrus Oils

You might also want to try natural insecticides made from citrus extracts as these will leave a pleasant smell in your home as well. It is important to only choose a natural insecticide that is not harmful to kids or pets. Just because it is a natural insecticide does not mean it is safe around mammals too. A few natural insecticides are harmful to humans as well. Luckily, there are many choices you can make that will rid your house of annoying bugs but won't harm your family or pets in the least. So be sure to read the labels and follow the directions as carefully as you would for a chemical product and keep your family safe.

No Evidence That WHO-recommended Treatment For Insecticide Poisoning Improves Survival (Medical News Today)

A study published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine finds no evidence to suggest that a controversial antidote recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to treat patients poisoned with highly toxic insecticides improves their chance of survival.

Emerald ash borers are headed for a trap (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

State conservation officials on the lookout for emerald ash borers; making insecticide soap.

Communities bug out over cuts to mosquito control (AP via Yahoo! Finance)

Millions of mosquito eggs laid across southern Texas after Hurricane Ike hit the coast last summer are waiting for the little bit of rain and hot summer days they need to hatch. That's got the man whose job it is to fight the bugs worried -- he's already running out of money.

Rose damage calls for investigation (The Bryan-College Station Eagle)

Dear Neil: Something is eating the leaves off my Lady Banksia rose. I've tried insecticide, but that didn't help. I thought it might be deer, squirrels or drought. Every time it puts out new leaves, they're soon gone. What would cause that?A: I hones ...

Mobile and Baldwin health departments fight mosquitoes from the air (Mobile Press-Register)

MOBILE, ALA. -- A Mobile County Health Department plane will take to the skies this summer to spray insecticide over sparsely populated areas where mosquitoes breed, health officials said today.