Natural Pest Control for Cockroaches
You turn the light on and see something scuttling across your floor…cockroaches! Of course, you don’t want to have poisons in your home, around your family and pets. Natural pest control for roaches, while not as simple or fast as chemical control, is very possible. In fact, natural roach control has become more effective as it has become more popular. Today, controlling roaches doesn’t have to be toxic to your family or pets at all.
Why is Roach Control so Difficult?
Roaches have been on earth since before the age of man, and are something no one wants in their home. Because they feed on garbage, they spread germs from their feet across your home, which can make you ill.
Roach control is difficult because they multiply so quickly, and because if there is nothing else to eat, they will eat each other. Roaches’ ability to survive drought, flood, fire, and famine is what makes them so successful as a species.
Over the years, roaches have developed a resistance to many of the chemical pest control methods. Natural roach control methods, while slower, are actually more effective simply because of the way they work.
Sticky or Glue Traps
Sticky traps are an effective method of natural pest control. The sticky glue substance can be found online or at your local home or hardware store. Paint a piece of construction paper or cardboard with the sticky glue, and leave along wallboards, under sinks, or wherever you’ve seen roaches. When the board is full, simply pick them up and toss them into a plastic bag and into the garbage.
Jar Traps
Jar traps are not only an effective natural pest control, but a good way to recycle used quart glass jars. Mayonnaise jars and jars with slanted shoulders work best. Bait your jar trap with banana peels, which are very easy for roaches to smell. Coat the shoulder of the jar with a light layer of petroleum jelly. The roaches will climb into the jar, and not be able to crawl out because of the petroleum jelly. For oriental roaches, you will have to use a paper towel as a “ladder”, because they can’t climb glass. In the morning, simply screw a lid on the jar and put it into the freezer for a few hours to kill the roaches.
Baits
Make you own pest control baits by mixing boric acid, corn meal, and grease (bacon grease is best) and placing it on squares of cardboard in places where you see roaches most often. Roaches will eat and carry the bait back to the nest, where other roaches will eat eat and die. Remove the baits in the morning, and store them in a plastic bag in the fridge or freezer.
Dusts
Boric Acid is one of the most popular and safest natural pest control products. It should be placed close to floorboards, under sinks, and in out of the way place where it will not come in contact with humans or pets. Roaches don’t like having dust on their feet, so they will eat it, which is like eating ground glass. It destroys their insides. Since roaches are carnivorous, other roaches will eat their carcasses and die also.
Diatomaceous Earth and Silica dusts act as dessicants. They destroy the waxy coating of a roach’s body, causing it to dry up and die.
Again, only apply dusts in very thin layers, and only in places that are not accessible to pets or children.
Other Natural Roach Controls
Catnip’s active ingredient is nepetalactone, which is a natural pest repellent. Make a “tea” and apply around baseboards and behind counters. Of course, don’t use this if you have cats!
Soak a piece of bread thoroughly in beer and place in an empty one pound coffee can. Place in infested areas.
Bay leaves and garlic are known to be deterrents, but in the case of garlic, it’s best used in places not frequented by humans.
If your roach infestation is serious, it will take time for these natural methods to work. Combining methods will help bring the infestation under control faster, and eventually eliminate roaches from your home altogether.
