apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hopefully your efforts will keep the bugs at bay....

Thanks for the natural insect repellant recipe!

How often will you have to replace the repellant sachel?

Hi Priscilla. We use a scent test...if we can smell the spice mixture from a couple inches away, it should be still effective. On average, I would say refresh the ingredients every two-three weekeds, depending upon how humid your area is.

Sounds like a horror movie. I also love the natural repellent. great post sorry about the motivation for it!

Jordan

hi gregory,
i am from nyc and found a nasty roach on my (eek) bedroom dresser last night! yuck! i went to bed both scared and fumigated by the roach spray. could you please tell me the measurements of the herbal sachet, if you don't mind? is it just a dash of this and a dash of that or is it exact amounts?
thanks in advance!

Hi j-girl,
I didn't use exact measures, just whatever I had on hand to fill five sachets about 1/2 cup each. Dried catnip and cinnamon made up the bulk of it. Lucky insects even got freshly ground nutmeg. :) Good luck with your roach problem! I was so traumatized that I had trouble sleeping last night. :\
--Emily

thanks emily!

Borax powder, sold as 20 mule team borax in the laundry aisle at the grocery, is a natural insecticide and can be sprinkled or swept into corners so bug-beasties trample in it and get it on their legs. Thanks for the list of other stuff unpleasant to bugs to add to the armory.

Roaches, ugh. I had to deal with years ago in my first apt, a tiny 1 room flat with a bath down the hall here in Seattle. Fortunately these were not the huge roaches found in other areas, but the smaller ones and they were pretty plentiful as the building I was living in at the time was still pretty infested with them even after months of trying to reduce their population by then new owners.

I had a couple of them show up again, but only in the common bath in a funky 2 room flat in Medford OR the two weeks I lived there.

As far as I know, not seen any in the other places I've lived in, but did experience ants in the fall when I was down in LA for 6 months in 2002 though.

We had an army of ants invade our house last summer. we found that baby powder is their kryptonite. now we have an industrial size always on hand just in case. it's eco and eco-friendly and very affective.

oops..effective

that picture is really freaking me out, but thanks for the tips on natural repellents.

good luck!

I use baby talc. My ants are much smaller than those in the photo though.

Sorry,gogochunks, I missed your comment.

I've found they won't cross an area that has dishwashing liquid. However, I haven't been very successful at keeping ants away. I live in a Craftsman Fourplex that has an endless amounts of cracks, crevices and openings. I block one entry point and they find another way in.

Borax powder is great. It's the only way I got rid of fleas left by a roommate. They put it in a gel that you can get at Low's. You drip it onto bits of foil. The ants are drawn by the sweetness but it does them in and is safe. I get ants from the messy girls below me. It's also seasonal seems to depend on the moisture. It's not us. We're clean.

Ugh, ants. I came home yesterday to an infestation of them - not sure what I'm going to do, since I'm not a fan of chemicals and the catnip would drive my kitty insane, so I can't go the natural route.

There's supposed to be some sort of ant-repellent chalk you can get in Chinatown that you apply outside of the house. I may try tracking some of that down over the weekend. Even though it's still a toxic chemical, at least it won't be used indoors.