Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/26/death-to-the-roach.html
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I’d recommend diatomaceous earth
"This is a 100% natural insecticide. It is a fine rock powder with abrasive and absorbent properties. This combination is what makes diatomaceous earth so great at killing roaches (and other bugs). The abrasive powder cuts into the cockroach’s exoskeleton and then absorbs water from the pest’s body." - pestsoff.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches/what-kills-roaches
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On the subject of pests, I recently asked in another thread how best to combat ants. Several members suggested borax.
After several months of trying bait traps, I soaked cotton balls in a borax/sugar solution and sat them around various places. A week later and I have zero ants. Brilliant.
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I’ve also heard bay leaf and cucumber have roach powers, but I haven’t investigated.
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Any reason why peppermint tea bags wouldn’t work? I grew up with a similar situation, and would gladly have dropped a couple bucks on this. Probably would’ve been too lazy for arts-and-crafts time first, though. Nowadays, I just hire someone to come out and spray everything with Modern Chemistry. Seems to do the job.
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When we lived in Thailand we were told to leave out little plates with an equal mixture of dry oatmeal and plaster of Paris.
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I’ll tell you what I do.
Before I move into an apartment, I fill in all the holes in the walls I can find with caulk and foam filler. Everywhere. Especially the gap between the baseboard and the floor.
This takes some time, but pays off in the end.
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Inhaling diatomaceous earth is very harmful - it does the same thing to your lungs that it does to bugs. Do not sprinkle the stuff in your house.
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Second this. For people who don’t want to deal with the mess of making your own, though, I’m evangelistic about this wonderful product: https://www.amazon.com/TERRO-T300-Liquid-Ant-Baits/dp/B000HJBKMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493219143&sr=8-1&keywords=terro+trap
It’s the same stuff: borax and corn syrup*. After traditional traps utterly failed, I placed one of these in the line of ants that were making a highway into my kitchen, and they lost any interest in going farther. This stuff was like crack to them, and it intercepted them all at the point of ingress. The ones that don’t die a pleasurable death in sticky sweetness take it back to the nest, apparently. In a few days my infestation was done. It’s kinda neat to watch it work.
*I think. Some variety of sugar, anyway.
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I had roaches getting into my apartment from the bathroom. Figured out they were coming in from a hole in the wall behind the toilet where some of the plumbing comes in. I used a ton of caulk. Also the bottom of the toilet doesn’t have any caulking either between it and the floor and i suspect baby roaches were crawling in through there too so i sealed that up too.
Unfortunately i suspect the odd roach still gets in via the air vent on the bathroom ceiling but i see them less often these days. Good to know i can use the peppermint tea bag trick to discourage them from scurrying into my apartment
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i’ve found powdered cinnamon is something that some types of ants HATE. sprinkled that in areas where i saw them, and they flee like they are on fire.
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I like the peppermint idea, but there’s no indication in the article that the author actually tried it. Do we know that it works?
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This sort of thing usually kinda works. If the target has an easy place to go to get whatever it is they need that is not stinky they will avoid the stink. If there is a strong attraction, like food, they will do the insect equivalent of holding there noses.
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Repelling roaches does not get rid of roaches, they just go somewhere easier. If there is nowhere easier, then they will suck it up and put up with the peppermint tea. I highly doubt tucking a few peppermint leaves around would have made up for living next to a dumpster with a constant supply of food, but few nesting spots.
Most helpful is getting rid of the places that can be a home, food and water sources. When you’re in an apartment, though, you only have so much control over that.
We don’t have a roach problem, just those dastardly sugar ants. Borax can be very effective, as can other sticky traps … my usual strategy with all things is belts & suspenders. Seal up, clean up & kill with the most benign methods available first.
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Really? Any links on that? I use DE, outside my house, and looked in to it a bit. There used to be some synthetic DE that had a lot of crystalline silica which with prolonged exposure can cause lung issues. Natural DE is mostly amorphous silica which does not seem to be an issue. If you worked with the stuff for a living a respirator would probably be a good idea but dusting cracks around the floorboard once every few month hardly seems dangerous.
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Sorry. Just “some guy” saying “this works” doesn’t work.
I’ve been burned by the previous articles concerning blue emu oil for joint pain and super blue-green algae for longevity.
They need to rename this site gOOP-gOOP.net
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This post raises an important question:
If it were in your power to make some species extinct, would you do it? What would you choose?
If I were that mighty, I’d leave roaches alone (living in a more rural environment I haven’t had to deal with one in years, but when I lived in the city…). I would, however, dispatch all poison ivy with the utmost haste.
I’m not too fond of mosquitoes, but I’d probably leave them alone for the bats. Bats like them, and I like bats.
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So, you used super blue-green algae, and didn’t live longer?
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