Best Home Remedies For Getting Rid Of Roaches

Cockroaches can live in any kind of building. To get rid of them people often turn immediately to pesticides. Pest control with pesticides works, but between treatments, people use home remedies that don’t harm pets and children. I have few ideas for the best home remedies for roaches to help you cheat them of the shelter and food they need.

Boric Acid

Boron is an element found naturally in food and in the earth. Boron is mixed with sulphuric acid which makes boric acid. It’s a white powdery substance. When roaches crawl through it, it gets on their legs and antannae.

They go back to the common meeting grounds with others, lick themselves clean, and die three days later. It rubs off on other roaches, who lick themselves clean, and die three days later.

Diatomaceous Earch

Diatomaceous earth is tiny fossilized sea creatures. Their shells mixed with algae and stones give the treatment its sharp, cutting edges. It works by absorbing moisture, fats, and oils from the shell of the pest.

The sharp, cutting edges then cut into the hard outer shell of the pest. This allows moisture to seep out of the bug’s body, thus dehydrating him and killing him. The powder is blown into place by a bulb duster. The roach walks through it, takes it back into the common gathering of pests, passes it around, and they die in about two weeks.

Essential Oils

Roaches hate the smell of peppermint. Ten drops mixed in one cup of water in a spray bottle is all it takes to prevent roaches. To really disgust them, add about eight drops of cypress essential oil to the peppermint.

Cedar has always been known to repel pests, termites, and other unwanted guests. Cedar is the only essential oil to actually kill pests. Mix ten to fifteen drops in one cup of water in a spray bottle. Your house will smell like a log cabin, but one without pests.

Studies have shown oregano essential oil to repel 97 percent of bugs, and they stayed away for one week. Mix ten to fifteen drops in one cup of water in a spray bottle and spray.

Catnip

The herb that gets your cat wacky also drives away roaches. A part of the mint family, catnip contains nepetalactone, or the active ingredient in the kitty treat. It won’t kill pests, but just like peppermint, it will keep them out of any area to which it’s applied.

Place small sachets of catnip around areas pests frequent such as plumbing, behind the stove and fridge, and outside by doors, and you should be pest-free before long.

Baking Soda And Sugar

These are not harmful to humans or pets but are deadly to pests. One of the best home remedies for roaches, it takes a couple weeks to kill them, but it works. Sugar attracts the pests, but it’s the baking soda that kills.

When the pests ingest the sugar and baking soda, they drink water. The baking soda then forms a gas that makes the pests’ stomach swell and burst, killing them. Use a small container like a Pringle’s lid or something like it. Place the sugar/baking soda mixture in it. Place a container of water nearby. Rinse and repeat.

Bay Leaves

Just like peppermint and catnip, bay leaves are a smell roaches can’t stomach. Crushed, powdered, or whole, the leaves repel roaches very well. They last for up to a year.

Do yourself a favor and don’t buy the dried leaves in the grocery store. Fresh leaves last longer and smell better (worse to them.) You can get these at whole foods stores or online. Place them beneath appliances, in cabinets, and around plumbing and outside doors.

Final Thoughts

Most people aren’t aware that pests eat away rotting trees and vegetation. Without them, our world would be awash with rot. The snag to that is the pests walk through sewerage and other unhealthy stuff and bring it into our homes.

Pesticides are bad for humans, pets, and the environment. That leaves us with natural pest control methods. We’ve tried all of these ourselves, so we feel confident you’ll find a method that works best for you. Let us know which you chose and how it worked for you.