Do you have ants in your pantry or bats in your attic? Are mosquitoes, moles and wasps driving you nuts? These pesky, unwanted guests can be extremely hard to remove once they invade your property, and are especially common during the summer months.
The June issue of The Family Handyman offers the best tips to help get rid of your worst pests, both inside your house and out in the yard.
Repel ants with mint or bay leaves
Discourage ants from entering your home by planting a mint barrier around your foundation. You can also set whole bay leaves around kitchen food canisters and sprinkle crushed bay leaves along windowsills.
Fend off mosquitoes with lemongrass and basil
Lemongrass contains citronella. Repel mosquitoes by growing it in clumps around your deck—you can mash up the inner leaves and rub the juice on your skin. Basil also has the same effect, so planting a bunch in pots around your patio will help keep you swat-free.
Control crickets with DIY sticky traps
For those who have a cricket infestation but are wary of the chemicals contained in bug sprays, duct tape serves as the perfect homemade trap. Set out long strips of duct tape—sticky side up—in the infested room, and change the tape as needed. To permanently banish crickets, seal entrances by caulking around windows. Also, make sure to dehumidify rooms (especially your basement)—crickets like damp areas.
Bleach gets rid of drain flies
Tiny drain flies are harmless insects that live on the gunky slime in your drainpipes, but can gather in huge numbers in your house. Try pouring a teaspoon of bleach down the drainpipe and keeping the drain hole blocked for about an hour. If this method doesn’t work, you can starve the flies by cleaning the gunky slime out of the drain with a long-handled brush.
Lights and sprinklers deter unwanted visitors
Uninvited guests in your backyard—raccoons, foxes, skunks, etc.—can be a nuisance, cause messes and even damage your property. Installing motion-activated lights and sprinklers are two of the best methods to rid your yard of these intruders.
A better mousetrap
Got a mouse problem? Try propping up a soda bottle at about a 20-degree angle, then baiting it with peanut butter. A small amount of vegetable oil around the inside of the lip will prevent the mouse from “slipping away.”
Remove bird feeders to prevent nighttime visitors
Don’t forget to take in any bird feeders before the sun sets, otherwise you risk attracting unwanted visits by elk, deer, coyotes and even bears.
Great post.
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