Comments on: multi-talented bay leaves keep pests away

By: Wyrd

Wyrd — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:24:49 +0000

Remember that borax and boric acid are both toxic to cats. One lick is lethal.

By: Annie Pazoo

Annie Pazoo — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:14:32 +0000

As much as I’m enjoying the blooming jonquils and budding forsythia in my yard, I’m dreading the coming spring because that means ANTS in our kitchen. Yuck. I’m ready to try the bay leaves and spearmint gum. Borax worked pretty well, but we find them coming from so many directions that it’s hard to block all of their tracks (also the version we had was blue, so little lines of blue inside and outside our house, a little weird…). My favorite, having-an-anxiety-attack-because-I-just-walked-in-the-kitchen-and-turned-on-the-lights response is also to use Mrs. Meyers (or vinegar spray, or windex) and just spray them in their tracks. It’s almost worth resorting to an exterminator, tho. Hate those little buggers.

By: Pam

Pam — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:43:33 +0000

Here’s one that worked for us. Take equal parts of borax (laundry additive) and granulated sugar – mix with enough water to make a thick paste. Put this in discarded bottle caps (we used the plastic tops from gallon milk jugs) and place them where you find ants. This eliminated our ant problem within days.

By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 03:32:22 +0000

Embarrassingly, I’ve had a rodent problem in my apartment recently. First came the signs, then came the poison, then came the dead animal smell, then came the flies…Does anyone have a natural prevention for rodent problems, natural remedies for dead animal smell, and/or remedy to swarm away the flies? FYI, the rodent is in the wall so I can’t get to it. I just have to deal with it.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:55:37 +0000

Love the tip and I’ll try it this summer. Do you know of anything that works with spiders? They seem to try to move into our basement every fall.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:33:11 +0000

Another great ant killer is Mrs. Meyers countertop spray. It kills them dead in their tracks and smells good, too. It doesn’t seem to work as a preventative, but if you walk in the kitchen and find a ton (we do every spring) all over the sink and countertop, it’s a big help.

By: Michelle Volpe-Kohler

Michelle Volpe-Kohler — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:00:11 +0000

Spearmint gum? Interesting! I never heard of that. Will keep it in mind if we ever have to deal with this again.

By: Bev Bourne

Bev Bourne — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:56:06 +0000

I did that once, too, but also put out slices of spearmint gum (still in wrapper). Don’t know which of the two remedies worked, but problem solved.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:05:35 +0000

I’ve heard the bay leaf thing too, and I’ve kept one on each shelf ever since, and never had a bug problem. I can’t nail it down to that either, but circumstantial evidence leads me to believe – why not!

By: Deb Schiff

Deb Schiff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:28:26 +0000

Great suggestion!

What we’ve found is that if you mess up their tracks (they leave invisible tracks to follow), the ants won’t be able to find the food.

My guess is that you probably did a lot by putting open things into containers. :)