Home-made recipes to control or get rid of pests

URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/bugman/109924homes11-15-03.htm
Saturday, November 15, 2003 - Albuquerque Journal

Dick Fagerlund, is a board certified entomologist. If you have any questions for the Bugman, you can email him at [email protected] or mail him at P.O. Box 1173, Corrales, NM, 87048. His book, "Ask the Bugman," based on his nationally distributed column is available at most bookstores or on his Web site (for a signed copy) at www.askthebugman.com.

Recipe to drive ants away

Q: Can you repeat the ant bait recipe? I lost the column it was in.- D.L., Albuquerque

A: Sure. As a matter of fact, I will repeat a number of home remedies in this column so it can be clipped and saved if desired.

HOUSEHOLD ANTS: Mix 3 ounces of peanut butter with 3 ounces of jelly and add a tablespoon of boric acid. Place the bait where the ants forage. If you have Argentine ants, you can substitute mayonnaise for the PB&J. Argentine ants are suckers for mayonnaise. A good commercial product is Advance Dual Choice, which works for most species.

CARPENTER ANTS: Advance Carpenter Ant Bait is the best product available for carpenter ants.

HARVESTER AND FIRE ANTS: Two products, Siege and Amdro work well for these ants.

ROACHES: For German roaches, the Victor Pheromone traps work well in conjunction with Avert or MaxForce Roach Bait Stations. For the larger Oriental and American roaches, Niban Bait is excellent. It is made from boric acid.

CRICKETS: Niban Bait also works very well for crickets.

FLIES: Hang a sandwich size Zip-Loc bag half full of water on the front and back doors and flies won't come in (see next reader question).

FLEAS: If you have a small infestation, you should put several Flea Traps around your house. You can also dust your carpets with diatomaceous earth. Leave it there for four days and then vacuum it up.

MICE: I prefer the humane Tin Cats for catching mice. This enables me to release them somewhere away from a building. Mice then go back into the food chain. Mice do not die of old age.

CUTWORMS: Put yellow cornmeal around any plants being eaten by cutworms. They will eat the cornmeal, but cannot digest it, which causes them to die.

SNAILS AND SLUGS: Diatomaceous earth around the base of plants will prevent not only snails and slugs, but also many other pests from damaging the plants.

THRIPS: Mist the plants with a fine spray of water and then dust it with diatomaceous earth. Make sure you don't use the swimming pool grade of DE.

MOSQUITOES: There is no good way to keep them away from your property except by eliminating any standing water. During mosquito season you should wear a good non-Deet mosquito repellent, such as catnip.

TERMITES: There are three good termite baits available for homeowners. FirstLine, Subterfuge and Terminate are all effective in monitoring for termites.

The ant baits and roach baits mentioned above can be obtained at www.pestcontrolsupplies.com, as can the FirstLine and Subterfuge termite baits. Terminate is available at Home Depot. Flea traps and catnip mosquito repellents are available at www.insectrepel.com. Diatomaceous earth is available at www.pestorguest.com, or can be found at most garden centers.

You will notice that I never mentioned using any liquid or aerosol pesticides for any of the pests listed above.

Q: I currently live in Saudi Arabia, and now that the "cooler" weather has arrived, I like to spend afternoons and evenings outside in the patio. Regretfully, the flies drove me away. A friend told me about hanging clear bags filled with water around my shade structure to repel the flies, and ... it worked! I have been searching the Internet for an explanation and the only sensible one I have found is that the light reflected off the bags scares, distracts, or confuses the flies. What's your theory?�- S.R., Yanbu, Saudi Arabia

A: I first wrote about hanging water bags for flies five years ago and I have never written a column that has generated so much mail. I get mail from all over the world about this method of fly control and 95 percent of the feedback is positive.
You are correct in how the bags work. The shimmering glare from the water-filled bags confuses the flies, which have multiple facets in their eyes. They can't focus on anything when the glare from the waterbags gets in their eyes.
Although we are well into November and flies are not likely to be a problem now, here's an interesting reader tip on fly control.
I spend a lot of time in Germany. One thing I've noticed is that the homes and apartments don't have any screens on their windows. All windows, however, have flower boxes planted with geraniums. I asked a friend why the Germans weren't a little more creative and unique and use a variety of flowers, and was told that geraniums keep the flies away. So, I had to try this at home. In my neighborhood, I had noticed that I, and my neighbors with the same floor plan, had flies buzzing around in circles in our front entryways. I planted a few geraniums in my entryway and no longer have flies buzzing around, while my neighbors still do. Seems to me the Germans have a little secret of keeping the flies away. But the secret's out!�- A.M., Albuquerque

A: I've never tried it myself before, but some plants repel insects and geraniums may be one of them.