Back in the day, our cave-dwelling ancestors had to fend off all manner of nasty predators. Evolution has weeded out the worst of them, but humanity still must confront threats from the animal kingdom, though now more pesky than dangerous.
They are household pests. They fly, they crawl, they slither, and we are forever battling them.
It is possible to rid your yard and home of these summertime invaders without subjecting your lawn and garden to a cloud of chemicals or bug-bombing your house. There are organic methods of fighting the problem, says Loren Nancarrow, co-author (with Janet Hogan Taylor) of “Dead Snails Leave No Trails: Natural Pest Control for Home and Garden” (Ten Speed Press).
“Our whole philosophy is balance,” Nancarrow says. “If we try to make our yard and garden as much in balance with nature as possible, there’s no need for anything toxic. The first idea is, what eats what, and then try to get appropriate numbers of each predator and prey.”
Here’s a few common indoor and outdoor pests and some (mostly) natural ways to be rid of them:
Ants: There are a lot more of them than there are of you, so this will always be an uphill battle. Nancarrow and Taylor offer a chili-vinegar spray for fruit trees and Ant Death Bait for around the rest of the garden. The problem with the latter is it contains potentially dangerous boric acid, so caution is advised. Should the ants set up shop in the house, the authors suggest several remedies — an ammonia solution, an alcohol solution and a hot chili solution. Best of all is the indoor bait trap. “I like this one because it’s sort of a Rube Goldberg thing, and because it can be a family project,” Nancarrow says. Take an old margarine container and poke holes in near the bottom. Make a slightly toxic bait of 1 part boric acid and 9 parts corn syrup, microwave briefly, stir well and put it in the trap. “The ants will come to the bait and will eat it then go back to the nest. It’s slow-acting. Ants swap spit, literally, and pass the poison on. One ant will wipe out an entire colony.”
Slugs: There really isn’t much good to say about slugs. Ducks love to eat them. There, that’s about it. Their cousin the snail is at least sort of interesting. But slugs? Ugh. (Nancarrow concurs: “There’s no use for them at all.”). Among the slug-stopping solutions: Ring plants with a thick layer of bran (slugs and snails are repelled by bran, but it needs to be reapplied if it gets wet). Or place a small container of beer in your garden, with the top of the can at ground level; the slugs will schlep in and drown. Snail baits with iron phosphate also work, but be careful to follow directions. Or buy a duck.
Yellow jackets: Sure, they pollinate plants and the larvae eat insects and dead animal matter, thus helping in the grand cycle of life. But they make cookouts and other gatherings hell, and that’s even before they sting you. A solution is a trap you can make yourself. Put about two inches of fruit juice (the authors recommend apple juice) in a container (a jar or old milk jug would work). Throw in a small piece of meat or fish, and as it ferments it will attract yellow jackets. They enter, fall into the liquid and drown.
Earwigs: They like dark, dry hiding places. Lay out several 6-inch lengths of old garden hose at night. Come morning, shake the earwigs out into a bucket of soapy water. The buried-beer-can trap used on slugs also works on earwigs. You can also keep them from your garden by spraying plants with an earwig repellent: five cloves of garlic pureed in a cup of water, then strained; add three drops of liquid dish soap, then add enough water to give you a quart of liquid in all. Also, ants and yellow jackets are natural enemies to earwigs, but you already killed all of them, remember?
Bedbugs: These little bloodsuckers are especially nasty. Your opening salvo in the fight should be a massive cleaning — hot, soapy water for clothing, bed clothes and anything else that could come in contact with the bedbugs. Vacuum everything — the floor, walls, baseboards, bedposts, cracks in the headboard, joints of other furniture. Throw a quarter cup of boric acid (read the warnings) in the vacuum bag to kill the bugs you suck up. If your mattress is infested, get rid of it. All this still may not be enough — these things can hide out for a year between feedings — and you may have to have an exterminator come in. Hardly an organic solution, but the most definitive. “Then, quickly move,” Nancarrow says.
Ground squirrels: Cute as a button, the ground squirrel destroys gardens. Check local regulations about trapping them with a Havahart humane trap and then releasing them at a safe distance. A homemade chili mix — puree four hot chilies with three cups of water, then strain, and add the liquid and a teaspoon of dishwashing soap to three gallons of water — sprayed around plants may do the job. Some cat or dog droppings jammed into a burrow may also chase off the ground squirrels.
Fruit flies: This is one pest Nancarrow suggests that anyone with a hummingbird feeder should actually raise. Start with a five-gallon plastic bucket. Cut a small square in the top and place a piece of window screen over it. Throw in a hunk of old apple or banana, then wait for the fruit flies to start reproducing. Put the lid on to confine the swarms that will develop. Watch your hummingbird feeder. At the busiest time of day, take your bucket out and remove the lid for 30 seconds. The fruit flies will emerge, and the hummingbirds will feast. “That is their favorite zoo,” he explains. “You can literally get the hummingbirds to sit on your arm, they’re so excited anticipating that food.”
