Natural Pest Control (3 Things You Can Do To Keep The Bugs Away)

Spring brings warmer weather, blooming gardens, and sometimes pesky unwanted visitors.  

Who doesn’t like having their fruits and veggies readily available for family members to snack on after a long day? This becomes hard to do when we start finding fruit flies and other bugs on our food.

Not wanting to use harsh chemicals and poisons? Here are some natural pest control remedies that we’ve found to be helpful in our home.

Fruit Flies

Are you dealing with gnats or flies in your kitchen? These tiny bugs are a big pain, you can help remove them with a fruit fly trap. Fill a cup ½ full with apple cider vinegar. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the cup securing it with a rubber band so that the plastic is taut. Carefully place 6-7 small holes in the plastic, making sure to make the holes big enough for them to get in, but small enough so that they can’t get out. Dispose of this fruit fly trap once fruit flies are gone. Because the female fruit fly is capable of laying several batches of eggs, laying up to 500 eggs within her life span, it is also helpful to wipe down any areas where fruit flies have been.

Ants

Mix 1 cup of warm water with 2 tbsp of Borax, and ½ cup of sugar. Place a dime-size amount of mixture on a small square piece of cardboard and put it where you see the ants. Allow the ants to collect the mixture to take back to their queen. Repeat until ants are gone. It may be necessary to put several of them around areas where ants have been seen and to replace the mixture when dried up. Once ants have not been seen for a day or so, wash areas where they have been seen with warm water and mild dish soap. *Be sure to keep the mixture away from children and pets.

Fungus Flies

Fungus Flies might look similar to fruit flies, but fungus flies have a body that looks more like a mosquito if you look closely. Fungus flies be spotted flying close to your potted plants and will show little interest in going anywhere else as long as there is moist soil available. These pests will lay their eggs in the soil and not only are they annoying, but their larvae can severely damage the roots of your potted plants. Add a 2-inch layer of clean sand over the soil of house plants, this will disrupt the life cycle of the fungus fly larvae. 

Do you have any pest prevention tips? Did these remedies work for you? Let us know in the comments.