Natural Bug Repellents for Your Yard and Garden

For many of us, natural remedies and repellants are not only attractive for their care of the environment, but are often necessary to keep children and animals safe. For some of us, it may even be about our own health! People who suffer from allergies are often bothered by traditional chemicals, so we hunt for natural ways to get the job done…

Garden: How to get rid of ants, slugs, caterpillars and any other soft shelled insect

Soft shelled insects are easy to control with Diatomaceous Earth, also known as DE. This fine white substance looks like a powder, when it fact it’s a ground up, fossilized hard-shell algae. This ‘powder’ may feel smooth to us, but is actually very abrasive! (You don’t want to breathe it in, so wear a mask if you’re going to dust with it.) Because this is an all natural substance you don’t need to worry about kids or animals and it’s completely safe for all plant types. You can even mix it into your pet and livestock feed to help control worms!

Uses: Dust on your yard, vegetable and flower gardens, or mix with animal feed to control worms, parasites, ants, slugs, caterpillars and other soft insects.

Yard: How to get rid of Fleas, Ticks, and Chiggers Naturally

Summer time in the south is especially brutal with the high temperatures. There’s no reason you should be fighting off bugs, too! Make your way to a feed store and order a bag of sulphur, or get some Garden Sulphur Dust online. Yes, the extremely flammable, smelly yellow stuff. Use a seeder or fertilizer to spread a dusting over your lawn, all the way around the house, anywhere the kids play, and even around your garden. Be sure to do this when the ground is dry and you’ll have a few days without rain because if the sulphur gets wet it won’t do it’s job.

One application should be enough to last all summer! Be sure to store any extra sulphur in a cool dry place, preferably in an airtight container to avoid fire hazard.

Uses: Control fleas, ticks, chiggers, and even mosquitoes!

Around the House: A Natural Bug Spray to Deter Insects

What happens when you get bugs inside the house? You’re often scared to use chemicals because of children and pets, so you try every little home remedy to get rid of the pests… Enter Orange Oil. Like DE, orange oil is a completely harmless substance. you can poor it right on your skin, you could even cook with it if you bought food-grade oil. But, to insects, it’s a nightmare. This oil is abrasive to the insects bodies and will literally tear their skin, causing them to dehydrate until they die.

You will probably need to shop Amazon.com or a local organics store for a bottle of orange oil. Be prepared to pay quite a bit for this bottle, but worry not… it’ll last for years! You only need a small amount diluted in a spray bottle filled with water. Set the spray to a fine mist and start spraying those bugs! The oil will leaves a non-visible residue which keeps the bugs from returning, so go ahead and use the spray on door and window frames, anywhere you think bugs may be coming in, and the pantry shelves! This is my absolute favorite ant-control spray.

This post contains amazon.com affiliate links.

About Erica Mueller

Erica Mueller has written 23 posts in this blog.

Erica Mueller is a stay-at-home mom to two lively little boys. She spends her days homeschooling, housekeeping, and building her web development business. Erica specializes in WordPress sites and tutorials!

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