Pest control
Ants
Sprinkle chilli powder, pepper, mint or borax in their trail.
Fleas
Vacuum regularly and sprinkle lavender or pennyroyal around infested rooms. Empty vacuum cleaner after each use. Add brewer’s yeast to your pet’s diet, and flea comb them regularly.
Nits
Shampoo regularly with tea tree oil shampoo.
Moths
Clean all clothes, bedding and furnishing fabrics before storing because moths breed in dust and dirt. Store in plastic bags.
Insect repellent
Rub vinegar or tea tree oil on exposed areas of skin.
Flies
Keep all food and rubbish covered and clean the rubbish bin regularly. Simmer vinegar on the stove while leaving the windows open. Keep basil plants around the house.
Mosquitos
Use citronella oil or candles, plant basil or pennyroyal and eliminate all stagnant water around the house.
Recipes for natural pest control
Garlic spray
Blend two or three very hot chilli peppers, half an onion and one clove of garlic in four litres of water. Boil and leave to soak for two days. Strain and use. This spray can be frozen for future use and works on aphids, whitefly and caterpillars.
Soap spray
Dissolve 25 grams of pure soap in one litre of water.
For snails
Try setting up physical barriers such as broken eggshells, or remove snails by hand at night. Snails can be attracted by a shallow pan of beer.
Helpful hint
Some of the products mentioned in this brochure may need a bit more effort to find than popping into the supermarket.
Borax for example is often available from your local pharmacy, but you may have to ask for it. Yeast can be bought from a home brewing shop or bulk food shop, and eucalyptus is usually available from a health food store.
Rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle
- Rethink – Do you really need to buy it, is there a better alternative?
- Reduce as much as possible – only buy what you need.
- Reuse – share leftovers with friends and neighbours.
- Recycle – what you can for another purpose.
- Dispose of your household hazardous waste safely by taking it to a household hazardous waste drop-off facility.