DIY Bug Repellents & Traps

Aren’t bugs such a pain?!!! They are in our gardens, in our house, make it difficult to be outside… they’re everywhere. I wanted to share a few DIY bug repellents and traps that I use in and out of our home.

Fly Trap

Mix 1 cup boiling water and 1/8 cup sugar until the sugar dissolves. Cut the lid off a recycled bottle, pour the mixture in the bottle, flip the lid so it is like a funnel into the bottom part of the bottle. Tape the lid onto the base. Set inside or outside where flies are bad.

The flies go into the bottle to drink the mixture and get trapped inside.

Gnats, Fruit Flies, Drain Flies

Mix 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp. lemon juice, and 1/4 tsp. Castile Soap together. Cut the lid off a recycled bottle, pour the mixture in the bottle, flip the lid so it is like a funnel into the bottom part of the bottle. Tape the lid onto the base. Set inside or outside where bugs are bad.

*Castile soap is a natural, non-toxic, multi-purpose vegetable based soap. It’s biodegradable, you can get it scented or unscented, and categorized as a disinfectant and will kill 99% of germs.

The flies go into the bottle to drink the mixture and get trapped inside.

If you look close you can see at least one right in the center of the mixture. They are very tiny.

Ants

First follow the ants and find where they are coming into your home so you can block that in the future, track them to their next.

Ant Trap – mix together 1 tsp. Borax & 3 tsp. sugar. Place in a small lid of a recycled bottle. If you have pets and kids you won’t want them getting into the Borax so make a trap by getting a small container with a lid, poke holes in it so the ants can crawl in. The point of this trap is so that the ants will take the “food” back to their nest and kill them. The sugar attracts them and the Borax kills them. If you are anti-Borax I totally get it – I did read you can put Cornmeal out and that they have a hard time digesting it. Might be worth a try…

Place your bait trap by their nest for them to bring home.

You can also place your bait trap near where they are coming into your home.

Another way to get rid of ants is to find their home and flood it with boiling water. You might need to do this a few days in a row to get rid of all of them.

Make a mixture of 1/8 tsp. Castile Soap and 1 cup water and place in a spray bottle. Alternatively you can mix 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water as well. Your choice.

Spray the point of entry and the area around it and wipe it up. Ants leave behind pheromones and that how they follow the pathway to the food source. Spraying and wiping up the area will erase the pheromones. You can also spray the point of entry from the outside as well.

You can also use the Castile soap and water mixture to spray the ants directly. It will soften their shells and they will die.

Bug Repellent

Place cut up mint & lavender in 1 cup of boiling water and let it steep for 5 minutes. Strain out the herbs and place the water in a squirt bottle. Add 1 cup of vinegar or witch-hazel.

Give it a shake and it’s ready to use. I have left my herbs inside the water vinegar mixture to keep infusing in the squirt bottle.

Plant things in and around your yard that repel bugs like lavender, mint, basil, etc.

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