When one faces an invasion of harmful insects within his house, one is faced with the choice of repellents and insecticides to get rid of it. The natural alternative is increasingly attractive because it protects humans while respecting their environment. Update on all the effective prevention methods and natural treatments to control house insects. DIY tips to keep your home pests-free.

Why choose natural products against household insects?

A host of chemicals exist to keep or eliminate pests from your home. But in recent years, due to ecological awareness, more economical and natural remedies have appeared. We discover or rediscover that organic products protect man and his habitat while respecting the environment. Their strengths are to be:

• natural,
• easy to find and use,
• Often already available in all kitchens or household cupboards.

Insect pests are a plague, and some of them can even spread serious diseases or trigger severe allergies. Man must be able, even with these natural products, to protect himself against these insects or to repel them effectively when they have entered his habitat. And in most cases, following a number of tips, these prevention and treatment methods prove to be effective.

What attracts insects to the house

Most flying (such as moths) or crawling insects that take up residence in dwellings do so during the winter season. The rest of the year, they can thrive in the wild. But why do some homes attract these pests more than others? Simply because they meet the 3 conditions favoring the development of pests.

• The temperature: while the outside cools down as we go into winter, the interiors of homes are warmed by radiators. Although many of these insects are able to hibernate to get through the cold season, they are attracted to the warmth that emanates from human homes.
• Moisture: This is another factor common to most flying and crawling insects in the house. If the humidity is too high, then these pests will find ideal conditions to thrive.
• Darkness: many insects are lucid, that is to say, they flee the light and therefore seek dark corners, little frequented. Uninhabited rooms, cellars, attics, storage areas, etc. are thus among the favorite places for these insects and should be the subject of increased vigilance.

Every pest, whether crawling or flying, has its favorite room in a house.

• Wood lice, silverfish, ants, wood bugs, food moths … consider the kitchen to be the most interesting place in a home, simply because it contains food residues. Making sure your food is stored hermetically is, therefore, already a step towards prevention.
• The bed bugs feed on human blood. This is why the bedrooms are his favorite areas, and more specifically, the bedding.
• Finally, clothing moths feed on the natural fibers that clothing is made from. The cupboards and tissue storage locations, fur, wool, particularly the draw.

Insects in the house: natural prevention methods

The natural prevention aims at repelling harmful insects trying to get into homes. For this, natural repellents can be prepared, but also common sense gestures on a daily basis.

Repellents

Several repellents are available or to make yourself. They will have to be adapted to each type of insect, but it is always interesting to have them at home, at hand!

• The essential oils can be of great assistance to compose an effective repellent. Depending on the recipe chosen, just place a few drops on a diffuser in the rooms most prone to invasions or in a dish to place in the kitchen cupboards. Here are the ones that are recommended to have at home:
• lavender,
• bourbon geranium,
• peppermint,
• Eucalyptus.

• The food and household products repellent are ingredients, spices, fruits that we already have at home, and whose odoriferous properties can be an excellent repellent. Here are a few examples:
• the vinegar (to be mixed with a little water and sprayed onto the infested areas),
• the cayenne pepper or pepper: both pretty strong spices, they can repel insects from approaching,
• the clove,
• the fresh onion,
• the lemon,
• the coffee grounds,
• the baking soda: Powerful involved in insecticide several recipes
• The silica beads: their ability to absorb moisture allows, often in wet areas, to reduce the presence of water.

Good to know: many insects do not like strong smells; this is why these natural products are often very fragrant. But be careful not to use just any: coriander essential oil, for example, attracts insects instead of repelling them!

An absolute rule in the use of all these ingredients! Renew them very regularly because their power is diminishing.

The right preventive actions

When dealing with insects, there are also a few things you can do to avoid attracting them into the house:

• Do not overheat the accommodation during the winter season.
• Air the house every day, summer and winter.
• Control the humidity prevailing in the home.
• Fill any cracks in the housing that could serve as a nest for insects.
• Store food tightly.
• Do not leave any food residue lying around (crumbs, food waste, dirty dishes in the sink, etc.) and regularly clean kitchen worktops in contact with food.
• Do not leave fruit and vegetables in the open, which are likely to ripen quickly. Prefer packaging in the bottom of the refrigerator.
• Clean the entire house regularly, especially using a vacuum cleaner to vacuum up dust and all residue.

Treat naturally against insects in the house

Even if the first principle of a natural approach is to try to ward off harmful insects so as not to have to eliminate them, certain cases of massive invasion require to intervene more radically. Among these measures to get rid of intruders for good, we can find the following methods, always to be adapted according to the type of insect:

• The traps with bait: to stop the invasion of crawling insects in particular, it is possible to place bait in their way (especially useful for ants). Insects attracted to a scent glue will get trapped and die.
• The soap diluted in water results in suffocation of the insects.
• The diatomaceous earth: sprayed on insects and the areas concerned, it thirsty insects because of its dehydrating power and attack their gut and their shells because of its sharp silica particles.
• The pyrethrum plant cousin of the daisy whose leaves contain a substance capable of paralyzing insects.