Feb 24, 2008 06:02 PM
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Having a doggie who licked anything from the trash can to your face, prevented me from using Baygon/Hit on many pests(Only roaches, mozzies etc:) I pored through books and met up with elders in my home for effective bio-friendly, non toxic pest control methods. Here are some of the tried and tested rituals.
Mosquitoes: Take an aroma oil dispenser and put in 2-3 drops of neem oil in the water above the candle instead of your usual oils. The smell emitted is not unpleasant for people, but the mozzies do take off in a hurry. Two things you need to keep in mind. The dispenser can throw out fumes only to a certain distance, so for bigger halls you may need two or more. Also, keep a separate dispenser for the neem oil coz, later the aroma oils never smell the same.
If available, you can also use Citronella oil drops in the water used for swabbing the floor. This is a proven method for keeping away flies and mozzies.
Flies: You can use Citronella oil drops in the water used for swabbing the floor. Or a better deal would be neem oil mixed with citronella.
Gum Benzoin is the best to combat flies. Its great and the house smells nice too. The key here is to use the gum benzoin and not the ready made dhoop sticks or instant sambirani which somehow does not have the same effect.
Moths: Gum Benzoin works great with moths too in the cupboards, but unfortunately, your clothes smell of benzoin for months later! I guess you need to take the good with the bad:(
Lizards: Gran'ma always insisted that a peacock feather placed on the wall of every room was an effective lizzie repellant especially since lizzie's were the birds' fave appetizer. One thing that has changed with the current home bred robust breed of lizzies is that they no longer carry the fear of Peacocks in their'Baygon-Mutated' genes. Also, Personally I would discourage every household promoting the buying of peacock feathers, as that would push the bird to the Dodo's fate.
Alternately, post making your fave omelette, crush a bit o' those shells and place a bit at some strategic lizzie area in every room. This does effectively scare the ugly guys away and they move away quite promptly. Neem oil(Available in any good nursery) can also be used as a thin coat on several window frames to keep away several pests incuding lizzies.
Roaches: Truthfully, I would be joking if I asked you to try citronella with these guys when they can survive a nuclear holocaust. I do believe a combination of neem/citronella/benzoin does make them prefer the neighbor to you, but it certainly doesnt hurt to put the roach filter on all your drainage pipes for protection, long term!
Nothing works more effectively than cleanliness. Filling used vessels with water if they have to be in the sink overnight, removing food items that are left outside, cleaning dog/baby pee as quickly as possible etc will ensure that these pests scoot from your place ASAP!
