12 Natural Pest Remedies

12 Natural Pest Remedies

Enjoying your home and garden is impossible when you have a critter or bug infestation on your hands. It may surprise you, but you don’t have to head to your local lawn and garden store to figure out a solution in order to battle your current crisis. Keep reading to discover natural pest remedies. 

That’s right, you probably have a majority of these natural household solutions already in your home. They’ll save you a great deal of money instead of having to buy pest control services or try to apply store-bought materials. At the same time, you’ll help keep your pets from getting into something that they shouldn’t. These are natural pest remedies that are safe and effective to use around your home and garden. In case you missed this post, The Best Herbs To Grow In Mason Jars

12 Natural Pest Remedies

12 Natural Pest Remedies

1. Apple Cider Vinegar 

It’s rather unappealing when you have fruit flies hovering around in your kitchen, and they always seem to know the perfect time to show up, right before you have visitors. Take back control of your kitchen by pouring some apple cider vinegar into a bowl with a drop of liquid dish soap and then covering it up with plastic wrap. Then make tiny holes in the plastic and the vinegar should draw the fruit flies in, but they won’t be able to get back out. 

2. Banana Peels  

Being a gardener myself, I know firsthand how irritating aphids can be when they begin holding social gatherings in my garden. If left untreated, they can destroy all of the hard work and love you’ve put into our garden. I have a win-win natural remedy for you. By placing banana peels near the stem of your plants, it should keep the aphids away, and also help to enrich the soil of your garden. 

3. Basil 

Sweet basil is a member of the mint family that tastes great in pasta, salads, pizza, and several other recipes. Yet it can be used as a natural pest remedy when you’re dealing with kamikaze flies in your home that are buzzing past your ear. To keep those pesky flies from ever finding their way into your home, plant a pot of basil in a sunny location near a nearby entranceway. It should help to deter them. How To Grow Basil In The Garden 

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4. Cloves 

Many people find ladybugs to be one of those bugs that they can tolerate, but that rare exception to the rules may change when they start to invade their house. As it turns out, ladybugs don’t like strong scents, which is why placing a bag of cloves near a heavily infested area is a great solution. You’ll just have to sweep or vacuum up the cloves when your situation has improved.     

5. Coffee Grounds

The next time that you make a pot of coffee, don’t throw out the coffee grounds after you’re done. It turns out that critters and other small pests don’t like the smell of coffee, which I find totally bizarre because it smells so good. For ants, it’s actually fatal. Wherever you think critters are coming in, place some coffee grounds there and they won’t continue to come around.      

6. Cornmeal

For those of you with pets, you certainly don’t want to go with an ant killer that is toxic because your furry loved ones can get sick from it. Instead, place small piles of cornmeal where you notice that ants are hanging around. While they will eat it and take it back to their colony, ants aren’t capable of digesting it. This method may take a couple of days, but it has proven effective.   

7. Egg Repellent

Have you been noticing deer activity out in your garden recently? Instead of reaching for your rifle like you may be tempted to do, choose to go with an egg repellant that can get the job done. That way you’re not scaring your neighbors half to death and those rascally deer can continue grazing elsewhere. The mixture consists of combining 20% eggs and 80% water that has been run through a blender and then you simply spray your plants and tree leaves with it.  This is not one of the very well-known natural pest remedies, but it works!

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8. Essential Oils

Are you in desperate need of a dust mite repellant spray? You can use a mixture of lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, or rosemary oil with a spray bottle of water, and then lightly mist your mattress with it. Allow it to air dry, and the dust mites should stay away.     

9. Fresh Herbs

An evening out by the bonfire with family and friends can be going great, but once the mosquitos start to crash the party the fun you were having will be forgotten. Fortunately for you, there is a solution. Keep mosquitos at bay by throwing fresh sage or basil directly onto the fire and let the good times carry on. 

10. Hot Pepper Spray

Hot peppers can even be difficult for people to eat at times, and for pests and critters, it’s awful. You can use your own chopped-up peppers, or use hot pepper flakes, but cayenne probably works the best. You’ll then mix it with a gallon of water and then spray it over your garden. Here’s more on how to make hot pepper spray along with a few other household items that will keep garden pests away. 

11. Onions 

Old wives’ tales are more often brushed aside as nothing but complete nonsense and silly superstition, yet this one actually has some truth to it. To keep spiders from hanging around and creeping about your home, slice up an onion and then put it in a bowl of water. You will then want to strategically place it where you think that they may be coming in, and they should get the hint that their presence in your home is unwelcome.     

12. White Vinegar 

Once a scout ant has detected food somewhere inside your home, it won’t be long after that you’ll have a trail of ants marching in to stake their claim. To help wash away the trail, spray a solution of 2 cups of water, ¼ cup of white vinegar, and 10 drops of eucalyptus oil or peppermint and the ant activity should dissipate.  

Final Word

Everyone should be able to live comfortably and without any worry of outside pests making their way into their home or garden. By using these natural pest remedies that I’ve mentioned above, you will have both a safe and effective way to keep these intruders out. What are some natural pest remedies you know about or have experience using? May God Bless this world, Linda

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19 Comments

  1. My father used to mix up a small amount of borax, sugar and water and put it in a jar lid and place it in an ant trail. They carry it back to their anthill and it kills the ants.

  2. Hi Linda! I’m wondering about using Cornmeal on ant beds. We have fire ants bad here. I’m going to try putting some on the any beds.

    1. Hi Deborah, fire ants are the worst. They are very hard to kill. I read where you can pour boiling water on them. Well, that would take a lot of time. If you only have a couple of fire ant hills, that would be easy but not acres. Wow, let me know if cornmeal works. Linda

      1. I’m going to try plain cornmeal first. And then Cornmeal with borax mixed in. We’ll see, and I’ll let you know.

  3. What a great post! Thank you!

    I also use coffee grounds in the soil around my acidic soil loving plants like rhododendrons & hydrangeas since my soil is so alkaline.

    I’m going to try the banana peel method on aphids on my roses! A little dish soap with water sprayed on works too but the banana peels sound easy and good for the soil. I just read to bury banana peels in the soil around your tomatoes when you plant them and then every now and then. I’m going to try that too! Who knew banana peels were so great!

  4. I get those tiny ants periodically in my home. Not sure if when I am outside, I might bring them in with me. I have a tiny spray bottle with water and peppermint essential oil that I spray on my counters when I see them. This seems to work pretty well to get them to go away. I also spray this on my door thresholds.

    I have also used cucumber peels when I am out camping to keep ants away from my tent. I just take 2-3 large cucumbers to munch on and use the peels around my tent. Works well and they are completely biodegradable although I do pick them up when I leave!!

  5. Any ideas on mouse control. We’ve recently had them sneaking around the drawers and such. I am rearranging as I clean but wonder if theres a natural way to drive them out.

    1. Hi Rick, oh my gosh, mice, those darn critters. I have to tell you a funny story. My husband bought a bag with baseball bats and mitts at a garage sale. He didn’t tell me (he knows I’m decluttering we are getting older). One day I look up and I see the black bag, I said what is that? He tells me he paid $5.00 for it. WELL, the next day I see mouse droppings. I do not put any food in our garage EVER. I live in the desert and I swear they thought this was a family reunion. I see popcorn here and there in the garage. (I’m assuming from the baseball games). I clean the garage, not Mark. I’m OCD and have all our preps out there. We had mice pee and poop everywhere. I was not happy. The only thing that would get rid of the mice was water-downed bleach. I sprayed it everywhere EVERY SINGLE DAY in the garage. We put traps and caught two. Because he brought it home in our car, they had a mouse reunion in there. They had chewed all the water bottle lids (for emergencies in the car) and the plastic was everywhere. We had to get our car detailed. I can only recommend bleach. We went through 2 half gallons. It was not fun. They do not like bleach. They will nest and run around anywhere they can smell pee and mouse poop. Good luck, it’s a HUGE job. I tried peppermint oil, it did not work. Bleach is the only thing that worked. Good luck, Linda

    2. I go for a direct kill. Ridx. You have to put it in the container that comes with it. It is self contained so the pets won’t get to it.
      We haven’t had mice here for 9 yrs.
      Tried other things but nothing seemed to work, too slow.
      We put in the sheds, garage, wood lot, And in the house. All gone!

      1. I forgot to mention that after the rodent eats it needs to have water so it leaves the premises to find it so there isn’t any dead animal to pick up. At least I never found one .

  6. I use coffee grounds from a local place to add nitrogen to my veggie plants. They, along with compost and worm castings really help my plants. Also add crushed egg shells for added calcium. Helps plants and keeps bugs away when added herbs and marigolds.

  7. One way to keep rabbits, squirrels and birds out of your garden, tie foil pie pans on a stick with a long piece of string and put it in the ground. When the wind blows it moves and scares off all the “pests”.
    It is better than going out and finding a fat rabbit and your green beans are eaten down to the ground.
    I know.

    1. Hi June, oh my gosh, now I have the giggles! It’s not funny that you found a fat rabbit and zero green beans. I can visualize the shock! OH MY GOSH! Great tip, Linda

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