Clean Ways to do Dirty Jobs

Flea and Tick Powder

Wash pet and pet bedding with flea soap or citrus oil product. Fennel, rue, rosemary, or eucalyptus seeds or leaves scattered around animal sleeping area will repel pests.

Mix brewer's yeast or garlic in your pet's food or mix 1 teaspoon vinegar in 1 quart water of pet's drinking water.

Herbicides

Hand pull weeds, cover bed around garden plants with compost or mulch, cultivate garden with hoe.

Cover garden with newspaper or plastic in the fall to prevent weed germination. In the spring, newspaper placed around plants/vegetables retains moisture, and decomposes.

Insecticides

Grow pest resistant plants around vulnerable plants, e.g., marigold around tomatoes. Attract birds, a natural form of insect control, with bird feeders and birdhouses.

Grow plants that repel pests: the onion family (especially garlic), herbs (tansy, rue, yarrow, borage, thyme, and mint) and the flowers of marigold, painted daisy, feverfew, nasturtium, white geranium. Scatter the leaves of these repellant plants around or tie to vulnerable plants.

General all-purpose spray: Chop 1 clove of garlic and 1 small onion. Add 1 teaspoon of pepper, mix well with 1 quart of water, let steep for 1 hour or as long as 3 days before adding 1 tablespoon of soap or detergent and using.

To kill soft-bodied pests like aphids, mix 4 tablespoons of liquid soap with one gallon of water. Spray.

Mosquito Repellant

Burn citronella candles or citronella oil. Use alternatives to aerosol sprays.

Pesticide for Flies

Make fly paper: boil sugar, corn syrup, and water together and spread on brown paper and hang. Or mix egg yolk, a teaspoon of molasses, and fine-ground black pepper. Set out in a bowl to kill flies. To repel flies, scratch the skin of an orange, hang a cluster of cloves, or put potted mint or basil on the windowsill

Pesticides for Slugs and Snails

Plant onions and marigolds, OR set out a shallow pan of beer at night to kill slugs, OR use an overturned clay pot in the day to lure snails so they can be captured.

Roach/Ant Repellent

Sprinkle powdered boric acid inside cabinet edges, around baseboards, and in cracks. Keep away from pets. Or mix boric acid with oatmeal, flour, dry cocoa, or mint jelly on aluminum foil to draw pests to the boric acid. Caulk or seal cracks through which pests enter the house. Kill visible ants with a spray of 4 tablespoons of liquid soap mixed with 1 gallon of water.

Rodenticides

Cats and traps are time-tested ways to eliminate rodents.

Use steel wool to plug up entry holes.

To cause fatal bloating in mice, place instant mashed potato powder or buds in a strategic place with a dish of water nearby.