How to Get Rid of Pests

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These tried-and-true solutions will help you win the war against some of the toughest pests around.

How to win the war against pests

Getting rid of bugs, insects and critters in and around your home can take weeks or months of experimenting with commercial and home-brewed solutions. We asked our network of experts and Field Editors for their top tried-and-true solutions to help you finally win the war against some of the toughest pests around.

Bait is best to kill ants inside

Brian Gough on ant bait

I swear by Combat or Advion ant gel bait (commercial quality, but available online to homeowners). Ants can’t resist taking a taste. After a day or two, the invading ants (and perhaps the entire colony) are gone. I apply the gel to a piece of duct tape or inside a bottle cap for easy cleanup later.

Experts agree that baits work best. Ants take bait back to the colony, eliminating thousands of ants, including the egg-laying queens. In addition to Combat and Advion gel bait, the University of Kentucky extension service also recommends Raid Ant Bait II, Terro Ant Killer II, Advance Maxforce and Optigard Gel.

Baits can initially invite more ants into the house. You may be tempted to spray these buggers with insecticide. DON’T. Let the ants take the bait back to the colony, and be patient! Experiment with different gel products if one doesn’t seem to be effective. They all have different active ingredients and food components.

Spray on a bug barrier

As far as bugs, wasps, Asian lady beetles, box elder bugs, etc., there is a product called Annihilator that I’ve used with great results. I use a 1-gallon sprayer and spray it around exterior doors and windows. It can also be safely used indoors. When bugs walk across it, they drop dead.

Spectracide Bug Stop claims to provide nine months of indoor bug control. Annihilator Insecticide Premise Spray lasts for 30 days. Both kill bugs on contact. These products are toxic to bees and fish, so don’t use them around gardens or ponds. You can find both products at farm supply stores, home centers and online.

Hydraulic cement stops ants cold

I used hydraulic cement to fill a large gap in our foundation wall that was allowing ants to get into the house. The cement sets up in five minutes and also stops water leaking into the basement. Double whammy!

Get hydraulic cement at home centers and hardware stores. It hardens fast, so mix it in small batches.

Kill slugs with corn meal

I use cornmeal to get rid of slugs. Just put some in a jar and tip the jar on its side in the garden. Slugs eat it but can’t digest it, and die.

Cornmeal is one of many pet- and kid-friendly slug remedies. Others include:

Escar-Go! and Sluggo products, which contain iron phosphate.

Crushed eggshells, pine needles, diatomaceous earth and other abrasive materials sprinkled around plants.

Tin cans filled with a few inches of beer sunk into the ground, which attracts slugs and drowns them.

Slugs will also shelter beneath a board or an upside-down pail. Set one out each evening and you can kill a bunch of slugs each morning.

Hang soap to repel deer—and squirrels?

For the past two years, we’ve hung bars of Dial soap cut in half in cheesecloth bags around our gardens to keep deer away. We haven’t had deer problems since. I’m not sure if the deer simply went away or the soap kept them away.

We also had some unanticipated results. For years some unknown critters (probably squirrels) have been munching on our tomatoes in tomato cages. We started hanging Dial bags on our tomato cages and lo and behold, the tomato-munching critters stay away too.

Wildlife control expert Stephen Vantassel says it’s hard to know if soap causes deer to stay away.

“Soap can contain animal fat that has been shown to deter deer. But the effectiveness of repellents is related to population pressure. If there are lots of starving deer, repellents won’t work, period. If there are only a few deer, repellents will cause them to munch on the neighbors’ bushes.”

Vantassel recommends a study he found on effective deer repellents at icwdm.org/handbook/mammals/Deer.asp. His top suggestions for deer control include an electric polytape fence (available at farm supply stores and online retailers) and noisemaking devices.

As for squirrels, Vantassel thinks it’s the movement of hanging soap that frightens them away.

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