Natural remedies for german cockroaches needed!

[earthmother]

Does anyone have natural repellants for german cockroaches? we are infested and using a bug company has not helped. YUCK!!!!!

[E_Edgerton]

If you just google natural pest control you will find several sites that will be helpful. Our last apartment really had me up the wall...spiders and ants! Good luck.:)

[UnPrairieMuffin]

but it might take more than one time to "get rid of them." I've lived in my how home for six months, and a few weeks after we moved in I started seeing these little (or German) roaches. I honestly think that the people who lived here before us (we are currently renters) were probably not as weird about this kind of thing like me. My husband's business partner is in pest control, and he said that they are difficult to get rid of. They actually don't live outside like the humongous tree roaches, but they live inside. That makes it harder to eradicate them.

I am not an ocd cleaning type, but I do keep an orderly house (I sweep and mop), and this was nothing that we'd ever had before. It's almost like a personal insult when you get this type of roach, but I know I shouldn't be in hackles about it. My husband's partner just recommended spraying more than one time, and then he mentioned that it took 5x to get the German roaches out of trailer on his dad's property once (his dad owns a chicken farm and this trailer was where his worker lived.)

I don't know exactly what my husband was spraying, but he did it after the kids went to bed (I have four kids). I'm just so ready to get rid of them that I was pretty willing to spray more than once. One chemical group called permethrins is actually a derivative of chrysanthemums, if that would ease your mind any. I don't know any natural remedies, but certainly some are less toxic than others.

Good luck!

Erin

[PrairieMom]

We had these last year after our oldest son cleaned out an extremely dirty and disgusting (trash and filth everywhere) rental house that was thickly infested with them. He brought home some "good dishes" and left a stack of bowls and plates on the kitchen counter. What was he thinking??? I'm sure that's how we got them! Nasty things. I was horrified.

I researched and discovered that boric acid will kill them and is fairly non-toxic. I don't have babies, toddlers, or indoor pets so you might want to check that out. I bought a large container of boric acid, a white powder, at Lowe's and then after thoroughly cleaning out my cabinets, under the sink, EVERYWHERE, I put a light dusting of this stuff in the backs of cabinets, behind and under the fridge, around the baseboards, etc. I put all food in airtight containers or in the fridge or freezer. The boric acid helped but later we noticed baby ones had hatched so we repeated it, plus I put out some brown paste roach poison that comes in a tube like caulking...don't remember the brand, sorry. I put it in jar lids in the kitchen. They eat it and take it back and "share" it with the other roaches causing them to die as well.

We've been roach-free for many months. I have to say, though, that we were never "heavily" infested. If you are, it may take more patience and time. Good luck!

[GSMP]

I used to clean house for this elderly lady who had her own thing. I didn't know what they were so every time I found one I would throw it away....:lol:

She chewed me out royally for this......then explained what they were....

She would take a little bit of flour, powdered sugar and lots of boric acid. She would make these little balls out of the mixture. Of course you have to add a little bit of water to make the balls.

She had them every where....under beds, in side her cabinets and behind any furniture she could toss them.

She never had any type of bug. She told me growing up in the deep south, the roach problem could become very bad. Didn't matter how clean you were.

She told me her mom was afraid to put down straight boric acid because she had small kids and pets. She would mix this up and put in places she knew the kids wouldn't have access to them.

If you do put down the boric acid, there are key places you need to apply it. Roaches like warm, moist places.

It needs to be placed behind your stove, dishwasher, under the kitchen sink, at the back of any cabinets you feel comfortable using it in.

You also need to make sure you do under the bathroom sink and laundry room.

We had a friend stay with us and they brought them to our house. I had a friend who did pest control and he came over and gave me a very long lesson on eradicating roaches.

He would also bring the kids bug candy.....:lol:

Lollipops with crickets in the center, chocolate bars that looked like the rice crispy bars but had crickets or ant in them....really gross candy that would appeal to any boy.....:D

In case you are wondering....yes...they do make bug candy.

http://www.ambericawest.com/ambercandy.html

http://www.candyfavorites.com/Worm-and-Cricket-Chocolate-Covered-pr-514.html

Yeah...I know...It's gross.....:001_huh:

:lol:

[Susan in TX]

Boric Acid. We live in TX and roaches are a real problem here. Boric Acid is the only thing that really works. In my experience, all the other pesticides will likely kill you before they kill the roaches.

Susan in TX

[CactusPair]

Boric Acid works! Our student apt was infested and sprayed numerous times but to no avail. Dh & I took matters into our own hands with Boric Acid and our probelm was gone for good. Sweet relief. It is a miracle substance and the only thing that really works.

Heloise, I believe, has a recipe on how to make those boric acid balls that you leave around. I think I remember reading she lived someplace warm--Hawaii?--for a bit and these saved her sanity.

Boric Acid is sometimes labeled Roach Powder at the hardware stores.

Google it, get some, and enjoy your home again!:001_smile:

[Mississippi Missy]

I'm not real sure. I do know here in South Miss. we have fireants and they hate the smell of bleach. So do I for that matter. But I wonder if roaches do also. I guess this isn't much help, but all I could think of. :) Hope it works out for you.

[Blueridge]

SQUISH...:D

[OnTheBrink]

Don't vacuum up the dead ones, that's for sure. They can continue to hatch eggs even dead.