Transcript organic pest control in the home

Organic Pest
Control
In the Home
What Will we be Talking About?
Safer Pest Control
Methods for specific
pests
Plants for Pest Control
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Safer Pest Control
Keep pests out
Look for breeding places
Try deterrents (sulphur
or diatomaceous earth)
Use mechanical means
where possible
Use only organic methods
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What Pests?
Ants
Cockroaches
Fleas
House Flies
Mosquitoes
Moths
Rodents
Wasps
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Ants
•
Ants are valuable predators
•
Come inside during dry times
Prevention
•
Remove food scraps
•
Mulch house plants
•
Apply grease band to trees
Repellents
•
Pennyroyal, spearmint or tansy
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Cayenne pepper, camphor or borax
Control
•
1:1 borax & icing sugar bait
•
Pyrethrum spray
Cockroaches
•
Very adaptable
•
Carry disease (hepatitis, typhoid)
Prevention
•
Install screens on doors/windows
•
Seal all crevices
•
Clean up breeding sites
•
Remove food scraps
Repellents
•
Tea tree leaves
Control
•
Sticky cockroach traps
•
Icing sugar/nicotine baits
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Trap – fill margarine container ¾ full of
red wine, add dessert spoon of cooking
oil
Fleas
•
Usually from cat or dog
•
Can carry disease (bubonic plague,
murine typhus)
Prevention/Control
•
Hard daily vacuuming
Repellents
•
Lavender oil
Control
•
Pyrethrum spray
•
Wormwood spray
•
Diatomaceous earth dusted on pet areas
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Long dishes of water to trap fleas
House Flies
•
200 species in Australia
•
Carry disease (typhoid, polio,
gastroenteritis)
Prevention
•
Screen all doors and windows
•
Check breeding places – rubbish bins,
chook house, septic outlets
Repellents
•
Pennyroyal oil
•
Tomato leaf & wormwood tea
Control
•
Fly swatter
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Sticky paper
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Bottle fly trap (see fruit fly trap)
•
Pyrethrum spray
Mosquitoes
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Only the females suck blood
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Need water to breed
Prevention
•
Screen all doors and windows
•
Cleanup stagnant water
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Add fish to ponds or oil cover
Repellents
•
Lavender oil
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Scented candles (citronella)
Control
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Garlic spray
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Home made fly spray
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Pyrethrum spray
Moths
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Clothes or pantry
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Webbing in dry food
Prevention
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Store food in airtight jars
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Store bulk in airtight drum with candle
Repellents
•
Bay leaves
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Chopped dried garlic in a paper bag
Control
•
Trap – fry breadcrumbs in old oil
then pour into open jar, one per
shelf
•
Pyrethrum spray
•
Tennis racket zapper
Mice
•
Nests made from any shredded
material
Prevention
•
Clean up potential nest sites
•
Vermin-proof all outside food
containers
•
Cover all openings into the house
Repellents
•
Fresh or died mint leaves, lavender,
camphor, mothballs
Control
•
Trap – set against a wall
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Bait – bread, peanut butter, honey,
bacon rind, chocolate
Wasps
•
Most wasps are beneficial
•
Generally not aggressive
•
European wasps are not
beneficial but are aggressive
•
Be aware of paper wasps in
summer when working
around shrubbery
Control
•
Knock down and burn nests
at night or in winter
Plants for
Pest Control
Plants for Pest Control
Bay
•
Tree
Repels silverfish and weevils
Camphor
•
Tea from leaves is used as a
general insecticide
Castor
•
weed
Oil Plant
Powdered leaves as an insect
repellent
Catnip
•
Bruised leaves to keep ants
away
Plants for Pest Control
Elder
•
Tree
Crushed leaves repel flies
Fennel
•
Smell form the leaves is a
flea repellent
Feverfew
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Use instead of pyrethrum
Garlic
•
Dried cloves keep out
weevils, general insecticide
Plants for Pest Control
Horehound
•
tea repels flies & other
insects
Larkspur
•
Decoction of seeds kills lice
& fleas
Lavender
•
Strewing herb, general insect
repellent
Mints
•
Leaves repel mice and rats
Plants for Pest Control
Melaleuca
oil (paperbark,
Teatree)
• Repels mosquitos
Pennyroyal
• Leaves repel mosquitoes,
ants and fleas
Rhubarb
• Leaves are an insecticide
Rosemary
• Leaves repel moths
Rue
• Flea, cockroach and
silverfish repellent
Plants for Pest Control
Stinking
•
Roger
General insect Repellent
Tansy
•
Leaves repel flies, ants and
fleas – strewing herb
Thyme
•
Thyme oil kills lice and is a
powerful antiseptic
Wormwood
•
Powerful insecticide and
insect repellent
What did we Talk About?
Safer Pest Control
Methods for specific
pests
Plants for Pest Control
g.meyer@big