Home & Shed Natural Pest Control Tips

Wintertime & Pest Control

It’s cold outside and your home or outdoor shed is warm and cozy and a great place for a pest to call home for the winter. This is a great combination for pests moving into your house, garage, or outdoor buildings once the weather turns rainy and cold or snowy. Pests are seeking a dry place and food, so what better place than your home stocked with all sorts of food and a warm and dry place to be? Unfortunately, it’s not too convenient for the humans that live in the home since the holidays seem to bring new house guests in the way of ants, mice, and more!

Getting Rid of Pests Naturally

The last thing you want when you are prepping for the holidays is a home or your guest shed invaded with pests which seem to turn up at the most inopportune times. Warm indoor temperatures bring pests into the air, carpets, counters, cupboards, closets, and more! How do you naturally rid your home or outdoor building’s interior of ants, fleas, flies, and mice?

Where Did These Ants Come From?

You go out to get your morning coffee and suddenly you are greeted by crawling friends all over your countertop or in your outdoor shed or guest shed, not the way to start your morning.

The first defense for ants is to remove everything that could attract them. Keep your counters free of crumbs and sticky spots and try not to eat in your outdoor buildings or meticulously clean up after having a snack in your workshop.  That’s easier said than done if you have children! Cover your sugar and put your honey bear in a plastic bag. Ants are thirsty and water drips and soaking pots and pans are a real attraction. Cut off water drips and try not to soak your dishes overnight which attract thirsty ants. Soaking paint brushes in water in your workshop can attract ants too so it’s best to soak paint brushes in water outside of your shop.

If these simple measures don’t keep ants away, try these simple remedies:

• Soapy Water: Keep a spray bottle filled with soapy water and spray ant trails.
• Cucumber Peel: Leave cucumber peels or slices in the kitchen where you have detected the ant’s entry points. Ants don’t like cucumbers.
• Peppermint: Soak a paper towel or cotton ball with peppermint oil or use crushed peppermint leaves and place them at the ant’s entry points.
• Natural Ant Repellants: Cayenne pepper, citrus oil, lemon juice, cinnamon, or coffee grounds all work to keep ants away.
• Diatomaceous Earth: For long-term ant control sprinkle diatomaceous earth places where ants tend to frequent.

Is Your Flea Population Increasing?

Fleas usually come into our homes or outdoor buildings through our pets. For every flea your pet has, there may be as many as 30 more in the pet’s general area. For flea problems in your home or outdoor buildings, the best line of defense is a two-prong attack; put an electric flea trap in the area that your pets frequent the most and use non-toxic flea and tick preparations on your pets.

If you found you are experiencing a flea invasion, here are some simple tips:

• Electronic flea traps are available on Amazon and your local pet store and keep fleas away.
• Shampoo: Shampoo your pets regularly with non-toxic flea deterrent shampoo.
• Citrus Oil: Make a citrus oil potion with lemons and skin in boiling water, let soak overnight, and then sponge the mixture on your dog and wash off. Not to be used on cats.
• Pet Food Supplements: Add brewer’s yeast and garlic, or apple cider vinegar to your pet’s food, just no raw garlic for cats.
• Diatomaceous Earth- If you find your home invaded, wash every pet bed and then sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth on pet beds, and all floor coverings, leave for at least 48 hours- 1 week, and then vacuum up the dead fleas.

Do You Have Fruit Flies?

Many of us compost for our gardens, but when the weather turns cold and the house is warm it’s a perfect environment for the breeding of fruit flies. Here are some simple solutions:

• Plastic Bag: Use a new plastic bag to line your counter compost container each time you dump the contents in your compost outside.
• Bleach: Rinse your compost container out with a bleach solution each time you take the contents to the garden.
• Red Wine: Create a fruit fly trap with an old Mason jar, punch a few holes in the lid and fill half way with red wine. They will fly into the trap and not be able to get out.
• Peppermint Oil: Make up a solution of peppermint oil and water. Spray the inside of your compost container each time you add items and spray the area fruit flies are congregated with the same mixture.

Suddenly You Have Mice in Your House & Shed

The weather has gotten cold and suddenly you hear the pitter-patter of small feet during the night or you find mice droppings in your outdoor shed. Welcome to winter, especially if you live out in the country and your home is close to open fields. Mice can seem to show up anywhere and they can get through the smallest spaces.

• Cats: Borrow a neighbor’s cat or get a cat as a natural mouse deterrent.
• Peppermint Oil: Spray on a cotton ball and place at mouse entry points.
• Plumber’s Foam: Use this to plug up holes in sheetrock and make the space smaller around your dryer vent.
• Instant Potatoes: Mice will eat them and they will expand in their stomach killing them, sad, but it does work.
• Have-a-Heart Trap: Catch your mice and re-home them at least a couple of miles away from your home.
• Used Kitty Litter: Place at points of entry, mice think a cat is around and will stay away. This is a great solution in a potting shed or your garage. Mice seem to love fertilizer of all kinds.
• Steel Wool: Stick this in cracks and crevices that mice have used as an entry point.
• Electronic mice repellents. I finally found one that works and it’s great.

Winter brings with the change of season lots of activities and holidays to look forward to but it also brings pest inside your home and outdoor buildings if you aren’t prepared. Winter is also a great time to plan outdoor DIY projects such as a guest shed, office shed, converting a shed to livable space, or planning a playhouse or treehouse for your children. be sure to check out all the new products on the Shed Windows and More site to help in the planning and building of all your DIY projects.