Pest Control With Vinegar (Mooresville Exterminators)

How Can I Prevent Pests On My Own?

Ants, fruit flies, and mosquitoes are just some of the problems we all have in our homes. But what can we do? While hiring pest control professionals is the best way to get rid of all of them, you might be the type of person who wants to try out something yourself before asking for any help.  Well, if that is so, then this article would be of great help to you.

Homemade pest killers are safe and effective, yet only a few people use them. It may be that they do not have the time to make one and would rather just go to the grocery and pick one up from the shelf, or that they do not know how to make one. It is important to know, however, that it is not that hard to do it yourself. You need not look far to find an effective ingredient for homemade pesticides. Just go to your kitchen and reach out for a bottle of vinegar. Yes, that lowly cooking ingredient is also great for pest control.

Why Vinegar?

Vinegar is one of the best ingredients to make a pest control spray out of. It is effective in repelling ants, mosquitoes, fruit flies, and many others. Creating a mix is quite simple. What’s best is that it is safe for humans and pets.

Let us define what vinegar is first. It is a watery solution that is processed through the fermentation of ethanol alcohol. It is said that any ingredient that contains ethanol can be turned into vinegar. Beer, champagne wine, and cider are among the things that can be converted to vinegar. 

Vinegar For Ant Problems

When ants go marching, you know trouble would soon follow. Ants are always looking for food, so when they are in your house, you know they found your food.  Ants typically like sweets, proteins, fats, and oils, but can still be attracted to a wider variety of foods. During summer, they will search for water. Their march usually starts with an ant going out to forage for food. Once a patroller finds food, it will send out pheromones to signal to the rest of the ants in the nest, resulting in hundreds more going out of the nest. This makes them such a nuisance to have around the house.

Ants can also cause more structural damage to buildings than termites. In the United States, they caused millions of dollars in damages in homes and office buildings. Ants are known to attack electric outlets, thus making them fire hazards. A specific species of ants, the carpenter ants, boreholes in the wood, causing extensive damage.  

You can stop a trail of ants marching on your walls, tables, or on the floor by spraying them with distilled, white vinegar. Ants are dependent on each other’s pheromone, and the vinegar will help break that, causing panic in there what was once an orderly line.

Vinegar For Snails & Slugs  

Slugs and snails are usually a problem for those who have gardens. Slugs eat plants and vegetables. They are members of the mollusk phylum and are close relatives of snails. They are similar in structure, except for the slugs’ lack of external shells.  Most slugs come in gray to dark brown, which makes them hard to spot. They are about one inch long. They move by gliding using their so-called muscular “foot” since they do not have legs. To facilitate their movements, they secrete mucus constantly which comes from their muscles. This mucus dries later and forms a trail of silvery slime. Their slime alerts us of their presence. 

Slugs also love to eat decaying plant matter but prefer small, succulent plants.  They have a diverse diet and eat many types of plants. They do damage by leaving smooth edges and irregular holes on the leaves of plants by scraping them with their tongues.

Slugs are primary pests of herbaceous plants and seedlings. They eat ripening fruits and turfgrass seedlings that are close to the ground, like strawberries and tomatoes. Citrus are also vulnerable since slugs like to eat young fruits of trees and young plant bark.

Spray vinegar directly at the slugs to kill them. Vinegar will also take care of the snails. Just be careful not to spray them on the plants directly.

Vinegar For Stray Cats & Dogs

No, this is not to kill them, but only to repel them. How many of us here have experienced stray cats pooping in our garden? Or dog poop in front of our gates? To solve this, pour vinegar in areas where they poop a lot. Cats and dogs do not like the smell of vinegar and will keep them away.

Vinegar For Mosquitoes

Getting rid of mosquitoes should be a top priority in case you have them in your home. This is because they are vectors of dangerous diseases, like dengue fever, malaria, West Nile fever, encephalitis, yellow fever, and elephantiasis. They kill millions of people every year and have caused more deaths than all the wars in history combined.

Mosquitoes are small, fragile-looking insects. They are bloodsuckers, piercing through our skins. Only the female adult mosquitoes bite since they are the ones with the necessary mouthparts to bite; they have two tubes, one is for injecting an enzyme that prevents blood from clotting, the other is to suck blood.

They are attracted to stagnant water and breed there.

Vinegar is a good mosquito repellent. Use apple cider vinegar and mix it with essential oils. This creates a slightly acidic pH on your skin. 

Vinegar For Spiders

It is said that we all are living within 3 feet of a spider, and this makes sense. If you do not clean around the house, one of the first things you would notice is the creepy cobwebs.

Spiders are generally peaceful creatures. They would rather be alone and be by themselves. They do not bother humans; not even the poisonous ones.  In the United States, the two most common poisonous spiders that you may encounter are the black widow and the brown recluse spider. But while these two spiders are venomous, they bite only when they feel threatened. As good as that may sound, we do not know when these spiders would feel threatened, especially if they are inside our own house where our kids and pets are always going around playing. This makes the black widow spiders and the brown recluse spiders.

Will vinegar do the trick? Yes, it will. Spiders do not like the taste and smell of vinegar.  Mix a solution of ½ part water and ½ part white vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray this mixture in areas where you usually see spiders, plus the possible entry points that they could use to get access to your home. I do know that a lot of you do not like the smell of vinegar too, so to fix that, soak three or four pieces of orange peel in one cup of vinegar overnight before mixing the solution.

Another way to do it is to mix 2 tablespoons of hot chili powder or sauce into ½ cup of vinegar and 1 quart of water. Use this mix in the same way as you would a spider repellent.

Vinegar For Fruit Flies

Aren’t fruit flies such a nuisance? Here is the solution which is easy and safe natural and homemade insect-killer: mix 1 cup of water with half a cup of apple cider vinegar, plus ¼ cup of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of molasses. Put this mixture in a can, and put two holes on either side of the upper part of the can where you can insert a wire handle. Hang this in a tree and see the fruit flies getting trapped in it.

As you can see, vinegar has so many uses.  Now you know that cooking is just one of them. As pest control, it is just as effective yet a much safer alternative to commercially made chemical pesticides.

However, there will be a time when pest infestation problems would be too much for you to handle. Pests spread quickly and you would need help when that time comes. 

Call The Best Pest Control Company In Mooresville, NC

If you have pest infestation problems and you need help, call the best pest control company in Mooresville, Lake Norman Pest Control. They will surely take care of your pest problems.

Lake Norman is a family-owned pest control company with 61 years of experience. Residents and businesses in Mooresville rely on them to exterminate pests like mosquitoes, roaches, flies, termites, bed bugs, poisonous spiders, moths, weevils, and many more. Call Lake Norman Pest Control today for a free consultation.