The problem is that we have come to depend on a spray of this to destroy ants, a spray of that to kill cockroaches and another spray for silverfish or whatever. This is all a big con. You do not need three or four sprays to kill or deter all the insects that you are concerned about.

In fact, many sprays contain the old-fashioned pesticides, but they are packaged so as to make you pay a lot more for them.

Boric acid can be used to kill all insects that have mandibles and scavenge. If you want to eradicate ants, mix it with water and sugar. It will be taken back to the nest, if you do not make the mixture so strong that it kills the ants before they can get home. Boric acid will also poison cockroaches. Mix it with flour or pour it in liquid form on bread.

You can kill greenfly or aphids quite effortlessly, by spraying them with your used washing-up water. Soapy water is all you require to kill these insects.

The Colorado potato beetle is a pest in some countries. You can kill or discourage the Colorado potato beetle with a spray made from soaking cedar wood chips in water. This will make a tea-coloured fluid. It is a powerful pesticide and an antibiotic too. Spray it onto the foliage.

You can also use a foliage spray made from tansy. The method is to dry the tansy and then grind it up – as finely as you can be bothered to. Use a pestle and mortar and then mix it with water. The finer you ground the tansy, the fewer blockages you will suffer in your spray gun.

Cutworms can be defeated by mixing pineapple weed with water and spraying on affected areas. Sagebrush and water will have the same effect, but you may need to boil the mixture to extract the essential oils.. If you do not have these plants where you live, you can mix molasses with bran or sawdust and spread that on your plants just before dusk.

The tomato hornworm causes a great deal of damage to tomatoes where they exist. This technique of destroying them is not a pesticide as such, but it is very effective. Spread cornflour around your tomato plants, the hornworms will feed on this too, but they cannot digest it. It will soak up their digestive fluids , expand, and blow them up. This technique can be used on cockroaches too.

A spoonful of canola oil and a drop or two washing-up liquid in a spray gun will exterminate most soft bodied grubs

Diatomaceous earth is a good barrier to all insects and is one of the few ways of clearing out bed bugs too.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Terro Ant Killer. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

To ID the fruit fly one really only needs to look at it’s eyes. Known for big red bulbous eyes the fruit fly is easily distinguished from other small gnats. Phroid flies look almost identical and many of the same habits but by comparing the eyes you can narrow down your pest rather quickly. You may need a small magnifier for this identification but it’s well worth the time because treating this nuisance as an ordinary fly would be a mistake.

Fruit flies have a complete life cycle meaning the go from egg to larva then pupate into adults. Females can lay up to 500 eggs which are barely visible. She deposits her eggs on or near moist organic material which is where the young will feed.Eggs hatch in only 30 hours and the larvae feed for about 6 days before they move to a drier location to pupate. When conditions are good the whole process from egg to adult can happen in as little as 8 days and the adults are sexually active within 48 hours. This quick life cycle often leads to what seems like overnight population explosions of the fruit fly.

Fruit flies easily follow air currents and usually have several breeding places in any building. Do not assume that all of your breeding sources are indoors; fruit flies will wander in from nearby dumpsters, outdoor garbage cans or even damp compost piles where fruits and vegetableshave beendisposed of. After the source of attraction and breeding has been removed, a pyrethrum-based insecticide may be used to kill any remaining adult flies in the area.

The best approach is to construct a trap by placing a paper funnel (rolled from a sheet of notebook paper) into a glass which is then baited with a few ounces of cider vinegar (or red wine). Place the jar trap wherever fruit flies are seen. This simple but effective trap will soon catch any remaining adult flies which can then be killed or released outdoors.

Want to find out more about fruit flies and how to control them? Follow this link to this and much more information on flies and gnats

Population growth of the earwig is not a fast process, females lay only 50 to 60 eggs early in the spring and there is usually only one generation per year. Maybe this is the reason that the mother earwig is very protective of her nest and will fight off would be attackers. Earwigs defenses are few and even though they have ominous looking pincers they are basically harmless. Besides the large pincers it seems that the legend of the earwig is what puts most home owners uneasy in their presence. Old folk lore stories say that earwigs often crawl in sleeping peoples ears at night and lodge into their brains. While there have been instances of these and other bugs getting into ear cavities it is by no means a huge on going problem.

Earwigs live in the woods just fine but our homes offer the perfect place for them to thrive as well. No amount of prevention is enough to completely thwart the earwig and in reality having a balanced population of this and other bugs is actually a good thing. Earwigs are mostly scavengers and help recycle debris around our house. The problem of population growth is not due to extreme egg laying but because we give such conducive conditions to the development of the large numbers that eventually invade our homes. When we constantly water and re-mulch and put decorative statues and planters on the ground we complete the needs list of the earwig. Moisture is critical for their survival and being nocturnal they find not only the safety and darkness under our landscape but the dampness that collects makes for the perfect nest. Over time these conditions allow the earwig to explode in numbers and that is when we have such persistent problems in our homes.

The drier the area the less you’ll have earwigs and this is why inside populations can’t survive very long. Earwigs are constantly on the move looking for food and it’s usually an opportune crack or open door that earwigs use to get in. They often find their way to the bathroom of a house because of the lure of life giving water. There is no express strategy of the earwig to infest your home. It is mostly the wandering tendencies that eventually lead the earwig inside. As populations get bigger and food competition is tougher or if things dry out a bit you’ll have earwigs on the move looking for a better situation which often leads them inside.

Earwigs are not as able bodied as other insects but find it easy to enter homes through cracks and crevices. Front door thresholds or back sliding glass doors are the most common spot you find earwigs coming in. We often place potted plants near these entries and even put welcome mats out just in front of the doors. All these items collect dampness underneath and offer the nocturnal bug a great place to hide and replenish their much needed moisture. This in turn puts the earwig in close proximity of the main entries and from there it’s only a few inches from them coming into your home. With the repetitive cycles that we the home owner practice every year it’s no wonder the earwig eventually explodes.

You can Prevent Massive Earwigs with simple changes to your home. Simple easy to use hints that will Keep Your Earwigs Outside.