Nontoxic Pest Control for Your Home and Garden
by: TC Thorn

Pesticides are toxic and, while often effective against pests,
can be dangerous for your family and pets. Outdoors, sprayed
pesticides might drift on a breeze and dust your vegetable garden
or your neighbor's yard. Indoors, pesticides can linger in the
air, exposing the family to harmful chemicals. For these reasons,
many people are turning to nontoxic pest control methods.

Prevention is the best way to control pests, but there are times
when even the most thorough preventative measures will not save
you from intruders, so this article discusses both preventative
pest control methods and nontoxic pest control products.

Preventative Pest Control Methods

Sanitation:

As they say, cleanliness is next to godliness. And it keeps pests
out, too. Keeping your home clean is the most effective pest
control method. If you don't leave food or dirty dishes lying
around the house, animals and insects won't be attracted to the
smell. Sweep and vacuum regularly. Remember, just because you
can't see crumbs doesn't mean they don't exist. Clean inside
pantries and cabinets cabinets, under and around the stove and
refrigerator at least once a year.

Screens:

This may seem obvious, but screens on doors and windows are a
simple and relatively cheap way to keep insects out of the house.
Also, screens on crawlspaces keep rodents from obtaining easy
access routes into the house.

Caulking:

By caulking cracks in your house, you can minimize places for
insects to hide and nest. Target bathrooms and the kitchen,
especially doors and windows.

Nontoxic Pest Control Products

Traps:

There are many kinds of traps available that target many kinds of
pests. Some examples are sticky traps for cockroaches, glueboards
for mice, flypaper, bug zappers, and traps specifically for rats,
gophers, or moles. You can usually pick up traps at your local
Home and Garden store.

Pheromones:

Pheromones, essentially insect scent hormones, can be used in
traps as bait. By emitting the scent of the female insect,
pheromones can be used to lure males into a trap, where they are
caught in a sticky glue. Insects are only attracted by pheromones
emitted by their own kind, so you need to know exactly what kind
of insects you're trying to eliminate and plan accordingly.

Biological Control:

Biological control is more often used in agriculture but can
sometimes be used in home and garden situations as well.
Basically it means using desirable organisms to eliminate
undesirable organisms. For instance, planting certain plants in
your garden can deter certain pests. For example, spearmint
repels ants. Garlic repels Japanese Beetles. Indoors, spiders eat
fruit flies and houseflies, so it may be worth leaving some of
those webs around.

Repellents:

There are nontoxic repellents available for pest control.
Mosquito repellents are the most popular, but if you look around,
you can find repellents that target other pests. Some herbs, like
eucalyptus and wormwood, are known for repelling animals and
insects.

TC Thorn writes for http://www.pestinformation.com/  where you can
find more pest control information.


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