How to get bedbugs out with folk remedies: 35 proven ways to deal with bed bugs
Bed bugs are nasty neighbors. Having settled in an apartment, they multiply rapidly and feed on the blood of their owners. In the daytime, parasites hide, and at night they come out to hunt. The first thing to do is to find the place of their accumulation and determine the number of parasites. Draw up an action plan: use a folk remedy for bedbugs or resort to the help of chemicals.
Content
What are the folk methods of struggle
Folk methods of dealing with bedbugs are quite effective, for the destruction of parasites they use available means that are used in everyday life, herbs, chemical compounds.
Pros and cons of folk remedies for bed bugs
Folk remedies used against the invasion of bedbugs have their pros and cons.
The advantages are:
- that such funds are in almost every home, and you can buy them at any supermarket at an affordable price;
- during the treatment, the products do not harm humans and pets; they can be applied several times, after a certain period of time. After processing with folk remedies, the room does not need additional cleaning;
- means are not toxic and do not cause an allergy.
cons in the application of folk remedies recognize the following facts:
- processing with a large population of bedbugs, they do not always give the expected result, some of them do not destroy parasites, but only scare them away;
- short term of funds;
- after applying the products, a pungent smell sometimes remains, which disappears after airing the room;
- not all means are capable of destroying bedbug eggs.
The most popular folk methods of dealing with bedbugs
Many methods are available and give good results. Combining several methods enhances the result. Heat treatments, plants, mechanical methods of control and chemicals are used against the bed bug.
Thermal methods
Bed bugs do not withstand low and high temperatures, the optimum temperature for them is considered to be + 18-30 degrees. When the temperature drops, their vital functions slow down, and at -17 degrees they live only a day and then die. The high temperature also seems to work, at +48 degrees and above, eggs, larvae and adults die.
mechanical method
Mechanical methods of dealing with bedbugs will give a good result if combined with other folk methods or chemical means. Collected parasites, larvae and eggs should be destroyed.
| Throwing away old furniture | This method can be called fast, but not effective. Throwing away an old sofa or bed with parasites is not difficult. But bedbugs can be found not only in furniture, but also in other secluded places and will quietly continue to multiply and after a while will populate new furniture. This method will work effectively if combined with another method of pest control. |
| Manual collection of bedbugs | There are several factors that make this method not very effective: it is almost impossible to collect all the bugs, the parasites are not in one place, they hide in different places. Bedbugs come out of secluded places at night, and hide during the day. Adults are larger and easier to spot, but small larvae and eggs are more difficult to collect. When collected manually, the bugs will remain alive in the room, which will hide in the cracks, behind the baseboards, and it is difficult to notice them. |
| Collecting bedbugs with a vacuum cleaner | The effectiveness of this method is that adults, eggs and larvae are collected in this way. With a vacuum cleaner it is more convenient to get parasites from cracks, from under baseboards. Vacuum furniture, mattresses, under carpets. But it is unlikely that all bedbugs can be caught with a vacuum cleaner. There will still be living individuals. |
| Petrolatum | The product does not kill insects, but parasites will stick to surfaces smeared with Vaseline and are easier to collect by hand. The method is effective against larvae and adults. |
natural remedies
Against bedbugs, plants are used fresh or harvested in advance. Herbs are dried and used for their intended purpose. Of some, decoctions, infusions or oil are made and the places where bugs accumulate are treated. Some agents kill parasites, others scare them away.
Chemical mixtures
All chemicals are available, some of them repel bedbugs, and some kill. After treatment with strong-smelling agents, you need to ventilate the room. When working with chemicals, precautions must be taken.
Vinegar is one of the most affordable remedies. It is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1. All hard surfaces are treated, the places where bedbugs accumulate are sprayed with undiluted vinegar. The unpleasant smell of the product will force the bugs to leave the room. But for people it is not dangerous.
Denatured alcohol destroys bedbugs, only getting on the shell. In the apartment you need to find the place of residence of insects and carefully treat with this tool. Denatured alcohol is highly flammable and must be handled with care.
A solution of copper sulfate is used by gardeners to treat plants with fungal infections. With the same solution, cracks in the floors, baseboards, and furniture legs are treated from bedbugs. After applying the copper sulfate solution, ventilate the room and clean it thoroughly.
Chlorine solution is used for disinfection. In the fight against bedbugs, it gives a result, only there are not many parasites. Chlorine has a strong odor and can be harmful to health if used for a long time.
An affordable and effective remedy is used against bedbugs and other pests that live in apartments. The powder is scattered on sheets of paper or in plastic covers and left in places where insects accumulate. The powder corrodes the chitinous cover and paralyzes the bugs, and they die. Boric acid does not affect the eggs of parasites.
Small children and animals should not come into contact with boric acid.
Mixtures containing alcohol, depending on the ingredients, can kill or repel bed bugs. It is mixed with turpentine or camphor. The strong smell of the products causes the bugs to leave their habitat.
Naphthalene destroys bedbugs, destroying the chitinous cover. It is diluted in water, 10 tablets are crushed, poured into a glass of water, insisted for 12 hours. The finished mixture is treated with a room and left for a day.
To destroy parasites, a special mixture is used, consisting of salicylic acid, phenol and turpentine in a ratio of 3/20/40. Instead of turpentine, you can add camphor. They process secluded places in the apartment in which accumulations of bedbugs are noticed. The mixture is left for 24-48 hours. It is forbidden for people and animals to stay in the apartment. After processing, the room is ventilated and thoroughly cleaned.
The smell of kerosene repels parasites. Sheets of paper are moistened with the product and laid out in different places. Kerosene can be used to treat the legs of a bed, other furniture, using a sprayer. The product is highly flammable and must be handled with care.
Everyone knows the pungent smell of ammonia, after treatment with this agent, the bugs leave the room. In a liter of water, dilute 3 tablespoons of ammonia and spray the surface of furniture, carpets, floors. Processing should be carried out with windows open so as not to be poisoned.
Turpentine is a strong-smelling agent; the substance can be used to treat the places where bed bugs stay. Or by mixing it with kerosene and laundry soap. Technology for preparing the mixture: 100 ml of turpentine, 10 ml of kerosene, 15 grams of laundry soap are added to 40 ml of hot water. They process all the places where bedbugs stay, leave for a day. The tool quickly destroys parasites, re-treatment is not necessary. A day later, the apartment is aired and general cleaning is done.
Laundry soap and other detergents
Laundry soap is used in its pure form, or a solution is made with the addition of kerosene or ammonia:
- the soap is rubbed and poured with hot water, the resulting solution is treated with floors, baseboards, and left for several days;
- kerosene is added to the finished soap solution in a ratio of 1:2. Process floors and furniture in the apartment. Leave for 2-3 days, then wash off the solution;
- planed soap is stirred in warm water and ammonia is added.
Mixtures with kerosene and ammonia have a strong odor; after treatment, the room is left for a day. After a while, they ventilate and wash off traces of soap from the surfaces.
Detergents and washing powders are used for washing surfaces or washing bed linen, clothes, curtains, carpets.
Combination of folk and chemical means of struggle
Bed bugs are not as harmless as you might think. They multiply quickly. Sometimes, with a large number of parasites, treatment with one tool does not give the desired result, then methods can be combined. The industry produces many chemicals that are effective against bed bugs.
Prevention of the appearance of parasites
To avoid the appearance of bedbugs in the apartment, you need to regularly inspect the rooms and immediately close up any cracks and block access to parasites.
- Inspect the bedroom first, as parasites settle closer to the power source. Check the mattress, bed frame, curtains, under the carpet lying on the floor, voids under the wallpaper, cracks in the walls and under the baseboards. These are favorite habitats for bed bugs.
- Bed bugs can get into the apartment from neighbors, close all the cracks in the walls in time, close the ventilation holes with a mesh. The front door must close tightly.
- In the bathroom and toilet, close up all the cracks around the sewer pipes.
- Bed bugs can get into the apartment with furniture, they can be brought in with clothes or in a bag, having been visiting or traveling. Therefore, you need to be careful, and do everything possible so that the parasites do not get into the home.