When you live in the bush (forest) as I do, you quickly get used to sharing your home with small crawly critters. But that doesn’t mean I always like it, especially now it’s autumn and the spider population around the windows has exploded.

So what can you do when you hate using insect sprays that are just as toxic to humans as they are to bugs?

Luckily…spiders and other nuisances don’t like peppermint.

These nifty, natural, non-toxic insect repellants should do the trick and help you avoid using the toxic alternatives!

Spiders Hate Mint

Unlike us, many insects hate the strong smell of some essential oils, and the right oils can deter them from entering your home. Put 5-7 drops of peppermint essential oil into 500mls water in a spray bottle. Add a drop of detergent. Shake well and spray into the corners of your windows or anywhere else spiders like to hang out.

The white cabbage moth butterfly doesn’t like peppermint much either. Plant some around the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Brussel sprouts in the vegetable garden. However, all the mints can be invasive so be sure to keep an eye on it and trim it before it takes over.

Mice hate spearmint.

Grow some beside your doors or spray spearmint essential oil in water where you’ve noticed them in your house and at the place where they are getting in.

Problems with ants?

Spray pure lemon juice around the openings. Apparently, the high acidity of the lemon disrupts their sense of tracking. You may need to do this a number of times as they are very determined and will seek and find another opening into your home.

A thin line of cinnamon essential oil wiped around the doors, windowsills and floors where they are entering can deter ants. They won’t cross it.  You could also sprinkle ground cinnamon right in their path if you have no essential oil.

Like spiders, ants aren’t fond of peppermint oil either. Wipe around windows, doors or any opening they use to enter.

Organic liquid soap, such as Dr Bronner’s mint, also works and is easy to use. Mix in equal quantities with water and spray on the ants when they show up.

You could use other liquid soaps but many of them include toxic ingredients which you probably don’t want to introduce into your home.

If you happen to know where their nest is 0.5 – 1L of white vinegar poured into it will get rid of ants fast.

Buzz-Off-Flies

Flies are not just annoying they also carry diseases like salmonella, shigella and e-coli. When they land on your food they regurgitate before beginning their feast. Gross and potentially dangerous!

If they’re a problem around your home a simple and weird way to deter them from entering is to hang a sealed clear plastic bag of water above the open door. The sunlight falling on the water is refracted and this disorients and confuses the flies when it hits their multifaceted eyes.

There’s no hard evidence for this but many people swear it works.

Soap And Water Bug Spray

Most insects breathe through their skin. So keeping a spray bottle of soap and water around provides a quick fix when you have a bug there, right now, even cockroaches!.

Just give it a decent spray and the bug will soon suffocate. Or you could just step on it.

I successfully use spray bottles of homeopathic remedies in water in my home to repel many pests, from silverfish and moths to aphids on the roses.

If you’d like to know more about this method the book ‘Homeopathy For Farm and Garden’ by V.D. Kaviraj is a fascinating, practical and well-illustrated guide that explains how to use homeopathic treatment instead of pesticides for agricultural, market garden and domestic crop management.