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Best, cheapest, DIY way to kill roaches?
Brodo Faggins
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have a bit of a problem, and it's roaches. Luckily they're not that numerous, but I see at least one or two every night in my kitchen, and they're massive. Easily the length of my middle finger.
Anyone know a good, DIY way to kill them? I read somewhere that a glass jar filled halfway with honey is a good way to get them, but I want to get some feedback.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.
Anyone know a good, DIY way to kill them? I read somewhere that a glass jar filled halfway with honey is a good way to get them, but I want to get some feedback.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.
Brodo Faggins on
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It's a fine light blue powder that you can buy on the cheap at any hardware store or superstore (~$5). You make a light coat of any nooks or crannies where you suspect roaches are coming from, and the boric acid attaches and eats through their shells, killing them fairly quickly. You can also buy the small roach baits for those that make it past the boric acid, and they'll take the food back to wherever the came from and distribute it to the other roaches. If all else fails, you can buy the large semi-professional spray jugs of roach repellant (~$20), and spray down the corners, nooks, and outside openings. Above all, just keep everything as clean as possible; no food particles, no standing water, wipe down counters after preparing meals, clean dishes quickly. Whatever you decide, good luck; roaches are damn tough to get rid of if you're already infested.
--LeVar Burton
In addition to dusting areas with it you can make a bait by mixing it with flour and sugar.
Also, it doesn't eat through their shells. It acts as an abrasive and creates tiny scratches in their exoskeletons through which they dehydrate.
In any case, it's reliably effective.
If it's the smaller, orange/light brown kind, those are your typical house pest and they are a bitch. One thing you can do is ... actually i found a good link.
http://www.ehow.com/way_5438640_homemade-roach-control.html
That middle one worked well for me in the past. However, when I did it, I basically just put it in a big bowl with some popsicle sticks so they could climb into it.
This stuff is downright magical.
If they are indeed the inside type of roach then try the cheap methods but I'd avoid the toxic sprays. There is a biological control or two that work well but you'll need to pay an exterminator and make sure they use them. One is a contagious fungus that will spread since roaches will cannibalism their own and the other is nematode worms that eat the roaches from the inside and spread to the whole population through cannibalism.
I lived in an apartment complex and had a hell of a time dealing with roaches because of the other tenants. I spoke with the exterminators every time they came out to spray poison and none of it ever worked very well. Then the apartment complex was sold and the new owners used the biological controls and the roaches were gone after one treatment.
I wouldn't go that far. If they're large wood roaches like I suspect they are (by him saying they were as large as his middle finger) you don't typically get a real "infestation" of those. They're just everywhere during the summer some places.
Now if he had German Roaches (small roaches) then yeah you'll see a real infestation of those. They're often harder to get rid of than normal wood roaches and they reproduce quickly. Rather than seeing one or two at a time, you'll see 6-7 at a time.
My college apartment had german roaches. Small, and we kept their numbers down with traps. Hard to eliminate them entirely since the whole complex was likely infested.
Pretty sure we got wood roaches in my last and current place. I haven't seen a roach in a year since moving in, with two exceptions: one I saw outside when getting the mail, and one that survived an encounter with my trash bin. Resilient bastards, aren't they?
This guy was pretty big, however. I'd wager as big as my index finger? I wasn't exactly busting out the measuring tape, and he wasn't too keen and letting me get him fitted for a suit. Should I bother rushing out to grab the boric acid?
But of course, it's always impossible to clean under the oven and behind the sink. There are several large trees directly outside the kitchen, but there's a concrete pathway between the two. They presumably were attracted by the cooking smells?
In any case, definitely gonna try the boric acid, I'll report back soon. I squashed two last night, haven't seen any tonight so far. Thanks for the tips!
But if you want to play it safe, Boric Acid looks pretty damn safe for humans as far as insect killing stuff goes.
you may use roach bait to try and tackle the roach problem in a long play move. The roaches will come out in droves to eat up the gel bait and subsequently deliver the poisonous substance to their broods.
Another choice is the use of insect dust on the roaches, which causes a little more immediate death to all those bug unfortunate enough to get caught in the dust's way.
Other possibilities include roach traps, granules and good old fashion roach spray. All of these methods have their pros and cons when it comes to roach control; all of which would take forever to get into in one post so do your HW. Fortunately for you, all the aforementioned products and information can be obtained at your local garden/hardware stores or if your feeling especially lazy, look it up online (teh heh).
you may use roach bait to try and tackle the roach problem in a long play move. The roaches will come out in droves to eat up the gel bait and subsequently deliver the poisonous substance to their broods.
Another choice is the use of insect dust on the roaches, which causes a little more immediate death to all those bug unfortunate enough to get caught in the dust's way.
Other possibilities include roach traps, granules and good old fashion roach spray. All of these methods have their pros and cons when it comes to roach control; all of which would take forever to get into in one post so do your HW. Fortunately for you, all the aforementioned products and information can be obtained at your local garden/hardware stores or if your feeling especially lazy, look it up online (teh heh).