Wildlife causes massive damage to landscapes and homes every year, which can be financially devastating at worst and infuriating at best. Dealing with pesticides or other store-bought repellents can be tricky, though, as some can cause damage to your health or plants and animals that aren’t considered pesky. 

Natural, homemade repellent solutions are a great way to keep out wildlife in a healthy, budget-friendly way. Below, we list several of our favorite at-home remedies for keeping critters at bay before calling in the professionals at Bug House. 

Garlic

Garlic is an ideal solution to keep your garden safe, especially if you’re a new homeowner looking for a place to start. The strong scent of garlic deters rabbits, deer, and flying or crawling insects. The most common method of using garlic as a repellent is making a spray. Finely chop 4-6 cloves of garlic and boil in 2 quarts of water, then strain the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray your plants, targeting the underside of leaves.

Soap

Soap can keep deer and squirrels away from your yard as well. Either skewer soap bars and stick them along the area you want to protect or wrap bars in cheesecloth and string them up. We recommend a traditional, strongly-scented brand. Floral scents aren’t as effective, so skip those.

Herbs

Try sprinkling lavender, mint, pyrethrum, and geranium around plant bases to keep out garden predators. Spread geranium, basil, sage, and pyrethrum near doorways to keep insects and rodents out of the house. There are even recipes using essential oils that you can use to spray or rub on your skin to keep insects away. For example, mix witch hazel, bug repellent essential oils, and distilled water to create an effective scent that will ward off unwanted visitors. 

Mint is another ideal herb to use. Insects such as mosquitoes, flies, and spiders don’t like spearmint and peppermint, while pennyroyal mint repels ticks and fleas. Add some witch hazel to mint essential oils to make a spray repellent.

Hot Peppers

Peppers are another great, non-toxic solution. Mix together hot pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, dish soap, and water to create a concoction sure to keep bugs away. Make sure to use gloves and consider goggles to avoid contact with the sting of the peppers. Similarly, you can use a combination of hot sauce and water to spray throughout your garden.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon repels squirrels along with carpenter ants and other insects that may wind up in your kitchen. Make sure to sprinkle an unbroken line of cinnamon around your problem areas because ants will find any gaps and still maneuver their way through. Cinnamon is also known for repelling mosquitoes, wasps, earwigs, bedbugs, silverfish, spiders, flies, fruit flies, and mice. 

Have you tried all of these remedies and still can’t seem to keep the wildlife away? While we recommend giving anything within your resources a shot, sometimes the homemade approach isn’t as effective as calling in the experts. The team at Bug House is here to help. Reach out today so we can protect your home.