Despite the fact that my house is spotlessly clean, I have a problem with ants. I steam clean my kitchen every day and in between wipe down with vinegar solution, but the mites are coming in and on my worktops. I hate using insecticides – is there anything organic or natural that they hate?

You might try baking soda, they won't cross it. They obviously found a food source and you also need to find where they are getting in. Follow their trail in both directions. Find what they are feeding on. Then find where they are coming in. Do whatever you want to get rid of the ants that you see and get rid of what they are feeding on (probably something in a food cupboard). Lay down the baking soda near the entry point. Now if you have access to the outside of where the entry point is, look for the entry point on the outside and the location of the colony. I use a garden hose to flood them out of the ground. After flooding them wait a few minutes and you should see them, perhaps thousands of them, coming out and looking for high ground. At that point, you use a good commercial grade insecticide (for outdoors) and zap them. Repeat the flooding and insecticide a few more times. The reason you are doing this step outdoors is that these ants are getting food from the ants that came into your house. When their friends fail to return, they will start coming in on their own, so you have to get rid of them also.

EcoPCO EC is a natural contact insecticide that contains botanical active ingredients and provides a fast knock down (kill) of a variety of flying and crawling insects. EcoPCO EC organic bug killer is a highly versatile synergizedbotanicalbug sprayconcentrate for indoor or outdoor application as a surface, space, area or contact spray.

[Read more…]

For most fruits & veggies, you can just run them under cool water and wipe them dry with a clean paper towel and either eat right then or save for later. For berries, you're better off trying to find organic, if that's just not possible you should rinse and dry them only immediatly before using them. Otherwise they will mold or get mushy.

A 10,000 sq ft range, 5 gallon tank, do-it-yourself kit that controls mosquitoes AND cools outdoor temperatures housed in a twenty-two inch long plastic deck box. The EcoMist misting cooling fogger uses a low pressure atomizing system to reduce air temperatures by up to twenty-five degrees. The EcoMist fogging mister comes as a kit and assembly is required! Included with the misting kit are stainless steel nozzles and extenders, slip lock Ts, slip lock hose adapters, three way connectors and end plugs, O-rings and vinyl tubing. (See the Product Features below for a more detailed list.) The vinyl tubing can be buried underground or run under building eves. Nozzles can be elevated and mounted strategically to direct cooling mist in the desired areas. The fogging mister’s pump, tank and filters are contained in a convenient and handsome plastic deck box. The fog mist system uses organic, all natural Pyrethrum insecticide to repel and kill pesky biting bugs. A half gallon of Pyrethrum concentrate is included with the kit. Extra Pyrethrum is available in either a half gallon or gallon size.

[Read more…]