Every Spring, insects start to hatch again. They crawl back into homes across the country, and it often seems like there aren’t ways to get rid of them. They’re a part of nature, right? What’s the sense of trying to stop them? Well, insects destroy property, contaminate water sources with their eggs, and can even hurt you and your family depending on the type of insect. So, how to keep bugs out of house without screens?
The common solution is installing screens, but they are not a magical cure all. There are dozens of different ways to rid yourselves of insects invading your home. Solutions for how to keep bugs out of house without screens can help you fix your bug problems for good. These include implementing pesticides, essential oils, and tidying up the yard.
Alternatives To Screen Doors
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With dozens of alternatives to screen doors, there’s no need to go through the hassle of measuring spaces and installing them. Here we will discuss chemical solutions, natural solutions and yard treatments for how to keep bugs out of house without screens, and even repairing your screens (as a last ditch effort).
Chemical Solutions
In every hardware store, you’ll find an array of insecticides, sprays, traps, and other insect killers as answers to how to keep bugs out of house without screens. The harsh chemicals in these solutions are guaranteed to get rid of your bug problem. The only problem is, if you have small children or pets, these chemicals can be dangerous. If a child puts a chemical in their mouth, either via toy or by their own hands, you’ll have to contact poison control, or rush them to the emergency room.
All Natural Solutions
Essential oils are an all natural way to get rid of insects. Some oils like veviter, cedarwood, clove, and orange, are good for getting rid of many insects. Oils like peppermint are great for getting rid of spiders. If you mix the essential oils with water, and spray them around the perimeter of your house, it creates a barrier that insects won’t cross. The scent repels them!
The Venus Fly Trap
Venus fly traps are a species of plant that actually “eat” insects. They use a scent that attracts the bugs into their “mouths” and traps them. They then slowly digest the insects, absorbing their nutrients. You can easily get a venus fly trap online, including on websites like Amazon. They aren’t expensive, and you can expect to pay as little as six dollars for one. They mainly eat ants, spiders, flies, beetles, and even eat slugs! Though they aren’t as vicious as chemical solutions, they are an all natural alternative. Be sure to research before you purchase one, as they may require special treatments.
Yard Treatment Solutions
Treating your yard is a great solution to outdoor bug problems. Most insects breed outside, and hide their eggs in organic matter, decaying animals, and in trees or bushes. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Install Bird Feeders
Birds love eating insects. They’re a great source of protein for the birds, and if the birds are attracted to your yard because of the bird feeders, they will eat the insects they find around them! It’s like your personal legion of bug eaters. They eat everything from ants, to wasps, and mosquitos too.
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Drain Standing Water
If you have a pool, a pond, a water fountain, or anything that can store water, be sure to either treat it with chemicals or drain it. Standing water is a breeding ground for dozens of insects, including fruit flies and mosquitos, which can carry an array of diseases.
Trim Your Shrubs
Many insects lay eggs in trees, underbrush, and shrubbery. They are great places to hide the eggs from birds and other predators. Be sure to trim the leaves on any trees, bushes, and plants you have.
Clean Up The Leaves
Bugs love to lay eggs in decaying leaves. They’re perfect conditions for hatching their babies, so be sure to clean those leaves up and throw them away. They can harbor more than just eggs. Decaying leaves can harbor disease that kill plant life, and toxic fungi.
If Screens Are Your Last Option
If you don’t have screens, you can install them by finding out the measurements of the space, and then installing them. If you already have screens, and they’ve become ripped, worn, or weathered down, there are many ways to repair them.
Common Household Insects
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Though there are many species of insects that can invade your home, there are a few that invade almost every home. Here are their names, what they do, and how they can be removed or killed.
Termites
Termites are white-tan bugs that eat through wood, especially the wood in your house. They are never singular, and always come in colonies, similar to ants. They can cause horrible damage to the foundation of your home! And on an even worse note, if you have trees in your yard or around your home, termites can hollow them out and cause them to die. A dying tree means that it can easily collapse and cause damage in its vicinity. That means damage to your home, cars, and other property.
Ants
Ants typically live underground. They only come to the surface to collect food for their colony. When they burrow into your home, or find a gap in the corking of a room, they become a seasonal nuisance. By spraying their trail with a mix of white vinegar and lemon juice, you’ll keep them away long enough to cork up the problem. By using an insecticide, or essential oils, on the entrance to their colony, you should be able to get rid of them. Birds love ants, so installing some bird feeders to attract them to your yard is another natural solution!
Spiders
By far, spiders are one of the most hated insects of all time. Arachnophobia plagues millions of people across the world, and for good reason. Many spiders are poisonous, like the brown recluse spider, which can grow up to a mere half an inch. They are small, but they are deadly, and their bites can kill small children and small animals. There are spiders like the wolf spider, which literally eat mice. There are dozens of scary, poisonous, eight-legged monsters. You have the option of insecticides, and other options like peppermint essential oils to get rid of them. Or, if they aren’t the scary, poisonous types, they will get rid of the other insects for you!
Mosquitos
Mosquitos give thousands of people diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and the West Nile virus. They are a common insect that plague hot summer nights. Their bite is painless, but can transfer disease directly to your blood. They breed in stagnant water, like pools, ponds, and water fountains. They can be anywhere from a centimeter in length to inch long monstrosities! They’re often warded away with citronella candles.
Flies
Whether it’s the common house fly, the painful horseshoe fly, or the fruit fly, they are nuisances. They breed in stagnant waters, lay their eggs in decaying leaves, in trees, and any places they can get their eggs in. They can be a force to be reckoned with, but with the help of insecticides, essential oils, cleaning up the yard, and even Venus Flytraps, you can get rid of them.
Conclusion: How To Keep Bugs Out Of House Without Screens
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Essential Oils Recap
There are so many alternatives to installing screens. In this how to keep bugs out of house without screens guide, we broke down your options into all-natural solutions, cleaning solutions, and chemical solutions. You can get chemical solutions at any hardware store, but finding those essential oils can be tricky, and expensive. Spirituality shops and online retailers are the most convenient options. True essential oils are expensive, so be wary of the prices.
By spraying the essential oils around your house mixed with water, you create a barrier against the insects. Be prepared to read the essential oil warnings, because even though they are natural, some are harmful to animals. Cinnamon oil, tea tree oil, ylang ylang oil, and peppermint oil are all toxic to dogs, so if you have one, don’t spray it near them.
Magnetic Screens
If screens end up being your only option, you can always opt in for screen-like items to avoid the annoying installation. Magnetic screens are easily installed. Just pop them over your door and it’s done! They aren’t as good as normal screens are for protecting your home from bugs, but they’re an alternative.
Alternative Methods Recap
In this article, we discussed many alternatives. For the yard, be sure to drain all of the stagnant water, trim any trees and bushes, and try installing bird feeders across the yard, to encourage birds to eat the bugs around. You can also invest in bug eating plants, like the Venus fly trap, that ingest ants, mosquitos, and flies.
To conclude, “How to Keep Bugs out of House without Screens” is a small guide to jump start you into the world of insect removal and repellant.
