Solve Your Pest Problem With Peppermint Oil
If you have been battling pests small and large around your home, the solution to your pest problem may lay in purchasing some simple peppermint oil from the baking section of your local grocery store. Peppermint oil is a natural way to fight off a large variety of different pests that try to make your house their home.
How Peppermint Fights Pests
Peppermint has a really strong odor. This strong smell is a big reason that peppermint is so effective at driving away pests. A wide variety of pests, from fleas to flies to mice, can't stand the strong scent of peppermint. When they sense it, they leave the area and find somewhere else to hang out.
How To Choose The Right Type Of Peppermint
Peppermint oil is the most effective way to way to use the herb to keep away pests, because you can easily turn the peppermint oil into a cleaning solution. You can purchase peppermint oil in the baking aisle of your local grocery store; this is the type of peppermint oil you'll want to use to keep pests away from your home.
Do not purchase peppermint essential oils; the concentration of peppermint in these is extremely high and can be harmful to children and pets; stick to the baking kind or make your own peppermint oil. You can make your own peppermint oil by packing a quart jar to the top with fresh peppermint leaves. Then, pour in some high-quality olive oil or vegetable oil. Put the lid on the jar and let it sit in the sun for at least a week, then put it inside a dark cupboard for two weeks. This process will extract the peppermint from the leaves. Remove the leaves and use the oil for pest repelling purposes, or even for baking purposes.
How To Create A Pest Peppermint Solution
Since peppermint is so strong, you don't need to use a lot of it. Fill a spray bottle 9/10 of the way with lukewarm water, and then fill the rest of the bottle with peppermint oil. Screw on the lid and shake up the water and oil mixture.
How To Use The Solution
First, concentrate on areas where you have seen the pests that you are targeting, and gently mist those areas with the peppermint solution so that they are damp with the oils. Let the peppermint solution sink into and evaporate on its own; don't wipe it up.
Once you have sprayed in the specific areas you have seen pests lurking, its time to peppermint proof your entire house. Lightly spray all of your windowsills with the solution, as well as all of your doorways.
Take the peppermint solution outside of your house and spray the solution around all of your windows and even on the screens themselves. Spray around the outside of all of your doors as well.
Walk around your house, and spray along the foundation of your house to keep pests away. If you spot any cracks in your foundation, drench those areas with the peppermint solution.
If the pests are bugging your plants, you can spray them with the solution as well. Just keep in mind while you are spraying outside that you will have to re-spray every time it rains; the solution is not water resistant.
Fight off small pests likes flies, fleas and ants, and fight off large pests like mice with a peppermint solution. This solution is easy to make as well as very inexpensive. If the peppermint does not solve all of your pest problems, speak to a professional pest company such as Cavanaugh's Professional Termite & Pest Services about your additional pest issues.