An eco-friendly pest control plan is the best way to ensure your landscaping remains pest-free and has the healthiest impact on your building, employees, and the environment. Whether you’ve dealt with ineffective pest control methods in the past or you’re proactively looking to keep critters and pests at bay, opting for an eco-friendly route can be just as much (if not more) effective than traditional, chemical-laden options.
11 Ways to Remove Pests Naturally
There are a number of ways to approach eco-friendly pest control—check out these ideas to get you started.
1. Make Sure You Use Nutrient-Rich Soil
Ensuring your landscaping’s soil is packed with nutrients is not only a recipe for healthy plants, but also attracts beneficial insects instead of harmful ones. Start a composting program in your building and turn leftover food scraps into fertilizer to give your soil a boost. Plus, you’ll have a great new plan for eco-friendly food recycling.
2. Pick Out Pest-Control Herbs and Plants
Picking out the right plants for your landscaping will help you control pests. Herbs like mint, basil, lavender, and rosemary can deter unwanted pests, plus they’re great companion plants to help the rest of your landscaping thrive. Flowering plants like petunias, chrysanthemums, and marigolds are great options, as are lemongrass, clover (perfect for ground cover), and eucalyptus.
3. Use Spices as Pest Repellant
Spices like cinnamon, cayenne, paprika, turmeric, salt, black pepper, bay leaves, and cloves can help you with eco-friendly pest control. Combine one teaspoon of your chosen spice with one cup of water, then spray around the perimeter of your landscaping. You can even spray this around windowsills and door frames if you see pests entering your building.
4. Clean with Essential Oils and Vinegar
Similar to the spice method, you can mix one cup of water, a quarter cup of vinegar, and one teaspoon of your chosen essential oil in a spray bottle. Use this solution in your office kitchen and around trash cans to deter pests. Essential oils to try include peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus, citronella, lemongrass, and tea tree.
5. Use Food Waste to Repel Pests
This method works both in your landscaping and indoors. Save citrus peels and plant them in the soil as a natural fertilizer, or lay them out on countertops or windowsills to deter critters. A leftover onion in a bowl of water can ward off mosquitos, and ground coffee can repel ants, mosquitos, wasps, or bees.
6. Use Boric Acid
A great deterrent to roaches and classified as a natural insecticide, boric acid can be used around the edges of your landscaping or doorways to prevent bugs from coming inside.
7. Relocate Rodents with Humane Traps
Using humane rodent traps can help you relocate small rodents without harming them—and save your landscaping in the process.
8. Build a Bird Habitat
Birds are great for controlling pests around landscaping. Install bird feeders, birdbaths, and nesting boxes to attract birds—they’ll eat any unwanted slugs, caterpillars, snails, and bugs in no time.
9. Use Pyrethrum Sprays
This natural pesticide is a biodegradable option for eco-friendly pest control. It has low toxicity to humans and is safe to use in your landscaping. It’s easy to use as a spot treatment for specific areas or plants, or on an entire garden.
10. Use Microbial Insecticides
A microbial insecticide, like bacillus thuringiensis (BT), is a non-toxic, eco-friendly option for targeting pests. Your landscaping team can spray it all over your outdoor plants.
11. Put Out Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a great way to get rid of caterpillars, aphids, slugs, whiteflies, and root maggots, just to name a few. While wearing a mask, you can sprinkle it around the edge of your landscaping and around doorways.
Benefits of Eco-friendly Pest Control
There are a number of benefits of eco-friendly pest control, including:
- Better long-term results, as pests are less likely to develop resistance.
- Less damage to your landscaping and the surrounding environment.
- No harm to beneficial insects and animals, like butterflies, lizards, small mammals, and honeybees.
- Safe to use around humans and animals.
- Little disruption—these methods can be done without the need to overhaul your current landscaping.
Choosing eco-friendly pest control methods not only keeps your landscaping and the environment safe, but also makes your workplace healthier.
Claire Wirht, a writer and editor for various industries, wrote this article on behalf of insurance provider Hippo. For tips on how to utilize eco-friendly pest control methods at home, check out the company’s homeowners guide here.