Among the many chemicals in our industrial environment that get into our systems and make us sick are the pesticides we use in our homes. We use them because they are toxic to the creatures that bug us, but they are also toxic to us.

Sometimes the toxicity is immediately apparent: we get a headache, get sick or feel nauseous from the fumes or other contact.

Sometimes the toxicity is subtle and can accumulate resulting in chronic complaints and disorders, including allergies, cancer and miscarriages. This is serious, and deadly over time.

Sometimes we even put poisons on our pets to deal with ticks and fleas, not realizing that these substances are not healthy for us or our animals.

How to Use Oils for Pest Control

We don't need poisons to kill pests. We can repel them, and even sometimes kill them, with substances that are not only harmless to us but are actually healthful to us. Below is a list of oils that will solve most of your pest problems around the house.

One way to do this is to get a pistol-grip squirt bottle. Mix a few drops of the oil with some water, shake it up, and start squirting! If you have bugs on your plants, like aphids on your roses, you can squirt the leaves and drive the bugs away with no harm to your plant.

You can do the same with the other pests. As for ants, you can smear a line of peppermint or spearmint across your kitchen counter or floor and the ants won't cross it. If you already have a line of ants invading your house, just spray a line of your oil and water mixture across the floor and they’ll turn back. As for flies, you can knock them right out of the air with one shot from your pistol grip.

Essential Oils for Pest Control

Safe Insect Repellants

The oil alone is an insect repellant. Combined with water, it is an insecticide. W hen you go into the woods and fields, put a little lavender around your ankles, wrists, nd waist-band and you won't have to worry about chiggers or ticks (or Lyme Disease of Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever). Lemongrass, sage or thyme would work, too, but might irritate your skin so put it on your pant cuffs and shirt sleeves.

As for your pets, you can make a mixture of citronella, lemongrass and essential oils, and spray around their necks, backs and legs, but watch to keep oils from around their eyes and inside the ears. Rub the inside of the ears with a dampened paper towel.

These statements have not been reviewed, approved or dissaproved by the FDA and are offered only as information and not as any diagnostic tool or form of treatment.

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