10 Natural Remedies Against Bed Bugs

It’s natural to get scared at first if you discover that your house is infested with bed bugs. These creepy creatures multiply very quickly and can be found at every corner of your home. Once your home gets infested, it’s tough to eradicate them completely, unless you take help of professional pest control service. Bed bugs are nocturnal insects and are sensitive to light. During daytime, they hide in wall cracks, desks, mattresses, carpets, drapes, clothing, furniture and artwork frames. Bed bugs thrive in warm temperature and feed on blood. Besides, signs of bites on the skin like redness, swelling and itchiness, some other noticeable indications are dried blood stains on your clothes, bed or skin, bed bug skins and eggs.

Here is a list of 10 effective home remedies that you can use to control further breeding of bed bugs and take care of the problem before it’s too late.

Tea Tree Oil
Using essential oil instead of toxic chemical to repel and destroy bed bugs and other insects is not only an environmentally-friendly approach but an effective one too. Tea tree oil has a strong smell and powerful antibacterial properties that can both be used as a repellent and eradicate bed bugs at your home. Just make a solution with 2% of tea tree oil and spray it on your beds, closets, furniture, upholstery, linens, crevices and cracks in your walls, and repeat it once or twice every depending the extent of your bed bug infestation. The strong smell will lure out the bed bugs from their hiding spots and killed later. Now, the rooms are bed bug-free but smell great too. The strong smell will also keep the bed bugs out.

Talcum Powder
Sprinkling talcum powder in the places where there’s a bed bug infestation is also an effective way to eradicate the insects. The powder will suffocate the bed bugs to death, and like vacuuming, you should continue the process for several times for several days to have the best results. And remember not to sleep on those areas as well.

Lavender Oil
Lavender oil is another essential oil that is used against bed bugs. Similar to tea tree oil, eucalyptus or peppermint oil, lavender oil has a strong scent and taste that bed bugs hate so that it can use as a natural and efficient bed bug repellent and killer. Just put a few drops on your bed joints or furniture frames, and within a few days, it will destroy all the existing bed bugs and their eggs. Besides, the pleasant scent will be refreshing for your senses.

Alcohol
Spraying alcohol in areas where bed bugs may be hiding not only kills them it also works as a bed bug repellant. Spray alcohol in the infested areas and alcohol will dehydrate these stubborn bloodsuckers and their eggs and destroy them instantly. But the effect only remains as long as you spray alcohol and not after that. So, instead, you can coat your walls and furniture with alcohol to control them for better results as it works as a bed bug repellent.

Diatomaceous Earth
Spreading diatomaceous earth around your home or on the areas where bed bugs live is very effective in killing them. This powder made from fossilized water plants is very efficient in controlling and eradicating bed bugs and other pests when they get in contact with it because of its dehydrating effect.  But, the powder can be harmful to human lungs, so wear a dust mask while using it.

Baking Soda
Sprinkling baking soda in the crevices and cracks around your house will help kill the bed bugs because it has drying and antimicrobial properties.  Don’t forget to vacuum the places you applied baking soda after the procedure. You can also use bleaching powder too on your clothes and furniture as it also has the same effect. You can also use cayenne pepper assist to kill the bed bugs given its antimicrobial benefits.

Hot Water and Steam Treatment
Bed bugs hate to live in hot environments. You can treat your mattresses, all upholstery and affected areas with hot water and steam to kill the bed bugs. Washing your clothes with hot water and then ironing them will also kill the bed bugs and their eggs. Steaming too can eradicate bed bugs, and for this process to work efficiently, a steam vacuum cleaner is used. The procedure has to be performed several times for best results. However, steaming won’t function properly if the bed bugs are hiding in hard to reach areas like the inside of your mattress.  Also, leaving the affected clothes, upholstery, and furniture under the direct sun will also kill the bed bugs in all situations.

Cold and Cold Water Treatment
Just like extreme heat, bed bugs can’t tolerate extreme cold temperatures. Just put your clothes and other small infected items in a freezer for a few days. Washing your clothes with freezing water or ice cubes will also kill the bed bugs. During winter, just leave your clothes, upholstery, and furniture outside under the bitter winter climate.

Black Walnut Tea
Black walnut tea is both an effective insecticide and repellent for killing and controlling bed bugs. Just sprinkle the tea in the infested areas like wall cracks, corners the room, closets, creases of beds and other interior areas. The tea’s anti-fungal and antibacterial properties will lure the bedbugs from the hiding places and then killed.

Thyme Oil and Smoke
Thyme oil and smoking thyme are very useful when it come to repel bed bugs and other insects. Just tie a Thyme stick with a cloth and burn near the infested areas of your home and its surroundings or you can put fresh thyme leaves in net bags and place them near a mattress, corners, closets, under your furniture and so on to repel the bed bugs. Keep in mind that Thyme works as a repellent and doesn’t kill the insects, but it’s very effective in bringing out the bed bugs from their hiding places, so you can see them and kill them later with alcohol, boric acid powder, talcum powder or other methods mentioned above. Besides, you can use mint leaves to protect your house from the bed bugs to enter as it’s also an effective insect repellent. Just put some crushed mint leaves or mint leaf packets in the beds, or between the mattresses.

There you have it, ten natural remedies to repel and kill bed bugs in your house. Use these solutions with proper guidance and understanding, and you find that these aren’t yielding satisfactory results, consult a pest control professional.

Author Biography

Roger Gonzales is a well rounded blogger who has a wide variety of interests and specializes in doing in depth research for every project. He is an expert in doing in depth market research and also a notorious blogger/writer. He provides an absolute commitment to excellence and strides to provide the best quality work possible by all means. He currently is a blogger for http://www.helpfulforhomes.com in a genuine effort to provide the best quality content to his readers.