Acetic acid makes vinegar an excellent tool for pest control, repelling some of the most common backyard nuisances and even killing weaker insects. It's most effective against ants, spiders, and mosquitos. You can keep spiders from entering your home by spraying vinegar around your property's perimeter and entryways.
Fortunately, there's an easy way to deter bugs (particularly spiders) from making their home in yours — one that doesn't involve spraying poisonous pesticides indoors. Mix a 50/50 solution of water and white vinegar and spray around your window frame. Do this indoors, and outside too, if you're able to.
Vinegar is one of the best ingredients to make a pest control spray. It is effective in repelling ants, mosquitoes, fruit flies, and many others. Creating a mix is quite simple and is considered safe for humans and pets. Acidity of the vinegar is potent enough to kill many pests.
Most vinegar fly traps use a mixture of vinegar and dish soap to attract flies, but it doesn't bring in every fly species. There are dozens of fly species in nature, even in North Carolina. They are all attracted to different scents. The fruit fly, in particular, senses sugar and sweet tastes wafting from fruits.
Make an All-Purpose Insect Repellent
Lemongrass or citronella oil, and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar. 1 cup isopropyl alcohol, 1 cup water, ½ tsp. catnip oil. 1 cup alcohol or witch hazel and 10-20 drops of essential oils such as lemongrass, peppermint, or lemon eucalyptus.
In addition to being a great cleaning agent, vinegar is effective in deterring many types of pests. Ants despise the smell of vinegar, and vinegar will wipe out the scent trails they leave around the house to navigate.
Remove Pests With Rubbing Alcohol and Soap
A mixture of one-half cup rubbing alcohol and 1 quart of liquid soap can make an effective pest-control spray to get rid of whiteflies, aphids, mealy bugs, scale insects, and thrips. Fill a spray bottle with the solution, then shake and spritz directly on your plants.
Vinegar spray can serve as an organic pest control, specifically for spiders. While it is harmless to humans, it contains acetic acid which gives it a sour taste and odor which spiders are highly sensitive to. To use, mix equal portions of vinegar and water in a spray bottle.
Does Vinegar, Dish Soap, Essential Oils Repel Flies? Vinegar attracts, not repels flies; however, a container with vinegar and dish soap will function as an attractant trap as the vinegar lures flies to enter the trap and the dish soap will cause the flies to sink and die.
Most species of ants, including carpenter ants, dislike the strong scent of vinegar, which is why mixing it with water is enough to repel them. It's important to note that while the vinegar messes with the scent trail and prevents them from returning, the solution isn't enough to kill them.
Vinegar can keep animals out of your yard.
Deer, as well as other animals, “including cats, dogs, rabbits, foxes, and raccoons, [don't like] the scent of vinegar even after it has dried.
Even though white vinegar does have a strong smell, it's not what makes your spider problem go away. White vinegar contains acetic acid that actually harms spiders. When you make a diluted solution, it safely and successfully harms and kills spiders without putting your kids or pets in danger of chemical exposure.
Less is more with any cleaning product, including vinegar. Use the least amount of vinegar you can get away with to minimize smells. If you use a light hand with the vinegar, the aroma will go away on its own in 30 to 60 minutes, particularly on solid surfaces. If it's on a soft surface, it may take a day or so.
Ants hate Vinegar. The smell of Vinegar will cause them to stay away from it or permanently leave the house. Ants crawl in a straight line, marching towards the food sources. The Vinegar solution will interfere with these pheromones, and the ants will get lost.
Using white vinegar as fly repellent is a great if you're in a pinch. Add it to a spray bottle alongside dish soap, water, and baking soda for a surprisingly effective treatment.
Vinegar, particularly apple cider vinegar, has a strong scent that repels mosquitoes. Creating and spraying a vinegar solution or placing vinegar-soaked cotton balls around your outdoor area can help keep mosquitoes away.
White and distilled are types of vinegar. They differ fundamentally in their acetic acid content. White, also known as spirit vinegar, has 5% to 20% acetic acid. This is generally higher as compared to distilled vinegar's 5%-8%.
The smell of white vinegar is a natural repellent for mice. It will make them leave your home or office. Mice have a strong sense of smell and they will avoid areas where there is white vinegar sprayed or soaked cotton balls in it.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE)
Made from crushed fossilized single-cell algae, diatomaceous earth won't hurt humans but it is deadly to insects with an exoskeleton, including bed bugs, flies, stink bugs, spiders, beetles and earwigs. Within 48 hours of coming in contact with DE, bugs will die of dehydration.
Citronella Oil
Small bugs usually hate citrus, so citrus oil sprays are common in homemade repellents. Mix equal parts water with witch hazel (a half cup of each works well). Witch hazel is an alcohol-based astringent that is commonly used in DIY repellents.
Vegetable Oil Spray
A homemade insecticide made from vegetable oil mixed with a mild soap (such as Dr. Bronner's Castile soap) can have a devastating effect on certain troublesome insects, such as aphids, mites, thrips, etc.