It’s SPIDER Season…how to keep them out of your home without chemicals

The fall is spider mating season, so it’s no wonder that they seem to proliferate and try to come inside where the climate seems more hospitable.  Before you panic and call an exterminator, we wanted you to know that you don’t need to spray chemicals around your home to keep them out; because there’s a library of knowledge on natural spider repellents out there.   Commercial herbicides and pesticides are linked to endocrine and DNA-disrupting effects in pregnancies and even subsequent generations, even when the offspring had no direct contact with the chemicals! (Environmentally-Caused Disease Crisis? Pesticide Damage to DNA Found ‘Programmed’ Into Future Generations)

According to this organic gardening video, you can make a spray to repel arachnids with only three natural ingredients.   It helps to have a small hand-held pressure sprayer to apply it, so you don’t have to keep pumping the nozzle repeatedly.  Here is the recipe:

1. Add 2 cups of distilled water to sprayer

2. Add 15 drops essential peppermint oil to sprayer

3. Add 2 TBS standard household vinegar (white vinegar)

Mix the ingredients well by shaking and apply it around cracks in windows in doors, doorsills, outdoor light fixtures, exterior penetrations like AC pipes, electrical cables, dryer vents, pet doors, garage doors, and around trash containers.  Repeat every 2-3 weeks as necessary!

This gardener also had a list of other natural tips for keeping spiders out of your home: 

• Use cedar wood chips around the house foundation.

• Trim back shrubs and trees 2-3 feet from touching the house.

• Sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the foundation.

• Sprinkle table salt on window ledges.

• Lavender oil on a cotton ball will deter spiders (place in closet corners)

• Use dehumidifiers in the home (spiders like humidity)

• Leaving white outdoor lights on will attract insects and spiders, but yellow bulbs do not have this effect.

• Use an old sock to contain strong herbs like lemonbalm, eucalyptus, lavender to repel them (place it behind furniture).

• Lay fresh rosemary stems on windowsills.

• Vacuum corners of interior rooms (and the porch) to remove spider eggs.  

• Coconut oil (3TBS) and vinegar (1 c) in 1 gallon water to spray outdoors or indoors.

• Remove woodpiles, leaves and clutter near the home.

• Caulk small gaps around windows.

• Minty toothpaste will also repel insects (place in small cracks and openings).

• Bitter cucumber slice laid on the windowsill is said to repel spiders.

• Horse chestnuts (lining them up on windowsills) helps repels spiders.

• Citrus peels can repel spiders. 

• Tobacco makes a natural insecticide (handful of tobacco in ½ gallon water, let sit for 24-48 hrs). 

Photo by norbert velescu on Unsplash