Cockroaches

I know, I know- I have already written about getting rid of roaches in some early articles but when Leonie sent in a list of ideas for controlling insects and treating stings, I knew I needed to put something better here so others wouldn't go to all that trouble just to kill the culprits.

I told my dad about this method and he did not even attempt to use it. The main thing he wouldn't do was to keep the kitchen clean. Neither he nor my step mother was into doing the washing and scrubbing type of things and I sure wasn't going in to do it for them.

Back a lot of years ago, Heloise was a big authority of everything household. The ladies have changed over the years and I do believe that the column is still around somewhere but one specialty was a recipe for making "bait."

On the preceding page there is a recipe and it sounds like it would make enough for an apartment complex. You don't have to do all that. You don't even need to mix up bait. The original Heloise directions told the user to place a chunk of the mix onto an upturned jar lid. Then place these around your kitchen.

Instead of doing all of that, just use the powdered boric acid and sprinkle. You must first move all your kitchen counter items, clean well and sprinkle the powder under where they will sit. Not a lot either, just enough so that the insects will crawl through it on their way past. Sprinkle behind the stove and refrigerator. YOU DO NOT WANT TO PUT IT WHERE YOUR PETS WILL BE ABLE TO GET INTO IT.

To find Boric Acid, look in the larger grocery store in the health aids section. It comes in 8 and 16 oz bottles of the dry white powder and should last you for a long time. I tried using it on ants and did not find that it worked at all.

I have been able to eliminate roaches from every place we have lived over the years even with neighbors who have the critters. You may need to reapply when the neighbors spray but you will never have a problem. Bits of food may attract the ants but you won't have the roaches anymore. (For sugar ants, sprinkle out a little bit of artificial sweetener and they will not come back.)

We get the winged and flying German roaches every summer but only a few which can be killed out by watching and smashing any that dare appear. They do not hide indoors like the common roach.