How to Eliminate and Control Roaches
by Kristie Leong MD on Oct 04, 2007 with 10 Comments
If you have roaches, you know how difficult they can be to eliminate from your own. Here are six ways to control roaches.
It can be a bit distressing to see a giant roach crawling on your kitchen counter when you come downstairs for a midnight snack. Not only are roaches a nuisance, they’re also a bit intimidating.
What can you do to help keep your home roach free? Unfortunately, roaches tend to be touch and hard bugs which makes them difficult to eradicate once they’ve entered your home. Here are some tips on how to control and eliminate roaches:
- Give your home a professional steam cleaning to eliminate roaches. Steam can be sprayed into openings where roaches enter and leave your home which should kill any lurking roaches.
- Buy some roach traps. These are boxes filled with a residue that allows the roach to stick to the residue permanently so that he can’t escape. These work well if you have a small population of roaches in your home but won’t control a large roach population.
- Try mixing a little boric acid with brown sugar and place it on an elevated surface. Roaches have a preference for high places. Plus, you don’t want your pets to ingest the borax.
- Fill small sachet bags with catnip and leave them at sites where roaches congregate. Catnip acts as a natural roach repellent and isn’t toxic to pets or humans.
- Keep a bottle of soapy water handy. If you spot a roach, spray it with the contents of your bottle. Soapy water will kill roaches in a matter of minutes.
- Another natural roach repellent is an equal mixture of tea tree oil and citronella oil.
If these methods aren’t effective in controlling and eliminating your roaches, you may need the help of a professional exterminator. This should be your last resort since professional strength pesticides and insecticides can be toxic to animals and humans. The natural method of roach elimination is best.
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Published in: Homemaking
Mei Ming | Apr 27, 2008 | Reply
I never knew that soapy water can kill roaches.
Nice Idea!
Kathy | Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
I have an infestation in my dishwasher too and I have never seen this before they will be in there if I open mid-wash or just after its done they’re all over and my plates don’t seem so clean with all those roaches around, so soapy water doesn’t work. I know I have roaches elsewhere but the dishwasher is the worst. I have laid out the baits, sprayed the house with a professional spray, I have used the goo that comes a tube which got rid of my infestation in my other house, here it doesn’t seem to phase them at all. But if anyone has a specific way of getting rid of roaches in your dishwasher please let me know!
mee | Aug 28, 2008 | Reply
Do not use it at all, keep it dry, roaches like water, and if your dish washer is wet, it attract roaches.
kiki | Nov 9, 2008 | Reply
the only place in my home where i get roaches is in my dishwasher. they don’t go in the part that holds the dishes instead they always go inside the control panel behind the circuit board. the only thing i can do is take the control panel apart every so often and kill whatever is in there.
jerome | Mar 30, 2009 | Reply
Soapy water. Does it really work? Really?
paul | May 3, 2009 | Reply
in the diswasher? they arent waterbugs or hookbugs?
jackie | May 8, 2009 | Reply
I also get them in the dishwasher. mostly they are by the latch when i open it and I’ve seen them run inside. GROSS! No idea how to get them out of there. When we’ve gone out of town I’ve left a roach trap inside the dishwasher, but no long term results.
patty | Jun 30, 2009 | Reply
I was told to pour bleach down the drains including the dishwasher drain. Not sure if works yet.
Kevin | Jul 6, 2009 | Reply
I went to Lowes and picked up a bottle of Ortho Home Defense Max. I then hit the circut breaker for my dishwasher and grabbed my trusty screwdriver and disassembled the front cover. There was a lot in there, so i spray it down and moved on to the electronic control box. I found the nest! So gross! anyway, the ortho stuff supposivly kills em for 12 months and and i took out about 50 roaches in 10 seconds since it kills em pretty much instantly. Baits might have worked over time. Bombs probably wouldn’t, and i’ve sprayed around and under my dishwasher a few times, but they still kept running in the cracks between the door. There’s really no getting around taking your dishwasher apart. There’s no way i would’ve even got half of em by just spraying the cracks and vents. They reproduce fast. Dont cut corners by “sealing vents” or just spraying the outside of the internal parts inside the door. If its a cover with screws holding it on, that’s probably where they are. Kill em all, kill em fast. Hope this helps someone else.
Dana | Sep 26, 2009 | Reply
fyi…waterbugs are roaches