White vinegar is often recommended as a natural way to get rid of roaches. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually kill these problem insects. It's more of a cleaning tool than anything else, and it won't actually help eliminate your roach problem.
If you are however living in a house with children or pets, vinegar will be the safer option to getting rid of cockroaches. All you will need to do is mix vinegar with water in a 70:30 ratio and spray it around your kitchen area. As cockroaches hate the smell of vinegar, this will help keep them away.
Pine-Sol and Fabuloso are strong, all-purpose household cleaners. Similar to bleach, these products kill roaches on contact. Some homeowners suggest spraying Pine-Sol around the outside of your house to keep cockroaches away.
Citrus. You may love the smell of fresh citrus, but cockroaches hate the scent. That means you can use citrus scented cleaners in your kitchen and bathroom to chase any lingering roaches away. You can also keep a few citrus peels around your home in strategic places.
Soap and water are a good start, but you can also use baking soda to help get rid of the roach smell. Another option is to use a disinfectant cleaner to wipe down surfaces. Make sure you clean floors, appliances, counter tops, cabinets, and anywhere else you have seen signs of roaches.
Boric acid: Used correctly, boric acid is one of the most effective roach killers. It's odorless, has low toxicity to pets, and since it isn't repellent to roaches, they will not seek to avoid it, crawling through it repeatedly until it kills them.
By keeping a clean dwelling, you'll give roaches less of a reason to intrude upon your happy home. There is more to keeping roaches at bay than just having spotless floors, however. Let's look at potential trouble spots that you may have overlooked during your most recent cleaning spree or inspection.
All About Vinegar
Unfortunately, it doesn't actually kill these problem insects. It's more of a cleaning tool than anything else, and it won't actually help eliminate your roach problem. It can, however, help deter roaches and get rid of germs in the kitchen when used as a cleaning agent.
Boric acid Some people find this to be the best option to kill roaches. Boric acid can work too, the only downside is that sometimes roaches will go away as soon as they smell boric acid.
For cockroaches, window cleaner can make them temporarily unconscious so that you can squash them. This works on initial contact, but Windex will not continue to kill bugs after it has dried. Laundry Detergent – Dilute a few drops of laundry detergent or dish soap in water and use the mixture as a spray.
White vinegar is a known cockroach repellent. To use it, mix equal amounts of water and vinegar and sprinkle on the area where the cockroaches come out. This works just as well as boric acid. Hot water is probably the easiest solution on this list.
Good old-fashioned soap and water is a safe, reliable, and inexpensive method. Create a soapy water solution that you can spray with a bottle. It will only take about 2 – 3 sprays to kill any roaches, as the soapy solution will cover their breathing pores and suffocate them.
Many homeowners report that roaches don't like tea tree oil. You can combine 1 part vinegar and 4 parts water with a few drops of tea tree oil and apply the mixture with a spray bottle to deter cockroaches from specific areas.
Soap and Water
Just like the fabric softener solution, mixing soap with water can kill roaches on contact.
It's a fact that cockroaches are afraid of humans and other mammals or animals that are bigger than them. They see us as predators and that fear triggers their instinct to scatter away. However, they dislike strong and distinctive scents such as citrus, peppermint, lavender and vinegar.
Method: Take equal parts of baking soda and a pinch of sugar in a shallow bowl, then place it near to the cockroach-infested areas or in where roaches are usually roaming at your house. The sugar attracts the cockroaches while baking soda will kill them.
Peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, and cypress oil are essential oils that effectively keep cockroaches at bay. Additionally, these insects hate the smell of crushed bay leaves and steer clear of coffee grounds. If you want to try a natural way to kill them, combine powdered sugar and boric acid.
Studies have found a boric acid and sugar combination to be a very effective killer of roaches, but more readily available is Borax mixed with sugar, which also gets the job done. Simply mix three parts Borax to one part sugar for bait, and be sure to keep your pets out of the vicinity.
Sweep your floors. Make sure all traces of food and other debris are swept off your floors. This is especially important in the kitchen where food and crumbs commonly fall. After sweeping, mop your floors with a disinfectant cleaner and boiling hot water to kill germs and keep roaches at bay.
How Does Windex Kill Cockroaches? Windex doesn't have enough insecticide properties to physically kill the roaches via chemicals. Instead what happens is that when a cockroach if properly covered in Windex, the Windex covers their back, which they breath out of and ends up suffocating them.
Do Roaches Get Worse After Spraying? Are you seeing more roaches after you spent money on professional pest services? Don't fret – that means it's working! You'll likely notice more roaches than usual immediately after beginning treatment, but that's because they're trying to escape the chemicals killing them.
Thus, sleeping with the light on can keep cockroaches away from your bedroom. When you leave your lights on, the cockroaches will not even try to come out. Predators are also attracted by the light and will begin to actively hunt down the cockroaches when it's bright in the room.
While bleach is ineffective when it comes to killing cockroaches, it does repel them. But, bleach should only be used with extreme caution, as it is toxic when ingested, and has the potential to bleach or damage anything it touches. When it comes to deterring roaches with smells, bleach may not be the best option.