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.
Cockroaches have an incredible sense of smell that they use to find food. You can take advantage of this fact by using scents they dislike such as thyme, citrus, basil, mint, and citronella to repel them from your home.
Borax: Borax is a classic roach killer. It's a powdery substance which is a kind of salt. It dehydrates the cockroaches' exoskeletons and kills them. Boric Acid: Another powder solution is boric acid, dehydrating the exoskeleton until they die.
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.
Keep pests OUT
Insects don't enjoy baby powder nearly as much as your baby does. Sprinkle a line across areas where common household pests like ants, flies, roaches, and other unwelcome visitors tend to roam. They will relocate themselves promptly.
Eucalyptus oil has a strong scent that seems to have some success in repelling roaches. You can dilute it with water and spray areas you think cockroaches might have nested.
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.
Dusts – A few insecticides used for cockroach control are applied as dusts or powders. Most familiar to householders are boric acid and diatomaceous earth. For controlling cockroaches, boric acid tends to be more effective. Roaches succumb to boric acid after crawling over treated surfaces.
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.
Lemon contains limonene, which does in fact repel cockroaches.
Cayenne, Garlic, and Onion Powder
Walk around your home and sprinkle all cockroach-prone areas with this spice mixture. Cockroaches can't stand the smell of these spices and will avoid all areas sprinkled with them.
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.
This spice can keep creepy cockroaches at bay, the strong essence of cinnamon can keep these bugs from climbing up the kitchen slabs and cabinets. Just sprinkle some freshly ground cinnamon powder around the kitchen and keep these roaches from breeding.
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.
Soap and Water
Just like the fabric softener solution, mixing soap with water can kill roaches on contact.
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.
Alternatively, let the lavender steep without heat for two days. Strain the lavender out of the mixture, let it cool and put the lavender water into a spray bottle. According to the hack, just spray this where you see roaches and it should repel the nasty bugs from your home.
Cockroaches are attracted to your home by the smell of food. They are most attracted to starch, sugar, grease, meat, and cheese. Rotting fruits and vegetables can also give off a very pungent smell that will definitely attract these pests.
The aroma of garlic has long been known to have repellent effects to many insects, including cockroaches. Garlic has a pungent smell that cockroaches don't like.
Diatomaceous earth powder is abrasive and breaks down the waxy layer of the cockroach's hard exoskeleton, killing it through dehydration. When they walk through diatomaceous earth, roaches carry away some of the DE that clings to the tiny hairs on their legs. They typically die later, back at their nest.
Cockroaches will eat soap, so it is not toxic to them. However, if you cover them sufficiently with a soapy solution, it will disrupt their ability to breathe through their spiracles and they will suffocate. So yes, Dawn soap will kill a roach when used correctly and accurately.