13 Effective Home Remedies for Cockroaches (with Pictures)

Having cockroaches in your home is not only annoying and unhygienic too. Interestingly, 14 million households in the USA have cockroaches. Having a cockroach infestation on your hands requires immediate action to ensure even the eggs and young are all gone.

The best and safest way to get rid of these insects is by using home remedies for cockroaches. Many people reach for that can of aerosol spray, but this contains so many harmful ingredients. It’s better to implement natural remedies which get the job done and keep your indoor air quality safe.

In this article, we get to explore different home remedies for cockroaches. Stick around and find out how to eliminate these unwanted bugs from our homes.

The 13 Home Remedies for Cockroaches

1. Baking Soda and Sugar

Many homes have a box or tin of baking soda. This multipurpose powder comes in handy when doing home remedies for many things, including getting rid of roaches. Yes, baking soda can help you get rid of these stubborn insects invading your home.

Mix it with some sugar. Roaches love sugar and will be easily drawn to it to munch on some. As the roaches eat the sugar, they consume the baking soda, then head off to drink some water.

Here is where things get interesting: water activates a reaction in their stomachs, causing them to burst open. So, start by mixing equal parts sugar and baking soda in a small dish and place it somewhere.

Next to it, place another small dish of water and keep refilling both until you don’t see any more roaches in your home. You can place multiple setups to speed up the process and soon, your home will be roach-free.

2. Vinegar and Hot Water

Another home remedy that you can try with ingredients that are readily available is mixing vinegar with hot water. The mixture is fantastic for cleaning your kitchen surfaces and pouring down drains to keep roaches away from your space.

As you work on getting rid of the infestation, fetch some vinegar and bring a pot of water to boil. Mix equal parts hot water and vinegar in a bowl. After that, dip a clean cloth in hot water and wipe the surfaces and corners where roaches hide.

You can leave some excess amount of the solution on the surfaces for the roaches to drink. Vinegar affects their digestive system, and in the end, all roaches die if you keep repeating the process.

You can go a step further and pour the mixture down your drains to kill any roaches residing in these spaces.

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3. Sugar and Borax

Your home isn’t short of ingredients that you can use to get rid of roaches. Another key ingredient you can use is Borax. This is a loose washing detergent found in many homes used for laundry or cleaning the house.

But that’s not the only thing it does. It’s quite possible to use Borax to kill roaches in your home. All you have to do is mix equal parts Borax and sugar, and then leave the mixture where roaches can find it easily. Sugar acts as an enticement for insects.

As much as Borax is good for cleaning, it’s quite toxic when ingested. Therefore, when roaches feast on the sugar and Borax mixture, they don’t stand a chance. Give the mixture some time to work. Home remedies require some level of patience.

4. Peanut Butter and Boric Acid

Perhaps this isn’t the first time you come across boric acid as you research more about these natural remedies. Well, boric acid is a milder acidic version of boron that you can use as an insecticide at home.

Boric acid comes in the form of a white powder and easily dissolves in water. Many manufacturers add it as a key ingredient in pesticides. But it’s better to use it without all the other harmful chemical ingredients.

For this home remedy, start by mixing the two ingredients: the boric acid with peanut butter. Then smear the mixture on cracks and spaces where roaches love to hide. As they eat up the peanut butter, they also consume the toxic ingredient.

5. Diatomaceous Earth

With roaches, you need to bring your A game if you want to get rid of that infestation. As you search for more solutions, consider using diatomaceous earth. The excellent news about this powder is that it’s perfectly non-toxic for you and your pets. Only roaches are in trouble here.

All you have to do is sprinkle some diatomaceous earth lightly all over your home. Pick the spaces where roaches love to hide and walk around.

The cockroaches will walk on the light powder and take it back to their hiding spots. Diatomaceous earth ends up breaking apart the exoskeletal of the roaches. As the process continues, the cockroaches die because of dehydration.

Give the powder two weeks to work, then wipe down your surfaces.

6. Bay Leaves

They say prevention is better than cure. This can apply when it comes to preventing cockroaches from entering your home. As you work on getting rid of the infestation inside your home, you can bar more roaches from moving in.

One way to do this is by planting bay plants all over your house. Cockroaches don’t like the bay leaves’ smell, and they will keep away. You will keep these annoying insects away from your house as you work on killing those already inside.

In addition, you can spread fresh bay leaves in your cupboards, drawers, and shelves where roaches love to hide. The smell will get them out of these areas.

7. Neem Oil

In essence, neem oil is quite good for you and your family. Many people use it for numerous purposes, and it’s easy to come by.

While neem oil is good for you and your family, it’s lethal to cockroaches. It works as an effective insecticide that you can use in place of harmful aerosol sprays to kill these stubborn insects. The oil contains an active ingredient known as Azadirachtin responsible for the toxicity in insects.

According to researchers, neem oil will prevent adult roaches from reproducing. In addition, it’s quite toxic to young ones who ingest the oil.

Therefore, place some neem oil in a spray bottle and spray-cover all those dark spots where roaches hide.

8. Onion, Garlic, and Pepper

When it comes to roach home remedies, there is always a solution lying around the house. Take, for example, available ingredients like onions, garlic, and pepper. This mixture is more of a repellant rather than a way to kill roaches.

But prevention is better than cure. Once you kill the existing roaches in your home, it’s better to prevent others from moving in.

Start by getting a few cloves of garlic, half an onion, and some red pepper. Pound them together, and then add some water to form a solution. Let the mixture sit for some time and place it in a spray bottle.

Next, spray all the corners, drawers, and cupboards where roaches hide with this mixture. Any existing roaches will run away because of the pungent smell, and new ones won’t want to move in. Keep repeating this consistently to keep your home roach-free.

9. Cucumbers

Yes, you read that right! Cucumbers are a wonderful home remedy for driving away roaches. These fresh vegetables are delicious for humans and pets, but roaches detest eating fresh food. So, having a few slices of fresh cucumbers in certain spots can work wonders for you.

Fresh cucumbers deter roaches from certain spots in the house. But, if you want to kill them, you have to add another ingredient like diatomaceous earth. For this to work, you have to let the fresh cucumbers age, and then sprinkle some of the powder.

As the roaches roam around, they collect the powder on their body. This affects their exoskeletal, as mentioned before, causing dehydration. Roaches won’t eat fresh cucumbers, but they also won’t stay in areas where the vegetable is.

10. Onions and Baking Soda

Did you know roaches love to eat onions? While mixing onion and garlic with pepper repels these insects, having some slices of onions out attracts them. The cockroaches will have no problem munching away at the fresh food item.

With that in mind, how about coating the onion slices with baking soda. The white powder has many uses in homes. One of the best uses is to kill insects like roaches. Start by slicing an onion, then coat these slices with baking soda.

After that, place the slices in hiding spots all over the house. Give the onions time to work, and soon you’ll be rid of all the roaches. Remember to replace the slices every few days when they begin to rot to keep the insects munching away.

11. Plaster of Paris and Corn Starch

Next time you go shopping, make sure to grab some plaster of Paris and corn starch. These two ingredients can be another effective home remedy to get rid of roaches living in your home. The trick here is to use at least one ingredient that attracts the insects.

Cockroaches love starchy foods like corn starch and won’t resist munching away at this mixture. Start by mixing equal parts of corn starch and plaster of Paris. Once you have a good mixture, sprinkle it where roaches love to hide in your home. As the cockroaches feast on this mixture, they end up dead because the plaster of Paris is a toxic powder.

12.  Wheat, Sugar and Boric Acid Paste

Attracting cockroaches to a home remedy is the most important part of getting rid of them. Even when you use a potent powder like boric acid without bait, the cockroaches won’t eat it. This is why you need to mix it with something sweet and something starchy.

In this remedy, use some sugar and wheat to lay the trap. Cockroaches love eating sugar and sweet pastes as we have already established. Therefore, add equal parts of the three ingredients in a bowl and mix them together. Add some water to make a slightly runny paste.

After you achieve the right consistency, divide the paste in small lids or containers and leave it out for the cockroaches. You can place the mixture in areas where roaches love to hide for easy access.

As they devour the mixture, boric acid goes to work. After some time, you don’t have any more insects invading your space. Just ensure you keep checking on the solution to prevent it from completely drying out.

13.  Citrus and Water

Repelling cockroaches is also another way of keeping them away from your home. For this to work, use products with a pungent smell like citrus. Simply mix some citrus and water in a spray bottle and shake well.

Once you have a nice solution, spray the mixture in high-traffic areas, crevices, and dark spots. You’ll notice cockroaches running away because they don’t like the smell.

• See Also: How to Get Rid of Waterbugs in Your House

Summing Up

Cockroaches have been giving people sleepless nights for centuries. It’s always better to get rid of them as soon as you spot them in your space. Failure to do so might result in you having an infestation, which is much harder to tackle.

We have covered excellent home remedies for cockroaches that will keep your home free of these insects. All these remedies use simple ingredients that you have at home or can easily buy from the store. These ingredients are much safer to use than insecticides which are quite harmful.

One thing to note is that home remedies may take time to work effectively. You need to be a little patient. So, be ready to redo each remedy two or three times to kill and keep these insects away from your space. Once you kill all the roaches, you can use some of the preventive remedies mentioned to keep them away forever.

Related Reads:

• 10 Bugs That Are Living in Your House and How to Get Them Out
• 10 Types of Cockroaches In Georgia

Featured Image Credit: Poravute Siriphiroon, Shutterstock