3 Helpful Tips for Spider-geddon

Once we got settled in the farmette, we started getting spider bites. Not fun.
I did a little research and found some chemical free solutions for spider repellents and one solution to kill the spiders over time. I found that all appeared to work well. 
I used to be terrified of spiders, but somewhere in my 40's I no longer was afraid of them. I mean nightmares since I was very little, had to close my eyes every time a spider showed up on t.v. My family was trained to tell me when the spider image was gone so I could open my eyes again. 
I do know spiders are helpful little critters, BUT I still don't like them biting me. What I wanted is to keep them in nature and away from my porch and doors to the house.
First I created a solution of 1 part food grade diatomaceous earth (D.E.) to 4 parts water. Using the spray bottle didn't work really well. Eventually, I settled on basically painting the solution with a brush around the railing and edges of the porch. Diatomaceous earth is a non-toxic, organic mineral is made up of crushed fossils of freshwater organisms and is used to control hard shell insects (fleas, ticks, ants, roaches, beetles, bed bugs, etc), but will not harm earthworms. I only use food grade D.E. since it is safe for human or animal consumption. Basically D.E. works when the critter walks through the dust and eventually the D.E. gets into their system and they die. 

             

I actually have used food grade diatomaceous earth in my storage from the beginning. I sprinkle a little in various areas of storage to deter various infestations.
Next, I mixed up two different solutions using fractionated coconut oil with lavender essential oil & one with hemp seed oil & peppermint essential oil. These essential oils are found to repel spiders. i used a base oil to extend the application time. In other words, the oil allows the essential oil to set longer and not evaporate as quickly. Basically I was using what I had on hand so I also used a hemp oil base. 
I put the a few inches of the oil in the spay bottle, then added enough drops of essential oil that I could smell it. Gotta love my exact measurements. 

 

One note: You will see I didn't add a recommended bottle in my picks below. What I found, I had two types of bottles. The one on the left had sort of a small filtering system on the end and the one on the right had an open tube. it was better to use a bottle that had the open tube system, since the filtered one seemed to clog up very quickly. I just ordered some small bottles from Plant Therapy on Amazon today.   

All three if these solutions seem to be working equally well. We haven't been bitten since I have applied them. I would say I prefer the essential oil solutions, simply because it was a little easier to apply. I found I need to re-apply in an open area about once a week. In a more protected area like the porch, it seems to have lasted about a month.
I have have already purchased some lavender seeds to plant around the porches in the spring.

Items I used:

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