Oh no...the creepie crawlies are coming out to play

[aaronsmom]

:Puke
Help! I live in the semi-country (surrounded by cornfields but only a few minutes from town) and it seems like late summer/early fall is when the bugs start invading my home!
Wolf spiders (those ones that run really fast! I don't mind the spiders that stay in their webs but these ones are scary! ), centipedes, earwigs, etc.
How do I get them to stay out?!! (Aside from chemicals)

[slsurface]

Fall is the worse time of year. It will get better once the ground freezes. Keep tall grass and plants away from the foundation of the house, that will also reduce the likelihood for bugs in the house.

I wish I had some real advice for you. I grew up in rural Indiana, so I know how you feel. The worse part was we lived in an earth-berm house and slept underground. So there were tons of bugs. Some of the wolf spiders I saw were as big as an adults hand (I could share so crazy bug stories, but I'll spare you)! As a kid, I liked to sweep them up with the canister vac . We just learned to live with them for the most part (and did a spider check before getting in the bed ).

[aaronsmom]

I just killed 3 centipedes in literally 30 seconds. Disgusting. I don't mind flies, ants, or spiders that stay up in the corner but I hate when things are crawling on the floor and DD is crawling after them trying to eat it.

[Contrariety]

I had a natural pest control company come spray my house. We have had out of control spiders this year. I didn't ask what he was using, he claimed it was natural, which was good enough for me. I have seen any bugs since...

[sassafrass94]

We're having some bug issues this fall, too. I have a hive of yellow jackets in my compost pile that I want to rebuild this fall. We also have carpenter ants that are eating our house!!!!! The carpenter ants are clearly the biggest concern- but I'm a little torn. I have an organic garden and appreciate my honey bees, spiders(LOVE EM), and other friendly creepers. Our neighbors down the block treated for carpenter ants and haven't seen a living insect all summer! Not exactly what I'm looking for. One service I called would only guarantee results for two months unless I subscribed to their "balanced as nature" service. They will come out periodically and recheck and evaluate our pest killing needs. My concern with this is that they will too often "find" a problem in order to create value for their service. I'm a little paranoid/untrusting of these pest services. I'm not convinced of their "once it's dry, it's inert". Can anyone here (whose opinions I feel would reflect my values a bit more) recommend some healthier methods of pest control?
thanks

[aaronsmom]

I was wondering...do you think maybe dabbing TTO on the thresholds would work? Or maybe mint? I thought I heard or read somewhere that bugs don't like those smells...

[Miasmamma]

Osage oranges or hedge apples, depending on where you live and bay leaves. Both work very well. I have a huge spider phobia, but won't use chemicals in and around my house, so I use these. PM me if you want details.

[jeliphish]

LOL- I am the minority but bugs make me want to die...I would poison the crap out of them...

(I say I would do that but at the same time- I would be terrified to have DD around pesticides.) I don't know what I would do. I will be wishing for the best for you.

[bright-midnight]

I don't have anything to useful to add, but I really hate those nasty wolf spiders. We get them in our basement a lot and they are so fast and scary. I mainly just squash them when they find me.

[A&A]

Get spider traps from www.hobospiders.com

(They work on any floor-crawling spider--not just the hobo.)

[momileigh]

Originally Posted by A&A

Get spider traps from www.hobospiders.com

(They work on any floor-crawling spider--not just the hobo.)

That link seems to lead to one of those collections of sponsored ads... they don't seem to sell anything themselves, and I didn't see any links to spider traps. I would be interested in a spider trap.

ETA: I think you meant www.hobospider.com . That one seems right.

[Blucactus]

Originally Posted by aaronsmom

I just killed 3 centipedes in literally 30 seconds. Disgusting. I don't mind flies, ants, or spiders that stay up in the corner but I hate when things are crawling on the floor and DD is crawling after them trying to eat it.

: ants were my Ds2's first solid food. and you know a 6 month old isn't killing the bugs before he ingests them....gag!

[Phoenix_Rising]

Originally Posted by momileigh

That link seems to lead to one of those collections of sponsored ads... they don't seem to sell anything themselves, and I didn't see any links to spider traps. I would be interested in a spider trap.

ETA: I think you meant www.hobospider.com . That one seems right.

Thanks. I think I may be going to get some of these tonight