If you have cockroaches in your home or apartment, you number one priority is getting rid of them. For every cockroach you see, you can be sure there are dozens, or hundreds, hiding in crevices around your home, just waiting for the light to go off and the feast to begin.
Nature has blessed the cockroach with an incredible sense of smell, making it easy for them to seek out food and find a mate. But that same sense of smell can be used to get rid of cockroaches – there are some scents that cockroaches simply cannot abide. Here are some smells that cockroaches find disagreeable, and you can use those smells to send them packing.
Lavender
Cockroaches hate the smell of lavender, and that is good news for you. If you love to grow lavender in your yard and garden, you are more than halfway to a roach-free home. Just plant lavender around your home as a sort of defense system – you will create a barrier that even the most determined roaches will be loathe to cross.
You can use lavender oil inside your home to chase existing roaches away and stop new ones from coming in. Lavender essential oils work well for this purpose; you can dilute the oil and place it in a spray bottle, then spray surfaces where cockroaches have been a problem.
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. The cockroaches in the area will smell that fresh citrus and know to stay away. You may need to refresh the scent a couple times a month, but that is a small price to pay for a roach-free home.
Eucalyptus
Koala bears may love the smell, and the taste of eucalyptus, but cockroaches find it quite disagreeable. If you have been looking for an excuse to plant a eucalyptus bush in your front yard or spray your home with fresh eucalyptus oil, consider this your opening.
You can use the eucalyptus scent in a number of different ways, from essential oils diluted with water and sprayed as a barrier around your home to plantings in your front yard and garden. Just use your imagination – and use the cockroach’s keen sense of smell as a pest fighting weapon.
Sometimes a natural approach to pest control is the best choice, and that is certainly true with cockroaches. These common pests choose their targets carefully, so do what you can to make your home the least attractive choice.
