# Roaches! Don't want to bring them home!



## mike31 (Aug 6, 2012)

If you can inspect the supplies and ensure they're free of roaches, I'd do that before putting each item in the car. Putting roach-laden supplies in bags and leaving the bags outside will simply encourage the roaches to move out of the bags and find a nearby food source and place to live.

The reason cockroaches become a problem is that they find areas to establish harborages, often in walls or crawlspaces or behind cupboards, and access to those areas is not properly sealed. Sealing every crack you can find is absolutely critical if you're worried about cockroaches or any other insects.

Natural predators: House centipedes love eating cockroaches. If you can live with house centipedes, try to get a few and let them loose. Scutigera coleoptrata. They are not the giant centipedes that are dangerous. They're not aggressive, bites are rare and not very dangerous or painful, and they love eating other insects.

Substances like cedar oil, tea tree oil, and other similar substances have some repellent and possibly a small toxic effect.

Boric acid is hit or miss. Some people claim just lightly dusting runways... near cracks, along baseboards, and along garage walls... will work. Others claim it's better to turn it into bait, using about 1:10:10 ratio of boric acid to sugar to flour, so 1tsp, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup flour would be close, add enough water to turn into a paste and mix it, then apply where needed. The obvious advantage of the bait approach is that cockroaches will actually want to eat it (ideally) rather than accidently walking through it and ingesting it only due to their cleaning habits. Diatomaceous earth is another less toxic possibility, the idea being it dries out their exoskeletons. I don't know how well that works. Both boric acid and diatomaceous earth are slightly abrasive and the idea is the roaches won't be able to stay hydrated, but that seems optimistic to me.

Pesticides: advion, which slowly poisons them, and gentrol IGR, which screws up their hormones so they can't reproduce but will not kill them, are two of the better options.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

If it is any comfort, my staff and I had a University office in the basement of a student commons building that was cockroach heaven. It was dark and their was both a convenience store and pizza place on the floor above us. I remember once going to flip a circuit breaker on and there must have been a million little roaches behind the cover. Some cheap VP before my time ordered excess envelopes be stored for future use so there were boxes and boxes. All of them had tons of dead roaches that had gorged on the envelope adhesive. Since then I have always thought twice about licking an envelope.

I stomped my feet and finally got us on a regular extermination schedule and the industrial strength bait things the exterminator had really helped. I cleaned house and got rid of all their hiding places obvious too.

Anyhow, in all the years of dealing with that nonsense, I never saw but a rare cockroach at home. Others in buildings I have lived in have had problems but never me. I don't leave food out or provide places for them to nest. 

I guess I put a lot more faith in boric acid and diatamaceous earth as a preventive. The bait things the exterminator has or the gel they squeeze in cabinets seems to work well. 

I generally think over the counter consumer pesticides are a waste of money. It is much more effective to just call a pro.

Meanwhile, do not be paranoid and assume the worst.


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## jjrbus (Aug 28, 2009)

You do not mention where you are. If in the south, your daughter does not have roaches, she has Palmetto bugs.

Roaches are associated with filth. If you see one you have millions.

Even the nicest homes and some of the finest institutions in the south have Palmetto bugs, if you see one or two, that is what you have one or two! It is also politically incorrect and a great social blunder to refer to them as roaches!
JIm


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

jjrbus said:


> You do not mention where you are. If in the south, your daughter does not have roaches, she has Palmetto bugs.
> 
> Roaches are associated with filth. If you see one you have millions.
> 
> ...


Sadly they look the same but can grow to be huge.


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## jjrbus (Aug 28, 2009)

From what I have gleened here in SW Fl, the proper use of Boric Acid seems to be the magic bullet for them. JIm


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

jjrbus said:


> From what I have gleened here in SW Fl, the proper use of Boric Acid seems to be the magic bullet for them. JIm


Certainly tried and true and I add it to walls in renovation products. As mentioned before, diatamacuous (sp?) earth like material used in swimming pool filters is good two. Both do not provide immediate gratification and do be careful because boric acid can render soil sterile for a long time.


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## jjrbus (Aug 28, 2009)

I did not know it would sterilze soil! I use it liberally, if I have wall plates off, say for painting, I spray some in. I move trim rings around plumbing and spray some in.Under around and by things in the garage, under the stove and fridge, everyplace. 

I have been led to believe that it should not be put down in piles only a light dusting. Some one who studies such things said the roach will walk around a pile?? I read it on the internet so it must be true. 
JIm


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## angelatc (Jun 10, 2012)

jjrbus said:


> You do not mention where you are. If in the south, your daughter does not have roaches, she has Palmetto bugs.
> 
> Roaches are associated with filth. If you see one you have millions.
> 
> ...


I lived in Florida, and encountered several different types of roaches in the various apartments I lived in. Palmetto bugs are the big ones, but there also Asian and German. I always kept a few Florida lizards in the house. Problem solved.

Here in the Midwest, we call the bigger species waterbugs.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

jjrbus said:


> I did not know it would sterilze soil! I use it liberally, if I have wall plates off, say for painting, I spray some in. I move trim rings around plumbing and spray some in.Under around and by things in the garage, under the stove and fridge, everyplace.
> 
> I have been led to believe that it should not be put down in piles only a light dusting. Some one who studies such things said the roach will walk around a pile?? I read it on the internet so it must be true.
> JIm


I don't know about cockroaches, ants and so forth crawling around piles but stacking it up is overkill.

As far as toxicity, the main danger is dumping solution outdoors or overusing it in too high concentrations as an herbicide. It is banned in many states for such purposes. 
How does borax work? It contains boron, which plants need in minute quantities for healthy growth. However, larger quantities can have a toxic effect. Creeping Charlie happens to be extremely sensitive to boron. If boron quantities are sufficient, any vegetation can be killed. However, the availability of boron in the soil depends on soil type and pH. These factors affect the outcome of applying borax, as in the Wisconsin trials. No recipes I've found mention these important factors.  Another problem with using borax is that boron does not break down or dissipate as conventional weed killers do, so repeated or excessive applications can result in bare areas where no vegetation can grow. This does not make for a lovely garden!
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## Too old (Sep 20, 2012)

Place some Diatomaceous Earth in the containers. Here's a source: http://www.earthworkshealth.com/ I believe Lowe's carries it also. It may go by name Permaguard. The diatoms are like microscopic knives that cut the outer surfaces of the roach when they walk over it, they cannot live when they get into this substance. Natural pest elimination is by far, the best way to go.


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