Soap Nuts

Soap nuts as a chemical free insectide or natural insect repellent is the subject of todays post on soap nuts uses.

I know in the past I have covered using soap nuts liquid as a natural chemical free mosquito repellent on humans and pets and also using soap nuts liquid as a fly repellent on horses, cattle, and dogs. However, the more I use soap nuts the more ways I find to use soap nuts in place of chemicals.

Even though the hot months are upon us here in Central Florida in my effort to live a greener lower impact life I try to keep my windows and patio doors open at least 16 hours each day instead of using the central air conditioning. Well that means an open door for flying and crawling pests like cockroaches, ants, and spiders. When it is hot and dry outdoors pests come in for the cooler air and the moisture that can be found, as well as sources of fat to help them keep their bodies hydrated.

Last week we had a small invasion of cockroaches in the kitchen (it opens out onto the screened pool enclosure). So each evening if I saw a cockroach out and about I would chase it with the bottle of soap nuts liquid I use to clean my counters. Then I decided that if I used what I know about soap nuts as both a chemical free insecticide and an insect repellent that I could not only get rid of the roaches that had moved in, but also keep more from inviting themselves into the house.

I cleared all of my counters of appliances and sprayed every nook and cranny of the drawers, cabinets, and under the stove as well as the base boards. I wiped the excess off the counters but left a slight puddlel of it at the edges of the backsplash, base boards, and under the stove and diswasher. I allowed that to dry so there was a residue of the soap nuts liquid and the “smell” of the saponins as a deterrent for the cockroaches that were hiding out in daylight hours. Within a day I had several dead roaches, who’d either been sprayed or tramped through the soap nuts liquid, lying dead close to the base boards.

Today I had the need to use soap nuts liquid to do in some ants in both my laundry room and on some windowsills. The ants invaded the laundry room because it’s next to the garage (a door that is often left open when I am unloading the car) and of course there’s plenty of water and cool air in the laundry room. I made a critical mistake of leaving a pair of slacks, that had gotten grease all over them while cooking, at the bottom of the laundry basket and the ants smiffed it out and took over. After finding the source of that invasion I took the laundry basket outside and sprayed it all over with soap nuts liquid, and then sprayed the stray ants that were all over the floor. After they were all immobile I swept them up and then sprayed the floor lightly with more soap nuts liquid being sure I got under the washer and dryer and along the baseboards.

To keep the ants from entering the house through open windows (even ones with screens) I spray soap nuts liguid in the space between the window and the screen or I sprinkle some soap nuts powder as a barrier. Both methods have worked for me to keep the ants from using the open windows as entry points.

Now I can keep my doors and windows open and reduce my fossil fuel consumption and not have to worry about an insect invasion. Soap nuts are a perfect chemical free cockroach spray, natural ant repellent, and general chemical free non-toxic insecticide. You can even sprinkle the used soap nuts into your garden or potted plants to help repel insects in the soil.

Soap nuts once again came to my rescue and saved me money and allowed me to keep toxic chemicals out of my house and out of the environment as a whole.

   Send article as PDF