Do you enjoy eating outside on a warm summer night but hate pestering bugs? With just a few preventative measures, you can keep your porch insect-free all season long. With these guidelines, you can get rid of cockroaches and silverfish from your deck or patio and also kill mosquitos, cockroaches, and other insects from the porch. Pest-proofing the patio, deck, and porch of your home will also protect the interior, and this is a huge plus.
Here are 5 tips on pest-proofing the porch:
Invest in a Bug Zapper:
Insects are drawn to bug zappers because they generate a blue light that attracts them. In order to keep pests away from your porch light, consider installing a Katchy bug trap. Try keeping it a few feet away from the porch light to avoid attracting mosquitoes.
Not everyone is a fan of constant zaps of electricity. But, if you don’t mind the bugs hovering about your porch light, this can be a low-cost solution.
Apply Essential Oils:
Combine one proportion of witch hazel and one part of water to produce a concoction that keeps pests away from your patio. Add a spoonful of rubbing alcohol and several drops of essential oils to each cup of solution.
If you’re looking to employ essential oils, good oils to use are chamomile, rosemary, lemongrass, or basil — and others that may resemble the aroma of plants and herbs. They mimic the fragrances of the plants they are named after, allowing you to combine many forms of protection into a single product. To keep pests away from a patio, spray the mixture evenly around the perimeter.
However, if you don’t have the time to do all this work, you can buy commercial bug spray!
Lit Candles with Citronella Essential Oil:
Citronella candles may be a nice alternative if you’re stepping outside for a short time and want to keep mosquitoes at bay. Citronella candles, which are most known for repelling mosquitoes, can also keep other insects at bay. A few can be placed beneath the porch light on a table or other flat surfaces.
Candles should not be used as a method of keeping bugs away from your porch light when you’re not at home since this can be dangerous and create a fire. Keep the flames at bay by purchasing candles in a glass jar or having a candle holder on hand.
Change the Lighting in Your Backyard:
Shorter wavelengths of light are easier for bugs to see because of their vision. Even ultraviolet light, which is not visible to humans, is included. Colors like red and orange are out of their visual range.
Blue light is more concentrated in daylight white bulbs. Switching out colder lights with warmer tones, such as yellow or sodium vapor lamps, will help keep mosquitoes away from a porch at night. In order to avoid attracting pests, don’t use bulbs with intense bright light.
Use Dryer Sheets
Are you trying to figure out how to avoid pests from invading your porch? Keep things tidy at the outset.
Dryer sheets can be taken outside if you have some in your laundry room. Insects may be kept at bay by smearing dryer sheets on patio furniture and surfaces, and you can even use dryer sheets to keep insects away from your body.
Mosquitoes and other nasty bugs are more likely to congregate on a filthy porch, patio, or other outdoor space.
The Bottom Line
It may be frustrating to deal with bugs, especially if there are solutions to avoid them. These strategies can dramatically minimize the number of insects that gather around your porch and entrance light. To discover an effective remedy, you will likely have to attempt some in conjunction with others.
