CLEANING & ORGANIZING

Pest Control: How To Get Rid of Cockroaches From Your Kitchen

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Roaches.

Those creepy little things that give you goosebumps anytime you spot them.

I wonder why they were created in the first place.

Nothing makes me squirm as much as these dirty little things.

They are not only creepy to look at, but quite unhygienic and hazardous health wise to have in a home.

The tricky question is how do you exterminate roaches?

The answer is : Pest Control.

How often have you switched on the kitchen lights in the middle of the night to find the creepy little dirty insects moving about freely? Do you tip-toe into your bathroom like a detective carefully inspecting the corners behind the door before stepping inside? I doubt I would be so scared of any other creature on Earth..cockroaches make me shriek loud enough for the whole building to hear. That makes me take a lot of preventive steps to keep the pest at bay.

If you share my fear for cockroaches, then read on to see how you can get rid of them:

PREVENTIVE TIPS TO KEEP YOUR KITCHEN FREE OF COCKROACHES:

  • A clean kitchen: One important thing I’ve observed is that dirt attracts cockroaches. The presence of roaches is directly proportional to how unclean your kitchen is.  Flowing waste basket, food particles littered on the counter, open grocery bags, smelly shelves, and a dirty under-the-sink area will act as magnets for roaches. So ensure you clean the counter top every night after dinner, empty the waste basket, seal half-open grocery bags, and clean/wipe the racks/shelves regularly (at least once a month).
  • A stop-gap solution that has been effective in preventing cockroaches is a home-made paste.  Take one part of boric acid and two parts of maida. Knead it into a dough with a spoon of sugar and roll them into small balls (slightly bigger than that of a naphthalene ball). Let it dry until it turns hard. Place two to three balls in every rack of your kitchen shelf. This keeps roaches at bay. The process has to be repeated once in 2-3 months for it to be effective.
  • Some other preventive measures you can take are to secure the drain openings in the kitchen and bathrooms every night, keep the under-sink cabinet odor free and place naphthalene balls in the region.
  • Do not use newspapers to line the shelves. Newspapers attract roaches.
  • Seal any drain openings and cracks around sinks completely.
  • Ensure the kitchen is free of food particles and dirty dishes before you turn in for the night.

HOW TO EXTERMINATE COCKROACHES

Pest control is the solution to get rid of cockroaches from your home forever. You can do it yourself or get external help. External help comes at a cost. But, it is the most effective one if the infestation is high.

If your kitchen and home is already infested with roaches, then you will have to resort to a strong pest control service.

  • Empty the kitchen of all the items from the racks.
  • Get a pest control service done. Herbal pest control is one thing I recommend highly, if it is available in the city you live in. It is economical, odorless, non-poisonous and gives good results for at least 6 months at a stretch. It takes about 45 minutes to apply the gel all around the house and costs about Rs.2,500 to Rs.3,000 for a 3 BHK house (for 3 times service a year). There are organized players like Godrej HI Care. Now, many of the home maintenance companies such as Housejoy and Urbanclap also do pest control.
  • You will notice that roaches crawl out after 1 hour of the service. It is scary, but I have seen over 100 roaches creep out. Most will die after a few minutes however you will see some crawling up the wall or flying. It is an eerie sight, no doubt.
  • Clean the kitchen thoroughly before placing back your items. Use a shelf liner instead of newspapers.

DIY Pest Control & Home Remedies to Get Rid of Cockroaches

Boric Acid is the secret ingredient that keeps roaches at bay. There are multiple ways to use this in the kitchen that will repel the roaches.

  • Mix a tea spoon of boric acid powder easily available in most stores with wheat flour dough. Make them into a small round balls – the size of naphthalene balls and place them in strategic places such as the under the sink, crevices and where you often find roaches. Within a few days, you will either find them dead or not see roaches anymore.

Commercial Non-Toxic Roach Gels That I’ve Found Effective

I have used quite a few products as part of my DIY pest control measures. Especially after heavy rains, one or two roaches will find its way into the home from the drains to die a few hours later.

One product I find the most effective is a boric acid based roach gel.

Strategi is very strong and repelling in smell.

Update:

This product called Max Force Forte gel has been miraculous in getting rid of roaches. I have found may pest control companies use this as well. It is toxic so I use it sparingly every 6 months.

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6 Comments

  1. Sometimes you make me feel as though I don’t pay enough attention to my home! :P And that’s true!! :))) But then your blog also inspires me to change… So there, that’s the real good thing about it … :)

    Coming to the roaches, I once tried Laxman Rekha. And over the next week, each day I’d wake up in the morning to find at least 20 roaches all over my home (not just the kitchen!), lying on their backs, twitching their legs in the air! And I had to smack them with a broom to make sure they died, before sweeping them all off into the bin! What a nightmare it was. This was about a month ago, I suppose. They haven’t returned since, but yes, my kitchen is not loaded with stuff, so that helped I suppose. :) Sorry for posting such a morbid comment here, but just had to share this one! :D

    Will definitely try the boric acid trick you mentioned here. :)

  2. laksh

    Thanks for sharing. The problem with Laxman Rekha is that it is a stop gap solution and doesn’t really prevent roaches from coming. It just kills the ones that are around. And then like you said, there’s the mess one has to clean up the next morning. And after a while they just grow immune to Laxman Rekha too. Don’t go the Baygon/Hit spray route either.

    Sure, try Boric acid. It has worked well for me. Another tip: avoid using news papers in the kitchen shelves. It is a breeding place for cockroach eggs.

  3. Newspapers on the shelf= breeding place for cockroaches?!
    :-O
    That is new.. Thanks.. Gonna take those off right away!
    I always thought they kept the shelves clean! :(

  4. Hey Laksh, stumbled across your site through blogadda, lovely surprise to find an Indian site showing some DIY – I’ve been addicted to YHL and wondering if anyone in India does anything like that..

    This post is great – Do you know any such home-remedies for lizards? They keep coming in through the window..

  5. Shreedevi Nair-Pal

    What’s very good is also the simplest. Change the drain covers in the bathroom and kitchen. You get ones which are cockroachproof – what that means is that it keeps water in a bowl inside the drain and all you have to do is to see that those drains that are not used often have water thrown into them once every few days.
    Also pouring boiling water down the drains does seem to keep the roaches away.

  6. we can use napthalene balls in the kitchen cabinets

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