How to Use Borax to Keep Insects Away

Many insect varieties make themselves pests. When your dwelling is invaded by tiny critters, from ants to fleas to cockroaches, take swift action to avoid an infestation. While chemical options for controlling insects abound, there are natural options that will not introduce potentially harmful ingredients into your home. Borax is the name used for a group of compounds that can be mined from the earth and contain sodium and boron, a trace metal found in foods and soils. Boric acid, which can be derived from Borax, is a natural insecticide. Borax is a relatively safe, yet effective, method to keep insects away.

Things You'll Need

• ½ tsp. Borax
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups cool water
• Small bowl
• 4 Cotton balls or 1 paper towel
• Small covered plastic container (disposable)
• Hole punch
• Broom
• Vacuum cleaner (with attachments)

Instructions

Borax for Ants

1. Mix the Borax, the sugar and the cool water in the small bowl. Stir to dissolve the Borax and sugar.

2. Saturate the cotton balls or the paper towel in the Borax solution.

3. Place the saturated cotton balls or the paper towel into the disposable plastic container.

4. Punch approximately ten holes in the cover of the plastic dish with the hole punch and place the cover onto the dish.

5. Place the covered dish in an area where you frequently see ants. The ants will crawl into the dish because the sugar solution attracts them. They will then crawl back out of the dish and carry the solution back to their nests. Over a short period, the solution will kill the ants.

Borax for Fleas and Cockroaches

1. Watch the insect activity in your home so you will know where the insects frequently congregate and crawl.

2. Sprinkle Borax lightly over carpets for a flea infestation. Use a push broom to work the Borax powder into the surface carpet fibers. Sprinkle Borax over upholstered furniture to combat fleas. Allow the Borax to sit on the surface of the furniture for one hour and them vacuum the Borax away with the vacuum cleaner.

3. Apply a light sprinkling of Borax powder along baseboards and room perimeters in areas where you frequently see cockroaches. Sprinkle Borax powder in cabinets under sinks, around toilets, along tubs and beneath refrigerators or stoves.

Tips & Warnings

• Sprinkle Borax around the perimeters of your home and by doors and windows to deter insects from entering.

• Do not leave Borax powder sprinkled on surfaces where children or pets may come into contact with it, as Borax is toxic if ingested, according to the Green Footsteps website.

• Because Borax may harm plants, do not use Borax around landscaped areas to control insects.

References

• Green Foot Steps: Borax Information
• Living With Bugs: Boric Acid & Borate Insecticides