As North America’s weather turns colder, the creepy crawlers who love to live in warm, dry locations move into our living spaces more and more. The most nefarious of these tiny invaders is the bed bug. Bed bugs prefer to live in warm, often soft, and fibrous locations like bedding, clothes, carpets, and furniture. As YOU are their constant supply of food, you make their move inside that much more appealing.
Treating With A Natural Pesticide
Diatomaceous Earth, such as our Last Crawl Pesticide Diatomaceous Earth product, is a natural and effective bed bug deterrent. Besides being cheap and free of harmful chemicals, it is easy to apply in and around your home while being safe to use near food, pets, and children.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) kills the adult bed bugs by absorbing the protective oily layer covering their exoskeleton. Without their oily coating, bed bugs will dehydrate and die within a few hours.
How Can I Effectively Treat For Bed Bugs Naturally
Before you begin, take steps to bug-proof your home by sealing up any cracks or crevices a bed bug can enter. By doing this first, the chances of re-infestation are much lower. If you think the bed bug infestation happened via bringing items or luggage into your home, remove those items from your home and treat using the steps below.
Effective natural bed bug treatment often comes down to 6 simple steps:
- Clean your home top to bottom, preferably with steam.
- Bed bugs (and many other creepy crawlers) can not survive in high temperatures for more than a few hours. By steam cleaning your linens and furniture thoroughly with a steam cleaner, you will increase the overall temperature.
- Wash all fabrics and textiles, add a cup of vinegar to each load to boost the cleansing power.
- Put all fabrics and washable linen through the laundry on the hottest setting available. Dry items on the highest heat setting available and store all washed materials in sealed plastic bags or containers.
- Dust your carpets with Diatomaceous Earth, let sit, then vacuum.
- Vacuum your rugs and carpets thoroughly. When possible, use a carpet cleaner to remove any bed bugs from the carpeting.
- Remove bedding and place in a sealed tote with Diatomaceous Earth and shake to coat/get into folds and let sit.
- Dust mattresses with Diatomaceous Earth, rub it in with your hand and let sit, vacuum clean.
- Consider using a plastic mattress bag on your bed to seal it while the DE works.
- Repeat these processes with any fabric and soft fiber items or furniture that may be contaminated.
- Dismantle you furniture as much as possible and vacuum every surface, paying particular attention to your furniture’s seams and frames.
- Remove all your electrical faceplates and use an applicator to puff diatomaceous earth behind electrical switches and outlets.
Repeat this routine as needed. Follow these simple steps throughout every part of your home as necessary to break the cycle of infestation. With the continual use diatomaceous earth in your home, it will also help to prevent future infestations.
Please take a look at the extensive list of Absorbent Products diatomaceous earth products, all perfectly formulated for your home and agriculture needs.