Ants. Ants can be a real nuisance when they invade your home, so it makes sense that some homeowners have tried placing dryer sheets near ant trails or entry points to deter them. While the strong scent of dryer sheets might confuse ants and temporarily disrupt their trail, it's not a long-term solution.
Household items like citrus fruits, black pepper, peppermint oil, cayenne, thyme, and lavender can create natural ant repellents. Great for avoiding pesticides or conventional ant traps! Mixing parts of these substances with water in a bottle and spraying the solution around the house can keep ants at bay.
Other university studies demonstrate the effectiveness of dryer sheets to repel certain insects, including mites, food-infesting beetles, German cockroaches and weevils. These studies, however, do not show any significant impact as a mosquito repellent.
... Dryer sheets are sometimes put in mailboxes to deter wasps, bees, hornets, and other insects from building nests and attacking mail carriers or people who retrieve their mail. The strong scent of dryer sheets repels these insects, and they are less likely to fly near them or build nests there.
Certain scented detergents and fabric softeners contain sweet fragrances that can lure ants. The fresh, pleasant smell we enjoy from newly washed clothes can confuse ants into thinking there's food nearby. If you notice ants in clothing right after doing laundry, your detergent or fabric softener might be the reason!
While the strong scent of dryer sheets might confuse ants and temporarily disrupt their trail, it's not a long-term solution. Ants are persistent creatures, and once they find a food source, they'll keep coming back.
Scented Plants
Lavender, eucalyptus, mint, basil, oregano, and thyme are all items you can plant to keep ants away since they all contain linalool, which is an effective repellent for any pests.
As mentioned, dryer sheets can lead to residue buildup in the interior and vents of your dryer over time, which may pose issues like: Reduced airflow and ventilation. Overheating. Longer drying times.
There hasn't been any research that proves the dryer sheets are effective at repelling bugs.
One popular belief when it comes to at-home pest control is that dryer sheets repel spiders. The reality is that this is only half true. What happens when you wipe your baseboards with dryer sheets is that you pick up crumbs and dust. In doing so, you remove a valuable food source for bugs and spiders.
Dryer sheets can be an inexpensive, safe and humane way to keep squirrels away from your plants. Rodents have a strong sense of smell, so the more fragrant variety you can find the better!
Avoid bee attention by wearing unscented products. Use an insect repellent to mask the scents. Natural repellents use citrus, mint, and eucalyptus oils. Dryer sheets also make effective insect repellents: tuck one in your pocket if you're hiking or place a few under your picnic blanket.
Spiders are a very common predator of ants. Not only do they kill the worker ants, but many species will also eat ant larvae and their pupae to ensure that future generations are destroyed as well! In addition, it is believed that there are a lot of spider species worldwide which prey on ants.
You may love your morning coffee, but ants could do without it. Another natural way to deter ants, sprinkle coffee grounds outside and around your garden. The smell repels them and they'll be looking for a less caffeinated place to hang out.
Postal workers use it to prevent getting stung by wasps while delivering mail. This is because wasps often build nests in mailboxes, and opening the box can disturb them, resulting in painful stings. By placing a dryer sheet inside the mailbox, the scent deters the wasps from building their nest there.
One of the best ways to keep ants out of your kitchen is to store your food in airtight containers with tight-fitting lids. This will prevent them from being able to get inside to steal your food! Be thorough in the way you store dried goods. Use zip-lock bags and jars or plastic containers that can be closed tight.
Research has shown that a couple of chemical compounds commonly found in the sheets (linalool and beta-citronellol) will deter the gnats and mosquitoes from hanging around, making this a reasonable and easier-to-use alternative to spray-on bug repellent.
Do not leave laundry outside at night as it risks humidity and bad odors. Better to spread it out during the day for good drying in the air fresh.
For example, dryer sheets can remove soap scum and hard water stains from bathroom and kitchen fixtures, wipe up problematic spills, and eliminate pet hair, dust, and lint. Scented dryer sheets can serve as makeshift deodorizers when placed inside smelly shoes, trash cans, gym bags, luggage, and camping gear.
The intense fragrance of lavender oil or dried lavender disrupts the ants' navigation, making it a super great natural deterrent. To make your home a no-go zone for ants, try placing dried lavender bunches in areas they like to hang out.
Salt, baby powder, lemon juice, chalk, vinegar, bay leaves, cinnamon, or peppermint oil are a few items that you have around your home that will stop ants from coming inside. Lay these out in areas where you see ants, and they'll stop using that area as an entrance into your house.
Vinegar: Wiping ants with a solution of equal parts of vinegar and water or only vinegar may work the best. Spray the mixture of a cup of water, a cup of vinegar, and tea tree oil (5-10 drops) on ants. White vinegar kills and repels the ants. Apple cider vinegar and water solution spray can also help.