As such, some websites suggest placing coffee grounds around your home to keep roaches away. However, in a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Science and Healthcare Research, researchers tested this out and found that coffee grounds were not very effective at repelling cockroaches.
Roach Repellents
Peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, and cypress oil are essential oils that effectively keep cockroaches at bay. Additionally, these insects hate the smell of crushed bay leaves and steer clear of coffee grounds. If you want to try a natural way to kill them, combine powdered sugar and boric acid.
The best way to keep cockroaches away permanently is to make the home less inviting. Make sure to keep the home clean, clean up food messes, take out trash at the end of the day, seal any cracks or gaps around windows, doors and the foundation, and fix any issue that might lead to high moisture content within the home.
Scents that are pleasing to humans can actually repel cockroaches. In the kitchen, certain aromas such as cinnamon, bay leaves, garlic, peppermint, and coffee grounds can be used as deterrents. In the bathroom and garage, using strong-smelling disinfectants like vinegar or bleach can help keep these pests at bay.
Coffee grounds are effective at repelling pests because of the strong smell. The smell of coffee is repulsive to many bugs and will keep them away from treated areas. Coffee grounds can be used fresh or used, but unused coffee grounds are more effective at repelling pests.
Not only do they repel mosquitoes, but also other insects such as wasps and bees. Coffee grounds are the bee's knees when it comes to staying bug bite free. Most bugs have a very strong sense of smell. Coffee grounds are very potent and even more potent once they are burned.
Check your doors, windows and foundation. Use Natural Deterrents: Use natural deterrents such as Baking Soda, Borax, Vinegar, Ammonia, and more! Install Bait Traps: Use roach bait traps such as Advion to lure roaches out and kill them and the rest of their colony!
Sprinkle boric acid in areas the roaches frequent; when they walk through it, it sticks to them. They later ingest the boric acid, which then kills them. When using boric acid, be sure to limit your exposure; don't place it anywhere that children or pets might find it, as it's toxic when ingested.
Sugar. Sugar is by far the most attractive substance to a cockroach. They love sugar and can smell it from anywhere. This means you'll want to keep your sugar containers, fruits, and other sweeteners sealed in air-tight containers that are up off the floor.
Smells that roaches hate: a quickfire summary
Oregano, rosemary, mint, eucalyptus, lemongrass and catnip are great herby options. Citrus oils work brilliantly too. And surprisingly, lower concentrations – 2.5 parts per hundred – seem to work best as deterrents. Just don't bother with lavender.
It's a fact that cockroaches are afraid of humans and other mammals or animals that are bigger than them. They see us as predators and that fear triggers their instinct to scatter away. However, they dislike strong and distinctive scents such as citrus, peppermint, lavender and vinegar.
Clean and Sanitize
You might have a clean home, but this first step is about more than just sweeping: you'll need to empty out cabinets, move furniture and vacuum everywhere. You should also throw out any opened, damaged or unsealed food that could have been contaminated by roaches.
Boric acid Some people find this to be the best option to kill roaches. Boric acid can work too, the only downside is that sometimes roaches will go away as soon as they smell boric acid.
Windex is toxic to most pests, especially spiders. Spraying window cleaner directly onto small insects like ants or mosquitoes will kill them within a few moments. For cockroaches, window cleaner can make them temporarily unconscious so that you can squash them.
Citrus. You may love the smell of fresh citrus, but cockroaches hate the scent. That means you can use citrus scented cleaners in your kitchen and bathroom to chase any lingering roaches away. You can also keep a few citrus peels around your home in strategic places.
Cockroach predators include mammals, avians, amphibians and other reptiles. For example, hedgehogs will eat roaches. Joining the roach à la mode dinner party are geckos, skinks and other species of lizards, frogs, turtles, some types of birds and even rats and mice.
The best way to get rid of roaches fast is to sanitize your home, eliminate hiding spots and stagnant water, store food in airtight containers, and use glue strips, bait, boric acid, or liquid concentrates.
Spray Essential Oils
Research has found that some essential oils—especially rosemary oil—are effective at repelling roaches. Rosemary oil was found to offer a 100% roach mortality rate at the concentration range of 2.5% to 30%. So mix it with water and spray away at your problem areas!
Thus, sleeping with the light on can keep cockroaches away from your bedroom. When you leave your lights on, the cockroaches will not even try to come out. Predators are also attracted by the light and will begin to actively hunt down the cockroaches when it's bright in the room.
First of all, cockroaches like to go around during the night, which coincidentally is when people sleep. So by virtue of just lying there motionless, we become likely victims. Cockroaches also like small, warm, humid places. And ears qualify as all of the above.
Again, it's uncommon for roaches to be found on mattresses, but it's not uncommon for them to hide in your bed frame and bedside furniture. When you remove your mattress and dismantle your bed to move, check for signs of cockroaches and remove or sanitize items as necessary.
The first step is getting your coffee grounds. Again, you can use fresh ground coffee, used or burnt. We recommend burning your coffee grounds as this creates the most fragrant odor which we know mosquitoes hate! To burn your coffee grounds, use them as you normally would for brewing coffee.
When caffeine is contained within its natural plant form, caffeine works like a natural pesticide, as it causes an herbivorous insects' nervous system to stop producing essential enzymes. When these enzymes are inhibited in an insect, paralysis and eventual death result.