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How a Leafy Folk Remedy Stopped Bedbugs in Their Tracks
- cstross 14y ago... Or they could just sell bags of organically-grown leaves. But you can't patent a centuries-old folk remedy and sell it at a 10,000% mark-up.
- sliverstorm 14y agoFresh leaves don't last very long.
- masklinn 14y agoLeaves only work fresh and they don't stay fresh long (which is why this "folk remedy" was spreading leaves in the evening and burning them in the morning). Furthermore, leaves only work on horizontal surface, an artificial version could e.g. be put on bed legs to avoid covering the ground. But of course that's a business opportunity to you: you could sell bags of bean leaves yourself. I wonder if you could combine diatomaceous earth with bean leaves for increased efficacy.
- astrodust 14y agoThankfully we have duct tape now which is just as effective at keeping things stuck.
- sliverstorm 14y agoAnecdote time! I once had a small problem with either spiders or bedbugs; I sprayed extremely generous quantities of rubbing alcohol everywhere. It was extremely effective. I've been curious ever since if anyone else has had a similar experience.
- chipsy 14y agoDifferent anecdote. I had a problem with clothesmoths. I took all my clothes and put them in vacuum bags, and sucked out all the air. I never had a problem again.
- zimpenfish 14y agoI had an infestation of moths which lead to a proliferation of Pholcus spiders and consequently a mass moth extinction. Sadly the spider population has declined since and I'm down to a mere two adults. On the plus side, they're a lot cheaper than vacuum bags, take up much less space, and will prey on other critters for you.
- ars 14y agoI was waiting for you to end that anecdote with "and my house caught fire and killed all the bugs".
- sliverstorm 14y agoThat is certainly one way to do it
- tocomment 14y agoWould it work for wasps? They're all over my deck this year :-(
- savrajsingh 14y agoRC Helicopter vs. Wasps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXec7zBaPxA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXec7zBaPxA
- astrodust 14y agoThe alcohol works by dehydrating the insects, so it works best on very small ones. It probably just makes wasps really angry. For those, make sure they don't set up shop and build a nest. If you see them starting on one, scrape it off immediately. They'll even nest inside your house, wriggling through a hole, so observe where they go. Insecticide that kills on contact is probably the best way to deal with an incursion.
- tocomment 14y agoMy problem is they have a nest under the deck and the deck is only 1/2 foot off the ground so I can't get under there :-(
- astrodust 14y agoYou can't get in there, but insecticide can.
- tocomment 14y agoThe cans you buy just spray down. I'd need an insecticide that can somehow get through the slots and spay the underside.
- astrodust 14y agoDon't think of the deck as an impenetrable barrier. If the boards are just screwed down, unscrew them. If nailed down, pry them up carefully with the right tool.
- tixocloud 14y agoI never knew rubbing alcohol gets rids of spiders/bed bugs but I might try this if I ever see some! Similar to me using spices on my floor to get rid of ants. Only I'll just have to clean up the floor after the ants are gone.
- scarmig 14y agoUnrelated fact of the day: coriander (i.e. cilantro) is supposedly derived from the Greek word for bedbug. Severe bedbug infestations, as it turns out, reek of cilantro.
- danso 14y agoA. I can't believe this article is on HN and no one yet has argued about this: "Or as Dr. Loudon said, “It would be our greatest hope that ultimately this could develop into something that could help with this horrible problem.” Already, she said, she and her colleagues have a patent on the technology pending. It has, she said, been optioned by a commercial company" 2. Also, why did few of the Eastern Europeans who found this to be a miracle cure for generations not mention this when New York was going through its bed bug panic a few years back?
- astrodust 14y agoThere have been many occasions throughout history where things like this were not communicated because they were presumed to be obvious. If you instinctually knew about this cure, you might've presumed the outbreak was so severe that leaves weren't working, for example.
- yaddayadda 14y agoMy understanding is that diatomaceous earth [1] works in a similar way. YAA: After a business trip, my dogs and I started having early symptoms of bedbugs. I tried spraying rubbing alcohol in key spots, with no apparent bug elimination. Then I dusted my bedding, living room furniture, and floors with diatomaceous earth (leaving everything very, very dusty). We got bites for a few more days, and then, no more bits. Since I never caught one of the bugs, I can't say with certainty that it was bedbugs. But I can say with certainty that diatomaceous earth exterminated whatever it was I picked up from that nasty hotel room. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth#Pest_control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth#Pest_contro...
- masklinn 14y ago> works in a similar way. I don't believe they work in a similar way at all: in this case, the trichomes act as "hooks" going through the bug feed and keeping them stuck (but not killing them outside of leaving them to starve), diatomaceous earth "removes" the hydrophobic coating of chitin (absorbs the lipid/waxy layer making chitin more porous), dehydrating the bugs to death. So diatomaceous earth kills the bugs pretty much directly.
- astrodust 14y agoI really hope that stuff gives the bugs angry sores all over their body.
- yaddayadda 14y agoThank you for explaining the differences in mechanisms! When originally reading about diatomaceous earth, I had read something about it acting like razor blades cutting through the exoskeleton. So I was erroneously equating the hooks and razor analogies. Do you know whether there have there been any commercial products that try to replicate the diatomaceous/razor like mechanism?