Organic bed bug control

My college aged son if fighting bed bugs that he may have inherited when he moved into his new apartment. I read the great flea control thread and was wondering if anyone has had any luck with diatomaceous earth killing bed bugs?

While I have never had to deal with bed bugs personally, I have heard from a lot of different people that say diatomaceous earth works great and the the chemical army is lame - frequently needing to be used over and over.

i would try 20 mule team borax, full strength on everything..let it sit a long time and then vacuum it well and throw out the bag, and then retreat immediately..let is sit again and then vacuum in a day or so..

2 treatments will work with fleas..not sure about bedbugs..

can't hurt to try

I think borax is great for mold control and getting odd smells out of laundry. It seems that I do think of borax as a solution for a lot of things. And I know that it works really well as bug control. About as well as DE. But! It is toxic. Just mildly toxic. I would gladly eat a quarter cup of DE but I would not eat a quarter teaspoon of borax.

I would not be comfortable putting borax on a mattress that I intend to lay on a lot later on.

But ..... I suspect many people would be quite comfortable doing so.

I'm going to disagree with you on the efficacy of the chemical army. The highly toxic chemicals that were common place in the household in the 40's up on through the early 80's were highly effective on bed bugs , so much so that they were nearly eradicated from the continent (even though spraying was cut way back in the 70's and 80's the residuals kept on keeping on up until the mid 90's). The truth is that we now have fewer bed bugs than we did in the 30's but everyone is just getting reacquainted with them.

They are difficult to deal with with out the highly toxic chemicals, but should be dealt with. a steam cleaner will help to get them out of the folds of furniture and curtains, vacuum, DE, sticky barriers on the legs of beds and couches. bed bugs are elusive but fortunately very unlikely to pass diseases from one person to another. Cleaning out the clutter and sealing cracks and holes in woodwork can also work for reducing insect infestation. Be sure he washes his sheets regularly.

I wonder if the residuals are still with us, only the bedbugs have evolved to resist them.

I recall reading that malaria would have been eradicated in the 1970s if DDT's effectiveness had not been squandered by farmers. DDT on bednets and the eaves of houses would not have been a problem for birds of prey, either.

I expect future generations will be angry at us for trivial use of penicillin and related compounds, too.

Borax is a naturally occuring mineral that is good for killing many insects and it is a fire retardant as well. I have used it in my attic to treat for insects and the fire suppressing properties are beneficial as well.

Boric Acid. Roach powder.

Seems like you can only buy ortho-boric acid at stores now, but can get the old stuff from bio-deisel folks.
Make sure to get the fine powder, not the chunkier stuff.

Don't think boric acid is toxic, it is an inhalant problem.
They still put it in the eyedrops for newborns....

Would mix some up with a little soap in a sprayer, and do the back of picture frames, under drawers, bedframes etc.

Powder gets blown into any holes you can find, and spread around perimeter of room, and sweep into edges and cracks.

This is what they use for termites now. think it works on all insects. Don't think 20 mule team will do much. it is borax (alkali) not boric acid.

Fortunately I caught my infestation early. It came about after I let a friend crash at my place for a few weeks while I was away. Turns out, he had bedbugs, too.

I went through the bed/room with a fine tooth comb. Actually, a pair of tweezers and a headlamp, literally scouring ever surface. I plucked all the ones I could find, and anything else that looked odd, and put them in rubbing alcohol (which I then set on fire outside, just to spite the little buggers). I then vacuumed with a powerful vacuum (hepa filter, all corners including baseboard molding, etc), sealed the beds/pillows up in bags (1.5-2 years minimum), set sticky traps around the legs of the bed, and waited. No more bites or bugs. Two and a half years later I still don't have the desire to take that mattress out of it's bag, though.

ops:

Emerson White wrote:
I'm going to disagree with you on the efficacy of the chemical army. The highly toxic chemicals that were common place in the household in the 40's up on through the early 80's were highly effective on bed bugs , so much so that they were nearly eradicated from the continent (even though spraying was cut way back in the 70's and 80's the residuals kept on keeping on up until the mid 90's). The truth is that we now have fewer bed bugs than we did in the 30's but everyone is just getting reacquainted with them.

They are difficult to deal with with out the highly toxic chemicals, but should be dealt with. a steam cleaner will help to get them out of the folds of furniture and curtains, vacuum, DE, sticky barriers on the legs of beds and couches. bed bugs are elusive but fortunately very unlikely to pass diseases from one person to another. Cleaning out the clutter and sealing cracks and holes in woodwork can also work for reducing insect infestation. Be sure he washes his sheets regularly.

I have to agree. As much as possible go for an organic solution so that it will be safer for your son's health.