Wiping lavender essential oil on doorframes can keep spiders out of your home, according to cleaning guru Chantel Mila, known as Mama Mila on TikTok. She shared the hack as part of her go-to home tips for dealing with spiders and insects during the late summer months.
How to Apply Lavender Oil
All you need is a kitchen cloth or sponge. Apply a few drops of lavender essential oil to the cloth and wipe it over the front of the door and the door frames, ensuring the surfaces are completely covered. Alternatively, mix a number of drops of lavender oil with water in a spray bottle and spray the solution over the doorways.
Seeds of Africa explained that lavender contains a non-toxic compound called linalool, which is a key ingredient in many commercial and natural insect repellents. Besides lavender oil, candles or incense can also be used to ward off spiders.
Other Essential Oils That Work
Spiders dislike strong scents, so a number of essential oils can help deter them. Alongside lavender, spiders are also repelled by peppermint, tea tree, citrus, cedarwood, and clove bud essential oils. However, lavender will not kill spiders; it only works as a deterrent.
Sentinel Pest Control recommended essential oils as a comprehensive way for keeping unwanted pests at bay, especially when they are part of a proper cleaning routine. The pest experts wrote: "A clean home, sealed entry points, and minimal clutter are crucial for preventing infestations. Essential oils enhance these efforts, delivering an extra punch in keeping spiders at bay and ensuring your home remains a no-go zone for these eight-legged intruders."
Additional Tips and Garden Plants
You can also soak cotton wool balls in lavender essential oil and place them in corners of the home or behind furniture. Gardening Know How suggests adding four to five drops of peppermint oil and four to five drops of lavender oil to each cotton ball, placing them on windowsills, near doorways, around trash bins, and inside cabinets or pantries. Replace or resoak the cotton balls every two to three days, or whenever the scent fades.
For extra protection, planting lavender in the garden along with other pungent herbs can help. Luke Newnes, gardening expert at Hillarys, previously told Express.co.uk: "Planting fragrant herbs such as mint, lavender or rosemary can also help. These don’t guarantee rodents will disappear overnight, but they do make the garden far less appealing. Mint is a good choice, but it’s best grown in pots as it can spread quickly."
