Homemade earwig spray {easy}

Our bird feeders have been quite the hotbed of activity this year. However, being popular does come with its consequences. While we were on vacation, a number of earwigs decided to take up residence behind one of the feeders. {Yuck!} We have one of those feeders that is attached to our window in order to view the birds. So, the new inhabitants really made for a pleasant view!

We ended up spraying the feeder with water, taking it down and cleaning it again to get rid of the earwigs. However, they came back. Ick! A couple of weeks ago, I made a homemade concoction to combat broccoli worms. I still had some left, so I tried it on the earwigs. After a couple of applications, it seems to have worked. {Holding breath...holding...holding}

I learned about the homemade spray from Ehow Home. It is super simple and you probably have the ingredients in your home. I adapted the recipe a little, so here it goes:

Ingredients:

1 quart warm water
1 small yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp liquid dish soap

Directions: 

Puree the first four ingredients. Then, let the concoction steep for about an hour. Next, put the concoction through a strainer, reserving the liquid (your solution). Add the liquid dish soap. Then, pour your solution into a spray bottle. When you are ready to apply, make sure you wear gloves.(Trust me, your hands will be happy.)

I had to apply the spray a couple of times to where my little friends were hanging out to get them all to skeedaddle.

You can refrigerate the solution for about a week. Mine was little older than that and still worked.

As for the broccoli worms--the jury is still deliberating on that one. I will keep you posted!