Marie Rodale of the Huffington Post has put together a list of the top 10 non-toxic ways to control bed bugs. Her list is based on Changlu Wang's, PhD, department of entomology, at Rutgers Univeristy presentation at the Beyond Pesticides Conference in Denver, Colorado.

 

1: Physically remove them by vacuuming and cleaning them up manually. Even though I do yoga, I do approve of killing bugs. Stomping is acceptable.

 

 2: REMOVE CLUTTER. Bedbugs love to snuggle in piles of clothes, newspapers, and junk. Dr. Wang showed pictures of places where it was almost impossible to get rid of the bedbugs, and it had a lot to do with piles of junk and clothes and crap lying around. The more you remove clutter, the easier it is to keep bedbugs out.

 

 3: Launder your bedding WEEKLY. And if have a bedbug problem, make sure that you use heat in the dryer. Bedbugs hate heat.

 

 4: Encase your pillows and mattresses. They're easier to remove and clean on a regular basis.

 

5: Clean with a hot steamer. Again, bedbugs hate heat. Make sure to get around the baseboards and cracks (see number 2).

 

6: Put climb-up interceptors under the legs of furniture. One suggestion is to put the legs of your beds into cans of soapy water, but if that won't fly at your house, you can try applying petroleum jelly or Tanglefoot instead.

 

7: Open your windows! Since bedbugs love CO2, which by the way comes out of your mouth when you breathe as you sleep (yes, with your mouth open and drool coming out), opening a window disperses the CO2 in the room and makes it a much more unappealing environment for bedbugs to linger in.

 

8: Use a fan. Same concept as number 7. If the bugs can't find your pockets of CO2 because there is too much fresh air and wind, they will go to your neighbor's house instead.

 

9: Make a dry ice trap with a dog dish. According to Wang, this really works! Put dry ice in a dog dish, and cover the outside of the dish with something the bugs can climb, such as a cloth or some paper. They will climb in for the CO2 and then won't be able to get out. (USBedBugs also carries the Bedbug Beacon CO2 Active Monitor to detect and trap bed bugs.)

 

10: Try diatomaceous earth. A naturally occurring pest-fighter that comes from dead algae skeletons or something like that, you can get it online and should use it carefully, but it does work. I remember my grandfather using it, and it's still considered organic. Thanks to the stuff's microscopically sharp edges, it's the equivalent of putting tacks on the deck of a boat to deter pirates.

 

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