Fall is a great time to live in Illinois for more reasons than I can count on two hands, but there's only one reason I dislike fall in Illinois...SPIDERS.

Big Spider Problems

Full disclosure, I am 100 percent the person who has spider decorations all over my home for Halloween but HATES finding a real spider in the house.

Photo by Marino Linic on Unsplash
Photo by Marino Linic on Unsplash
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I don't like it, but I can deal with the small spiders I find in my home during the summer months, but when those big, disgusting wolf spiders start making their way indoors I absolutely lose my mind. I've squashed one too many of those suckers in the last month, and every single time I do I'm terrified a million babies are going to jump off its back and attack me.

In the last week, I've noticed a lot of my spider-hating friends sharing this meme on social media...

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Facebook
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I do believe that meme is supposed to be funny more than informative, but every time I see it I wonder, "Do walnuts truly repel spiders?"

Natural Ways to Repel Spiders

I have 4 pets in my home and 2 young kids, so using chemicals to get rid of bugs is not really something I'm comfortable doing. A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of hedge apples in the fall with the hopes they would help curb my home's spider problems, and they absolutely worked wonders!

We've just placed about a dozen hedge apples around the foundation of our home, but what will we do when they go rotten and we can't find any more to buy?

Can I replace the rotten hedge apples with walnuts? Here's what an article from Purcor Pest Solutions says;

Horse chestnuts and walnuts are well-known natural spider deterrents. To help keep spiders out of your home, crush some nuts and place them at spider entry points.

 

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Canva
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If you take the time to Google the effectiveness of walnuts as spider deterrents, you will find a lot of mixed reviews. Some articles say it's an old wives tale that doesn't work (they also say the same thing about hedge apples which I KNOW work), while others say it totally does.

I don't know about you, but I tend to believe pest control professionals and there's no harm in giving walnuts a try this year, right?

Here are 3 more natural ways to repel spiders from your home according to Purcor Pest Solutions;

  • Coconut oil and white vinegar -  Mix a cup of white vinegar and a teaspoon of coconut oil together then treat areas of your home where spiders like to hang out like undisturbed corners and basements.
  • Peppermint, cinnamon, lavender, tea tree, and eucalyptus oils - All of these essential oils have scents spiders hate. Just mix a few drops of one of these oils in a water bottle and then spray the solution in spider problem areas.
  • Saline solution - Salt is poisonous to spiders and all it takes to get rid of them is mixing 1/8 cup of salt and warm water in a water bottle and then spraying spiders with it.

Good luck, and let us know if any of these solutions work by sending us an app message!

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