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It is a Tuesday night in August. You walk into your kitchen at eleven o'clock to get a glass of water, and you flip the light switch on. The fluorescent overhead bulbs flicker to life, and you see them. Three of them on the counter near the bread box. Two more on the floor by the refrigerator. One climbing up the inside of the cabinet where you keep the cereal. Cockroaches. They scatter the moment the light hits them — flat brown bodies skittering for the darkness, disappearing into cracks behind the stove, vanishing under the dishwasher in less than two seconds.
You drive to the hardware store the next morning. Cans of cockroach spray on the shelf — eight dollars, twelve dollars, eighteen dollars per can. You buy two cans and a pack of roach motels for fifteen dollars more. Forty dollars on the counter just to try to fix what you saw last night. And four weeks later, they are still there. Because the cans of spray kill the ones you see — not the hundred more breeding in the wall cavity behind your refrigerator.
In this video, I walk you through the cheap homemade cockroach bait that do
https://eliasyoder.com
It is a Tuesday night in August. You walk into your kitchen at eleven o'clock to get a glass of water, and you flip the light switch on. The fluorescent overhead bulbs flicker to life, and you see them. Three of them on the counter near the bread box. Two more on the floor by the refrigerator. One climbing up the inside of the cabinet where you keep the cereal. Cockroaches. They scatter the moment the light hits them — flat brown bodies skittering for the darkness, disappearing into cracks behind the stove, vanishing under the dishwasher in less than two seconds.
You drive to the hardware store the next morning. Cans of cockroach spray on the shelf — eight dollars, twelve dollars, eighteen dollars per can. You buy two cans and a pack of roach motels for fifteen dollars more. Forty dollars on the counter just to try to fix what you saw last night. And four weeks later, they are still there. Because the cans of spray kill the ones you see — not the hundred more breeding in the wall cavity behind your refrigerator.
In this video, I walk you through the cheap homemade cockroach bait that do
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It is a Tuesday night in August.
00:02You walk into your kitchen at 11 o'clock to get a glass of water and you flip the light
00:07switch on.
00:08The fluorescent overhead bulbs flicker to life and you see them, three of them on the
00:14counter near the bread box, two more on the floor by the refrigerator, one climbing up
00:20the inside of the cabinet where you keep the cereal.
00:25Cockroaches They scatter the moment the light hits them, flat brown bodies skittering
00:30for the darkness, disappearing into cracks behind the stove, vanishing under the dishwasher
00:36in less than two seconds.
00:38You stand there in your bare feet, the glass of water forgotten in your hand, and you know
00:44that what you just saw is the smallest piece of what is actually living in your walls.
00:50You drive to the hardware store the next morning.
00:54Cans of cockroach spray on the shelf, $8, $12, $18 per can, all promising fast kill and long-lasting
01:05protection.
01:06You buy two cans and a pack of roach motels for $15 more, $40 on the counter just to try
01:14to fix what you saw last night.
01:17And four weeks later, they are still there.
01:20Because the cans of spray kill the ones you see, not the hundred more breeding in the wall
01:27cavity behind your refrigerator.
01:30The cockroach hides in the dark.
01:32The spray cannot reach where the cockroach lives.
01:37Now I want you to sit with this.
01:39There is a small homemade bait built from a half cup of white sugar, two tablespoons of
01:45boric acid powder, the grated peel of one lemon, and a sheet of aluminum foil from your
01:52kitchen drawer that does what no spray can ever do.
01:56The cockroach eats it, then carries it back to the nest where it kills the dozens of other
02:02cockroaches you never see, including the eggs, including the breeding females.
02:10Within four to six weeks, the entire colony in your walls is gone, and they do not come
02:16back for months.
02:18Total cost per bait packet, about $0.10.
02:22Total cost to treat an entire kitchen, under $2.
02:27The chemistry is real.
02:30Real pest control science going back to the 1880s when boric acid was first commercialized
02:37for household pest control.
02:40Professional exterminators use this exact same active ingredient in their commercial roach
02:46baits.
02:47The only difference between the $400 professional treatment and the bait you can make in your
02:53kitchen in five minutes is the price tag and the brand name on the box.
03:00My name is Elias Yoder.
03:02I am Amish and I farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
03:07Cockroaches are not new to American farmhouses.
03:10Old cellars, old pantries, old kitchens with wood floors and stone foundations.
03:17They have always attracted them.
03:19The old folks dealt with cockroaches the same way they dealt with rats and mice, with cheap
03:26bait that the pest carried home to its own kind.
03:30What I am going to show you today is a modern adaptation of that old method, the aluminum foil
03:37delivery, the sugar attractant, the boric acid killer, and the lemon peel scent masker.
03:44Every step backed by real chemistry, real entomology, real folk pest control going back over a hundred
03:54years.
03:55Quick word before I get into it.
03:58The old methods my family uses, there is more of it than fits in any one video.
04:04I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
04:09The book is the long version.
04:11If you want it, it is there.
04:14I will not bring it up again.
04:16Now, the foil ball cockroach bait, start to finish.
04:22The chemistry of why this works, and the honest source calibration.
04:27Before I walk you through the build, you need to understand why this works, because the chemistry
04:33tells you what to expect, and what not to expect.
04:38There is a video circulating on the internet right now that teaches folks to make a cockroach
04:44bait from sugar, baking soda, lemon peel, and toothpaste.
04:49I want to be plain with you about one thing.
04:53Three of those four ingredients are real, and the chemistry is sound.
04:57The toothpaste, plainly, is not.
05:00There is no entomological science showing toothpaste destroys cockroach eggs or damages
05:07cockroach nests.
05:08The fluoride concentration in toothpaste is too low to kill insects.
05:14The detergents in toothpaste do not penetrate the cockroach exoskeleton.
05:19In the bait, the toothpaste is essentially doing nothing, and the baking soda alone, while
05:25it has some kill effect, is not the strongest method.
05:29So in this video, I am going to teach you the same bait that folks make from internet
05:34recipes, but with the toothpaste replaced by the ingredient the toothpaste was pretending
05:40to be.
05:41That ingredient is boric acid, a white, crystalline powder, sold at every hardware store and online
05:49for under $10 per pound.
05:51The gold standard of homemade cockroach control for over a century.
05:57Boric acid does what the toothpaste was claimed to do, and it actually does it.
06:02This is the recipe a professional exterminator would teach you if you asked him what to
06:08put in a homemade bait.
06:09Now I am going to teach you the same thing.
06:13Sugar is the attractant.
06:15Cockroaches are powerfully drawn to sugar.
06:18The smell pulls them across a dark kitchen from 20 feet away.
06:23Boric acid is the killer.
06:25When a cockroach eats boric acid, three things happen.
06:29First, the fine crystals abrade the inside of its digestive system.
06:34Second, the acid pulls water from the body, dehydrating the insect.
06:40Third, the boron compound affects the cockroach's nervous system.
06:44Death follows within 24 to 72 hours.
06:49But here is the most important part.
06:52The cockroach does not die immediately.
06:55The boric acid is slow acting on purpose.
06:59The cockroach eats the bait, returns to its nest, and there it dies.
07:04And the other cockroaches in the colony, who eat the dead body or the contaminated droppings,
07:10also die.
07:12One cockroach carrying boric acid back to the nest kills five to seven other cockroaches.
07:19Real entomological research backs this number.
07:22It is documented in U.S. pest control patents going back to the 1980s.
07:28Lemon peel is the scent masker and supplemental repellent.
07:32The yellow part of the lemon peel contains a natural oil called deliminine, which has two
07:39effects.
07:40First, it masks any chemical smell from the boric acid so the cockroaches do not detect
07:46the poison.
07:47Second, deliminine itself is a natural insecticide.
07:52It damages the cockroach's respiratory system on contact.
07:55Real, commercial, citrus-based insecticides use deliminine as their active ingredient.
08:03In the bait, the lemon peel serves the cockroach a sweet, attractive smell while also dosing
08:09the trail back to the nest with a mild secondary poison.
08:14Aluminum foil is the delivery system.
08:17Foil holds the scent of the bait concentrated, prevents it from drying out, protects it from
08:22moisture and keeps it contained so the cockroaches must work to reach it through small holes.
08:29That small effort, the cockroach reaching through the holes to get the bait, is exactly what
08:35gets the boric acid on the cockroach's body, ready to be carried back to the nest.
08:41Four ingredients.
08:43Four real chemistries.
08:45One small homemade bait that does what no $18 can of spray can do.
08:51Two.
08:51The materials list.
08:53What you need.
08:54Half a cup of white sugar.
08:56Any sugar works, but fine white granulated is the easiest for cockroaches to eat.
09:03Two to three tablespoons of pure boric acid powder, sold at hardware stores, drug stores,
09:10and online for $5 to $10 per pound.
09:13Brand name examples include 20 mule team borax, which contains borax, the related compound,
09:21also effective, and pure boric acid powder, sold for roach control.
09:26Avoid the kind sold as eye wash, that is too diluted.
09:32One fresh lemon, for the grated peel and for the second method at the end of the video.
09:38A roll of aluminum foil.
09:40Any thickness works.
09:42Standard kitchen foil is fine.
09:44A fork, for poking small holes.
09:48A pair of rubber or latex gloves.
09:51Boric acid is mild, but can irritate skin.
09:55Total cost for the materials needed to treat an entire average kitchen.
10:00Under $5.
10:01The boric acid alone is enough for 50 or more bait packets.
10:06One $5 investment, used for years.
10:10The critical safety word before we go any further.
10:13I have to be straight with you, plainly.
10:16Boric acid is a real pesticide, and it must be handled with real respect.
10:22The same chemistry that kills cockroaches also matters for safety in the home.
10:27Safety rules, plainly.
10:29Wear gloves when handling boric acid powder.
10:32It can irritate skin and dry out the hands.
10:36Do not inhale the powder.
10:38Avoid making clouds of dust.
10:41Mix it carefully and slowly.
10:44Keep all bait packets completely out of reach of children and pets.
10:49Boric acid is significantly less toxic than most commercial pesticides,
10:53but it is still toxic enough that a child or a small dog
10:58who chews on a bait packet could be seriously harmed.
11:01I would never use this method in a household with curious toddlers
11:05or pets that get into places they should not.
11:08Place bait packets only in hidden locations cockroaches travel.
11:13Behind the refrigerator, inside upper cabinets, behind the stove, in dark corners.
11:19Never in open places where children or pets can find them.
11:23Wash your hands thoroughly after handling.
11:26Label the storage container of any leftover boric acid clearly,
11:30and keep it stored high up, ideally in a locked cabinet.
11:34This is exactly the same safety standard I taught for the wasp bait video earlier on this channel.
11:40Boric acid is a serious ingredient. Treat it with seriousness.
11:45The good news, plainly, when used properly in sealed foil packets placed in cockroach harborage zones,
11:52the risk to humans and pets is very low.
11:56The cockroaches find the bait. Your children should never see it.
12:00The build, step by step.
12:03Step 1. Mix the dry ingredients.
12:06Put on your gloves.
12:07In a small bowl, combine half a cup of white sugar with two to three tablespoons of pure boric acid
12:14powder.
12:15Stir gently with a spoon until the two are evenly mixed.
12:19The ratio that matters is roughly three parts sugar to one part boric acid,
12:25sweet enough to attract the cockroaches, strong enough to kill them once eaten.
12:30Step 2. Add the grated lemon peel.
12:32Take one fresh lemon.
12:35Grate only the yellow part of the peel, not the white pith underneath, which is bitter.
12:40You want about one tablespoon of finely grated lemon peel.
12:44Add this to the sugar and boric acid mixture and stir well to combine.
12:49The mixture should remain dry and crumbly like coarse sand.
12:53Set aside the lemon itself.
12:55We will use it in the second method at the end.
12:58Step 3. Tear and shape the foil packets.
13:02Tear off pieces of aluminum foil about four inches square.
13:06You will need one piece per bait packet and one bait packet per location.
13:11For an average kitchen, plan on six to ten packets total,
13:15under the refrigerator, behind the stove, inside the upper kitchen cabinets,
13:20behind the dishwasher, in the corner of the pantry,
13:23behind any baseboard cracks where you have seen droppings.
13:27Step 4. Fill the packets.
13:29Place about one tablespoon of the bait mixture in the center of each foil square.
13:35Gently fold the foil around the bait, then twist or crimp the edges closed to form a small compact ball
13:42about the size of a walnut.
13:44The bait should be completely sealed inside.
13:47Step 5. Poke the access holes.
13:50Use a fork to poke five or six small holes through the surface of the foil ball.
13:55The holes should be about the size of a pencil tip, big enough for the cockroach to reach in with
14:00its head and antennae,
14:02small enough that the bait does not spill out.
14:04The holes also let the scent of the sugar and lemon escape.
14:08That is it. Your bait packets are made.
14:11Before I walk through the placement and the second method, let me pause for a moment.
14:16If you want to lower bills, waste less, repair more, stretch groceries and run a steadier home,
14:22join our Amish home savings system and community.
14:26You will get the lessons, home saving challenges, and a place to ask Esther and me questions whenever you get
14:32stuck.
14:33The link is in the description.
14:35Now, placement, the second method, and the math.
14:39Step 6. Place the bait packets in the right locations.
14:43This is where most folks go wrong and it determines whether the method works.
14:49Cockroaches do not eat in the open.
14:51They travel from their nest to a food source along the same hidden pathways every night, then return to the
14:57dark to digest.
14:59Your bait packets need to sit on those pathways, not in open areas of the kitchen.
15:05Best locations.
15:07Under the refrigerator.
15:08Slide a packet as far back as you can reach.
15:11Behind the stove.
15:13Pull the stove out a few inches if possible.
15:16Place a packet behind it against the wall.
15:19Inside the toe kick under base cabinets.
15:22Pop off the small front panel under your cabinets if accessible and place packets in that hidden space.
15:29Inside upper kitchen cabinets in the back corners.
15:32Especially cabinets that store dry goods, cereal, flour, sugar where cockroaches travel for food.
15:39Behind the dishwasher, same as the refrigerator.
15:43In the corner of the pantry against the wall behind boxes or cans.
15:48Under the sink in the back corner against the wall.
15:52Inside the small space behind the kitchen base boards if you can see any gaps.
15:58Locations to avoid.
16:00Open countertops.
16:02Children and pets can reach them.
16:05On top of the refrigerator in plain view, same reason.
16:08Inside food storage areas where they could mix with food.
16:13Anywhere wet, boric acid washes away with water and loses effectiveness.
16:19The bait packets should be hidden from all human and pet eyes while sitting directly on the highways cockroaches travel
16:26at night.
16:27Place six to ten packets around the kitchen, one in each of the cockroach harborage zones.
16:34Step 7.
16:35Wait and replace.
16:37Once you have placed the packets, leave them alone.
16:40Do not touch them.
16:42Do not check them.
16:43Do not move them.
16:44For the first week, you may actually see more cockroaches than before because the bait is drawing them out of
16:51their hiding places to eat.
16:53This is good.
16:54It means the method is working.
16:56The cockroaches that eat the bait carry it back to the nest, where the slow-acting boric acid kills them
17:02over the next 48 to 72 hours.
17:05By the end of the second week, the number of cockroaches you see at night should drop significantly.
17:11By the end of the fourth week, most or all of the colonies should be gone.
17:16Maintain the packets for two to three months total to catch any remaining stragglers and any newly hatched cockroaches from
17:23eggs laid before the queens died.
17:26Replace the bait packets every three to four months if the cockroach problem persists or once a year as preventive
17:33maintenance in homes that have had cockroaches before.
17:37The bait does not spoil quickly.
17:39The dry ingredients last almost indefinitely sealed in foil.
17:43You only replace because the cockroaches eat the bait down to nothing over time and the scent attractant fades.
17:50The second method, the lemon water spray for ongoing prevention.
17:54While the bait packets do the killing work, a simple lemon water spray helps prevent new cockroaches from being attracted
18:01to your kitchen in the first place.
18:03This is the second method I want to share and it complements the bait perfectly.
18:08Take the lemon you used for the grated peel.
18:11Cut it in half and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup.
18:15Add about two cups of warm water.
18:17The warmth helps the lemon scent spread and last longer.
18:21Stir in one teaspoon of salt if you want extra deterrent power.
18:25Pour the mixture into a clean spray bottle.
18:28Use this spray to wipe down your kitchen counters, the area around the stove, under the sink, and any corners
18:35where cockroaches have been seen.
18:37Spray two or three times a week.
18:39The chemistry, plainly.
18:41The deliminine in lemon juice repels cockroaches actively.
18:45The acidity of the lemon also helps cut grease and food residue off your counters, removing the food sources that
18:52attracted cockroaches in the first place.
18:55Clean kitchen, repellent scent, no food residue.
18:58Three reasons cockroaches will not want to live in your space.
19:02This spray is also completely safe around children and pets.
19:06Lemon water and salt are food safe ingredients.
19:10Use them freely on any kitchen surface.
19:13Now I want to take a moment because here is where it all comes together.
19:17Look at what we have walked through.
19:19The chemistry.
19:20Sugar attracts.
19:22Boric acid kills slowly.
19:24Lemon peel masks scent and repels.
19:27Foil holds and delivers.
19:29The build.
19:30Mix the dry ingredients.
19:32Fold into foil packets.
19:34Poke holes for cockroach access.
19:37The placement.
19:38Hidden harborage zones cockroaches travel, never in open areas.
19:43The waiting period.
19:44One to four weeks for the colony to collapse.
19:47Replace packets every three to four months.
19:50The supplementary lemon water spray.
19:53Deterrent and cleaner combined.
19:55Safe for all surfaces.
19:57Every step verified by real pest control science.
20:01Real licensed exterminators.
20:04The ones who charge $400 to treat an average house.
20:07Use this exact same active ingredient in their commercial baits.
20:12The only difference is the packaging and the brand name on the box.
20:16The same boric acid that kills cockroaches in a $5 bag from the hardware store is the same boric acid
20:24that kills them in a $60 professional gel bait.
20:27The honest math is plain.
20:30Average professional cockroach treatment.
20:32$300 to $600 for the initial visit.
20:35Follow up treatments.
20:38Follow up treatments.
20:38$1 to $200 every quarter.
20:40Annual cost to the homeowner.
20:42$800 to $1,400 per year.
20:45The same protection with the homemade bait.
20:48About $10 to $15 per year for the boric acid, the lemons, and the foil.
20:53Savings of about $800 to $1,300 per year for the same actual result.
20:59And the coverage is honestly better.
21:02Because you can place bait packets in spots a professional exterminator's spray cannot reach.
21:08Deep in the wall cavities.
21:10Behind appliances.
21:11And inside cabinet recesses.
21:14There is no money in teaching homeowners that a $5 bag of boric acid does the same job as a
21:20$400 pest control visit.
21:22There is a great deal of money in selling families annual pest control contracts every quarter, every year, forever.
21:30So the simple old method sits quiet on the back shelf of the hardware store.
21:35And most American homeowners pay $100 a quarter to pest control companies when one afternoon and $5 in ingredients would
21:44have done the same job.
21:45You can be the one who never paid.
21:48So here is what I want you to do.
21:50This week, drive to the hardware store and pick up one pound of pure boric acid powder.
21:56$5 to $10.
21:58One fresh lemon.
21:59$1.
22:00And a roll of aluminum foil from your kitchen.
22:03Total trip cost.
22:05About $10.
22:06That setup makes 50 or more bait packets and lasts for years.
22:10This weekend, set aside 30 minutes to put on your gloves, mix the bait, fold the foil packets, and place
22:186 to 10 of them in the hidden cockroach harborage zones of your kitchen.
22:22By Sunday evening, your bait is working while you sleep.
22:26Once a week, 10 minutes, mix up a fresh batch of the lemon water spray and wipe down the kitchen
22:32surfaces.
22:33That is the entire ongoing maintenance.
22:36Tell me in the comments below.
22:38Have you ever dealt with cockroaches in your home?
22:41And what did you try that did not work?
22:43And if your mother or grandmother had her own homemade roach trick we did not cover.
22:48A bay leaf in the pantry.
22:50A cucumber peel under the sink.
22:52A borax sprinkle along the baseboards.
22:55Share the family memory.
22:56The little inherited methods are exactly the kind of knowledge that gets lost when nobody writes them down.
23:03I read every single one.
23:05Next time, since today we covered the cheap homemade method for killing cockroaches,
23:10I am going to walk you through the old way our family keeps mice and rats out of the pantry.
23:15The building habits.
23:17The pantry design.
23:18The cheap traps that work.
23:20And the expensive ones that do not.
23:22Same principle.
23:24Different pest.
23:25Same low cost prevention.
23:27Subscribe so you do not miss it.
23:29Until then, mix the sugar and the boric acid.
23:32Grate the lemon peel.
23:34Fold the foil packets.
23:35Place them where the cockroaches travel at night.
23:38And remember that the cheapest pest control in the world
23:41is sometimes the one sitting on the back shelf of your hardware store for $10.
23:47That is how the careful old folks dealt with what crawled in their walls.
23:52That is how it is still done in any home that remembers.
23:56This is the long time to be reproduced of the newlassen.
23:56we can say, ''No, you should care. You should
23:56you should think of yourself and tell us, that's on
23:56firstradas. The number of things
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