Termites Will Be A Thing Of The Past With One Item From Your Spice Cabinet

Your house may be your castle, but to hungry termites, it's a seemingly endless smorgasbord. The tiny terrors with insatiable appetites could care less that their gluttonous habits are damaging the structural integrity of your home. What's more, it could take months before you detect their presence since termites eat walls from the inside out. Once you realize your home has become a bottomless brunch for the wood-destroying pests your first reaction may be to call professional exterminators to get the vermin eviction underway. However, you can save time and money by heading to your kitchen. Termites will be a thing of the past with one item from your spice cabinet: cayenne pepper.

With your home serving as their all-you-can-eat buffet, you'd think termites would be as big as cockroaches and subsequently easy to detect and terminate. Unfortunately, the minuscule insects aren't only small in stature but also extremely stealthy. They enter silently through cracks and gaps in your home's foundation, as well as improperly sealed vents and self-forged underground tunnels. Once they're in, the endless feasting begins. Termites devour anything that contains cellulose, including wood, paper, cardboard, carpet, insulation, and plants. Over time their gorging becomes evident via sawdust-like droppings, buckling floors, hollow walls, and discarded termite wings. However, rather than dousing your home with toxic chemicals as a way to get rid of termites, consider deterring the puny nuisances by targeting their senses and disrupting their central nervous system with cayenne pepper.

If you've ever used cayenne pepper to deal with pests in your garden, you'll have no problem applying similar practices to eliminate termites. The natural deterrent draws on capsaicin — an active ingredient in cayenne peppers — to severely damage a termite's network of nerves, precipitating its death. In other words, the same spicy kick cayenne pepper gives to your favorite dishes is a significant turn-off to termites who are revolted by the spice's pungent scent and fiery flavor.

The easiest way to use the spice as an organic insecticide is to liberally sprinkle ground cayenne pepper in areas where you have detected termite activity. Depending on the severity of the infiltration you may have to repeat the treatment several times until the termites are gone. A more aggressive option is to create a paste by combining cayenne pepper powder and vegetable oil. Thoroughly blend the ingredients, then apply the mixture to affected areas, reapplying a fresh coat every day for four to five days. During the daily application process, assess its effectiveness and make modifications to locations as needed.

If you're treating vertical and horizontal areas infested by termites, consider making a cayenne pepper-based solution that can be conveniently applied by spraying. Simply combine ground cayenne pepper with water and vegetable oil in a plastic spray bottle, shake vigorously, and spritz on damaged drywall or pin-sized holes situated near mounds of termite droppings at least once a week.