Like many animals, spiders react to certain smells. While they feel particularly comfortable around rubbish and anywhere else where there are lots of flies and mosquitoes, there are other scents that drive them away. What kind of plants do spiders dislike? Interestingly, it is mainly ones that humans find appealingly fragrant—adding these anti-spider plants to your home is a double win, with fewer spiders but a scent that everyone else will enjoy.
Lavender, A Popular Spider Deterrent
Lavender has a long history as a home remedy against spiders. The plant has also been used since the Middle Ages as a medicinal plant because of its calming fragrance and antibacterial properties. The effect on spiders is different, however. The smell of the Mediterranean shrub is said to drive them away.
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You’ll benefit threefold when you use lavender in your home against spiders. Plants bring life into a home, lavender has a relaxing effect, and there is the added serenity of no longer having to worry about spiders. Note, however, that while there are anecdotal reports regarding the effectiveness of lavender when it comes to deterring spiders, there are no scientific studies that support that conclusion. With two other plants, however, there is research that confirms they deter spiders.
These Plants Were Put To The Test, And Passed
An experiment published by the Journal of Economic Entomology, a specialist journal on insects, has indeed observed that spiders avoid two other plants: peppermint and chestnuts.
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il, peppermint oil, and chestnuts—three plant products that are popularly considered to be particularly helpful when it comes to repelling spiders. The result: While spiders did not shy away from lemon oil, an aversion to peppermint and chestnuts was observed.
Lavender and peppermint plants
If you want to repel spiders with lavender or peppermint, you can simply place the plants indoors. On windowsills, tables, shelves, or as a hanging plant, you can place the plants where and how you like. Alternatively, lavender can also be dried and placed in vases in the form of bouquets or used in lavender sachets—add some to your wardrobe and they will also deter moths.
Chestnuts
Chestnuts are common in many parts of the world in autumn and if there is an area with chestnut trees near you, you can collect them during a walk. When they are fresh, they are effective against spiders who don’t like the smell. After about a month, when the nuts have dried out, they lose their effectiveness and should be replaced. Chestnuts can be placed individually on windowsills or in drawers. This home remedy against spiders can also be used as decorative element. Place the chestnuts in a favourite ceramic dish or decorative bowl. If you press on the chestnuts (for example with a hammer), the smell—and its ability to deter spiders—will be even more noticeable.
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Oils As An Alternative
If you don’t have a green thumb for plants and you don’t really want chestnuts scattered around your home, you can rely on herbal oils instead. Lavender and peppermint oils are commercially available products that you can buy at the drugstore or pharmacy or online. Put a few drops into small vases, bowls, or other containers so that the scent can spread throughout the house. You can also mix the plant oils with water in a spray bottle and spray them on the places where spiders like to nest (say, by the rubbish bin, in corners or rooms, and at window).
Of course, there’s no guarantee that you will no longer find any spiders in your home if you use lavender, chestnut, and peppermint. However, the experiment from the Journal of Economic Entomology shows that spiders generally avoid peppermint and chestnut compared to other plants—so, yes, you should have these anti-spider plants at home.
NOTE – This article was originally published in architecturaldigest and can be viewed here
Tags: #animals, #Chestnuts, #chestnuttrees, #getgreengetgrowing, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #home, #lavender, #medicinalplant, #naturalspider, #nature, #plants, #spiders
