Wormwood is a type of herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. The name of the herb translated from ancient Greek means “healthy,” which indicates that the healing properties of this plant were known many years ago. Wormwood is used in esotericism to cleanse negative energy in the house, to treat certain diseases and expel parasites from the body of animals or humans in folk medicine, to repel harmful insects (both from the fur of pets and from the apartment), and in cooking. Today we invite you to find out whether wormwood helps against fleas in the house?
Where to buy wormwood?
Wormwood can be collected independently during the growth of this herb: in spring, summer and autumn. In what season you need to collect wormwood depends on what part of the plant is needed. For example, in the spring the leaves of a plant are collected, in the summer - the grass, and in the autumn - the roots.
You can also buy wormwood from grandmothers-herbalists, at a pharmacy or a specialty store.
Pros of using wormwood against fleas:
- Efficiency. Wormwood helps get rid of fleas and other uninvited insects (ants, lice, cockroaches, woodlice).
- Safety. The herb is safe for pregnant women, nursing mothers and children, as well as animals and their young.
- Availability. The grass can be collected and prepared independently during three seasons of the year (spring, summer and autumn). You can also buy the herb at a pharmacy or specialty store.
- Ease of use. Wormwood is effective when used in any form: fresh, dry, in the form of a decoction, tincture or oil.
Effect of wormwood on fleas
Wormwood is known as an effective flea repellent. But I wonder how wormwood works on fleas? Not everyone likes the aroma of this fragrant herb, and especially insects like fleas. They don't like him very much. The essential oils contained in wormwood act as a repellent on insects. They contain several acids, such as malic, succinic and tannic components. The aroma of wormwood essential oil spreading in a room forces insects to urgently and irrevocably leave the area away from this smell.
Ways to fight
So, as mentioned above, the aroma of wormwood repels insects.
Freshly cut or recently collected and slightly dried grass has a more pronounced aroma. Nothing fantastic will happen to a flea if it is surrounded by wormwood. The plant does not kill it. However, she will strive to quickly get away from this poisonous smell for her.
Therefore, the first way to use wormwood against fleas is to spread the aroma in the room so that the insects themselves leave it.
Other methods include preparing decoctions and tinctures, aqueous and alcoholic solutions, as well as using an oil extract to remove fleas. Some of these remedies can be bought ready-made, others can be prepared at home.
Wormwood should be used with caution in areas where people are prone to allergic reactions. While the area is being disinfested with wormwood, it is better for allergy sufferers to move to another place.
Decoctions and tinctures
It’s not difficult to prepare a decoction or tincture of wormwood, and using these products is even easier:
- decoction The decoction recipe is simple. To prepare a decoction of wormwood you will need only two ingredients (water and freshly cut wormwood) and no more than a quarter of an hour. To do this, you need to finely chop the grass with a knife or scissors, put it in a saucepan and add two liters of cold water. Then you need to put the pan on the stove and brew it. When the water boils, do not reduce the heat and cook the infusion for another three minutes. Then the pan should be removed from the stove to cool and infuse the broth. In about half an hour, the wormwood decoction will be ready for use. The solution must be filtered through a fine sieve before use, poured into a spray bottle, and sprayed into the room that has been infested by blood-sucking insects. It is advisable to apply the product to those places where the largest number of fleas are concentrated: floors, carpets, corners, baseboards, upholstered furniture. The decoction can also be used when carrying out wet cleaning by adding it to water. It is allowed to treat animal fur with a decoction of wormwood. To do this, they can be sprayed with a decoction or bathed in water with its addition.
Freshly prepared decoction is most effective. Therefore, it is not recommended to prepare wormwood infusion for future use, but to brew it as needed. In addition to the decoction, the tincture helps.
- tincture. Wormwood tincture is also considered a reliable remedy against fleas. It is used to eliminate insects from an animal’s fur, and also as a prophylactic against re-infestation by insects. To prepare the tincture, you need to take dried wormwood (pharmaceutical wormwood is also suitable), which should be ground in a coffee grinder to a powdery state. The powder is poured with vodka or alcohol and placed in a dark glass bottle with a hermetically sealed lid. The proportion of tincture ingredients is 1:6. The tincture should be stored at a temperature not exceeding 16-20 degrees Celsius and shaken periodically. In a week the product will be ready. The tincture must be strained using a fine sieve or gauze, and can be used for its intended purpose. If you do not have time to prepare the tincture, you can buy it at the pharmacy.
Wormwood tincture for fleas is not for use on animal skin. The product should be applied only to the withers and further along the spine to the tail. Make sure that the animal does not lick the tincture off itself for its own safety. Like a decoction, wormwood tincture can be diluted in a small amount of water to wash the floor. So, folk remedies with herbs help us get rid of fleas at home.
It is also known that decoction and tincture of wormwood are effective in the fight not only against fleas, but also against cockroaches and ants.
Wormwood oil for fleas is not the last among the listed remedies. You will learn further about how to prepare it.
Wormwood essential oil
Wormwood is used for fleas and in the form of oil. To prepare wormwood oil, you need to collect the stems of this plant, as well as leaves and inflorescences.
The most suitable season for collecting all these components is mid-to-late summer. The plant must be finely chopped with a knife, compacted tightly into a glass container and filled with any vegetable oil. It is necessary to tightly close the container with a lid and shake well. Place the bottle of oil in a dark and cool place for at least 2 weeks. When 14 days have passed and the mixture turns green, it must be strained through cheesecloth. The product is ready for use. The extract can be poured into saucers or lids and placed in places where harmful insects live, and you can also treat animal hair with oil. Be sure to monitor the animal's reaction to avoid the development of an allergic reaction. It is not advisable to use flea oil on a kitten or puppy; the mother may lick it and get food poisoning. Wormwood essential oil for fleas is most often used for adult animals. It can be applied to the collar.
Fresh wormwood
The easiest way to prevent fleas is to use fresh wormwood. There is nothing fancy about this. To use wormwood against fleas, it is not necessary to prepare a special remedy. Fresh wormwood is even better at repelling fleas than dry wormwood. To do this, the plant should be cut into small pieces and placed in different places in the room: on window sills, near ventilation holes, in the corners of the house. If there is an animal in the house, the grass should be placed near its bedding or bed, as well as next to upholstered furniture. Wormwood can also be placed in small vases in rooms. Just don't pour water into them. This contributes to rapid rotting of the stems. Flea-repellent tufts or wreaths of wormwood need to be periodically replaced with fresh ones. The aroma will repel fleas, and will also disperse existing ones. And you will get two effects in one: the flea herb will help and fill the house with a meadow aroma. Plus, it looks beautiful.
Advantages and disadvantages
Of course, the main advantages include complete safety for people and animals, in contrast to specialized products. It is also worth mentioning that wormwood is used as a means to treat not only apartments, but also animals. These folk methods are easy and accessible.
If we talk about disadvantages, we can note the deterrent effect. If specialized means ensure the death of parasites, then in this case, you can only scare them off with a smell. When an apartment is heavily infested, it will take a lot of time to completely get rid of them. It is also worth considering that fleas have the ability to get used to herbal repellent, which can significantly reduce its effectiveness.
How to prepare and store wormwood
To have a sufficient supply of healing herbs, it is better to prepare them in large quantities in advance. When dried and crushed, wormwood does not take up much space, but will help you if necessary. More often, people collect wormwood and other medicinal herbs in the summer season. Common wormwood grows in sunny open meadows, which are used as pastures for livestock. It is easy to distinguish wormwood from other plants. It has a light green (slightly bluish leaf color), rich aroma and a peculiar shape. The plant can reach a height of 1.5-2 meters. In late summer, wormwood blooms with small yellow flowers.
Procedure for collecting and preparing wormwood:
- When collecting grass, it should be grouped into small bunches and tied with thread at the base of the stems.
- The resulting bunches should be hung in a shaded and well-ventilated place to dry.
- After drying, the plant can be moved to another place for storage. The temperature in it should not exceed 24 degrees, and it should also be protected from direct sunlight and high humidity.
Storing wormwood in dry whole or crushed form is allowed for 2-3 years. It is advisable not to store wormwood in the form of a decoction for a long time, but in the form of a tincture it can be stored for an unlimited time.
How to get rid of earthen fleas?
To remove earthen fleas from an apartment, it is necessary to use insecticidal preparations. Traditional recipes will help supplement the fight against parasites.
Preparing for home treatment
To effectively remove fleas from your home, the room must be prepared before using the insecticide:
- remove food, children's toys, hygiene items, clothes;
- vacuum the carpets;
- remove and wash textiles (bedspreads, capes, curtains);
- wipe dust and wash floors;
- move furniture away from the walls.
After this, the room can be processed, making sure that there are no household members or pets in it.
Pet treatment
The destruction of fleas in the house will not be complete without removing parasites from pets. Veterinary pharmacies offer a variety of products for treating animals, available in various forms:
- sprays;
- drops;
- powders;
- shampoos;
- pills.
The drug is selected depending on the type of animal, its age, weight, and degree of infection. To protect animals in the future, it is worth using preventive measures, for example, an anti-flea collar or a flea keychain.
Professional pest control
Exterminators will help you get rid of fleas quickly. Their services are resorted to in case of severe infection, if the tried methods do not work. Professional pest control has several obvious advantages:
- efficiency;
- safety;
- prolonged action;
- use of modern equipment and the latest drugs;
- large selection of processing methods.
In addition, most companies provide a guarantee for their services, so if the first treatment does not give the desired result, the second time the exterminators will come to remove the fleas for free.
Flea sprays
The most popular remedy against fleas is an insecticidal spray. It is chosen for its ease of use, efficiency and the absence of the need to calculate the dosage and prepare the solution yourself. In addition, the aerosol allows you to treat the most difficult to reach places.
Aerosols
To kill fleas with a spray, you need to close all the windows and spray the drug throughout the room. Treat the floor, baseboards, walls up to a height of 1 m, upholstered furniture, window sills, carpets. Then close the door and leave the room closed for the time specified in the instructions. Afterwards, thoroughly ventilate, vacuum and do wet cleaning.
Insecticidal powder
When choosing what to poison fleas with, many people choose powders. The room is pre-prepared by washing the floors and moving the furniture
Then the surfaces are covered with powder, paying special attention to cracks, baseboards, and places behind furniture.
The advantage of this option is that the insects themselves will spread the destructive drug stuck to their paws to all nooks and crannies. After waiting the time specified in the instructions after treatment, the powder must be thoroughly swept away, vacuumed and wet cleaned.
Solutions against parasites
You can remove fleas using ready-made means or by preparing an insecticidal solution yourself. To do this, you need to purchase ampoules with concentrated insecticide, and then dilute them with water according to the instructions.
The most effective means are considered:
- Karbofos;
- Butox;
- Get.
It is most convenient to apply the preparations using a spray bottle, spraying the floor, walls, and upholstered furniture.
Folk remedies for removing fleas
Folk remedies for fleas are less effective than chemical insecticides, but they are safer for people and animals living in the house.
The most effective folk recipes for fighting fleas are:
- some plants with a specific odor (wormwood, citruses, conifers, tansy, garlic);
- a mixture of salt and soda;
- essential oils (lavender, tea tree, rosemary);
- ammonia;
- a mixture of brewer's yeast and garlic.
The best option is to combat fleas comprehensively, using both industrial and natural means.
Pets have fleas
Of course, prevention of disease is better than cure. Therefore, it is advisable to prevent fleas from infesting your pet. To do this, you need to periodically examine it and also monitor its behavior. If a cat or dog has fleas, then at first you will not notice anything unusual. The pet will behave as usual: periodic scratching, normal sleep and appetite. But when insects begin to actively organize their lives on the animal’s body (reproduce and constantly feed on its blood), it will be difficult not to notice these changes. The pet begins to constantly itch, bite itself in the hope of getting rid of parasites, meow or whine pitifully, eat and sleep poorly. When the situation is completely advanced, the animal may stop sleeping and eating altogether and begin to lose weight. In severe cases, anemia may develop in the animal, leading to death. This is especially dangerous for kittens or puppies.
To avoid this, you need to:
- carefully examine the animal for the presence of fleas on its fur and body. The fur of cats and dogs is dense, so the inspection should be carried out in daylight or use artificial bright lighting;
- bathe your pet in water with a decoction of wormwood;
- replacing and spraying animal bedding with a decoction of wormwood;
- You can apply a little wormwood tincture or oil to the withers;
- You should place small branches of fresh wormwood around your apartment or house or place saucers with the essential oil of the plant. This scares them away.
Such a multi-stage attack will definitely prevent fleas from living a normal life on your territory and near your pet, and will help you get rid of them as quickly as possible.
When is it unnecessary or ineffective to use herbs?
Wormwood does not always help against fleas in the house. The grass cannot destroy, much less repel, eggs and larvae of bloodsuckers.
Only sexually mature individuals are sensitive to pungent odors. The eggs easily tolerate treatment, so if they are present in the apartment, a new generation of insects will form in 10-14 days. This means that re-processing will be required.
Resistance to the smell of wormwood is developed in insects that constantly live in a limited area (within an apartment). To avoid this, you need to alternate processing methods, using not only wormwood, but also other folk recipes or industrial preparations for parasites.
Pest control
Wormwood is a relatively safe plant, but it should not be used if one of your family members has an allergy to wormwood or is diagnosed with bronchial asthma.
