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Our root cellar, converted at our wishes from a coal room, has cockroaches, either southern U.S. or oriental.
Have you any recommendations about nontoxic or least-toxic pest control for them? — Bernard and Jeanette
Dear Bernard and Jeanette: Oh my goodness! Why would I think you are aliens?
Cockroaches flock to areas where they can find food, water, warmth and shelter. It may be difficult to remove all the food from your root cellar, but try to make sure your root cellar stays dry.
Cockroaches hate light, so they tend to congregate in dark cracks and crevices, under cabinets and refrigerators, in cracks in walls and behind loose baseboards.
Boric acid powder is toxic to insects, but fairly harmless to humans. Apply a very light dusting of boric acid powder where the floor of your root cellar meets the walls, as well as in any obvious cracks in the walls and beneath appliances, crates, boxes and cabinets. Cockroaches are very clean creatures, so after they walk across a light dusting of boric acid, they will groom themselves, ingesting the boric acid, and then will die. This is why you need to apply a very light dusting of boric acid — heavy applications are ineffective because the cockroaches will walk around, rather than through, deeper piles.
Some cats are very good at catching and eating cockroaches. If you do decide to enlist a cat’s help, don’t apply boric acid until after the cat has done its job.
Dear Ellen: In your wonderful book “Organic Housekeeping,” you highly praise front-load washing machines. I have one (a GE), and love it, too. But it has a problem I’m told is common to all front-loading machines: mildew and odor in the machine. I do follow the recommendation to dry out the machine after each wash. Nonetheless, the mildew and odor accumulate. GE recommends running a bleach or baking soda hot wash (without clothes) monthly to kill the mildew. Naturally, I tried baking soda first multiple times but I can’t get rid of the odor. Finally I resorted to bleach, which mortifies me. What do you do for your front-load washing machine? Do you have any recommendations besides bleach? — Jaymie, Cleveland
Dear Jaymie: I actually haven’t had mildew in my washing machine. We do leave the door open when we’re not using it so it can dry out and stay dry. I also usually do an extra spin cycle after each load, in order to squeeze more water out of the clothes before I put them in the dryer. I guess it’s possible this extra spin cycle pushes more water out of the machine altogether and makes the machine less likely to grow mildew.
We also have a dehumidifier going in the basement throughout the humid season to prevent the entire lower level of our home from mildewing. The lowered humidity may be keeping the washing machine dry enough to avoid mildew.
In addition to keeping the door open when you’re not using the machine, you could also try adding white distilled vinegar to the rinse cycle, and/or spray the inside of the machine with vinegar after you remove the damp laundry. Vinegar is anathema to mildew.
Ellen Sandbeck is an organic landscaper, worm wrangler, writer and graphic artist. Send questions to ellen.sandbeck@gmail.com or Ask Ellen, 4781 Emerson Road, Duluth, MN 55803.
