Coconut Oil as Insect Repellent

I just read this article from the Environmental Health Bulletin, December 2018:

Coconut Oil Better Than DEET to Fight Insects

A team of researchers led by entomologist Jerry Zhu with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service Agroecosystem Management Research Unit analyzed data using coconut oil compounds against biting insects and bedbugs. Their data revealed the compounds had a strong repellency against mosquitoes and ticks. By comparison, DEET was only fifty percent effective against biting flies, while the coconut oil compound was more than ninety-five percent effective. The researchers compared the coconut oil compound against DEET on bedbugs and ticks and found DEET lost effectiveness after three days while the coconut oil compound was effective in repelling bedbugs and ticks for nearly two weeks.

The link to the research article is HERE

Natural remedies are very cool.

Non-Toxic Adhesive Removal

Lately I've been reading a lot of articles about the hundreds of uses for coconut oil. It is heralded as a non-toxic remedy for anything from acid reflux to cellulite, diaper rash to yeast infections. The most interesting use was for adhesive removal. You know, peel the label off a glass jar and what's left is the icky, sticky residue from the toxic glue. In the past I have purchased toxic, chemical-based removers and donned fashionable masks, goggles and gloves. Now, coconut oil doesn't come cheap so I don't know if I'd want to use it a lot for adhesive removal but I thought I'd give it a try just to see if it works. So I spread the coconut oil over the sticky stuff and let it sit for 24 hours. It did nothing. Still icky and sticky.

A friend of mine mentioned peanut butter should also do the trick. Hmmm...is it the oils? I just so happen to have a small jar of incredibly cheap peanut butter I bought years ago for rodent bait.

It smells less like peanut butter and looks more like shortening, but I figured mice, rats, and opossums might like it. There is no way I'd ever eat it. The ingredients are: peanuts, sugar and/or dextrose, hydrogenated vegetable oil (rapeseed and cottonseed), salt. Yes, people really eat this and pretend it's food. The expiration date on this jar is 05-06-08 and I keep it on hand should I ever discover unwanted crawlspace roommates again. Over the years when I see it sitting on the highest shelf in the laundry room I constantly think I should throw that away. I'm glad I didn't now!

I generously frosted the icky-sticky jar with peanut butter and sat it on the counter. How long do I wait? I had no idea so I left it there for a few days. On the third day I took a paper towel and wiped. It all came off including the sticky stuff! Hooray!

Newly inspired, I took all my recycled sticky jars out of their storage and frosted them with peanut butter for some experimentation. The stink of the fake peanut butter was nauseating so I wrapped them in plastic bags.

At 12 hours, the sticky stuff didn't come off at all. At 36 hours, most of it came off but not all. Three days more of it came off but on some jars small dots of sticky was still left. Perhaps that is where it was thickest? Since I'm in the experimenting mood, I decided to try the coconut oil again leaving it on the jar for three days. It all came off!

Hooray! 

Another non-toxic substitute for toxic chemical products!

Who needs chemicals anyway???