I'll start off with the herbs/essential oils which I find most useful
against "bugs".
 
I use peppermint (essential oil or spirits) to repel ants .  I also make
"sniffy bags" for my closet to keep moths and such out .. they have cedar,
lavender, pennyroyal, patchouli and lemongrass (essential oils and dried
herbs).  All of those plants  serve as insect repellents .. and I prefer
them to mothballs .  (They  smell better than mothballs , too!)
 
I'm told that lavender (essential oil or dried herb) keeps away flies, and
I know that eucalyptus citriadora and citronella essential oils work nicely
when I go out in the woods to keep away mosquitoes and other annoying
flying insects .  (I make lotions containing those essential oils).  Oh,
and bergamot (dried plant or essential oil) is a repellent of some flying
insects, too.  (Be careful when going out into the sun after applying a
balm containing bergamot; the bergamot will increase your sun sensitivty.
Also, do not use pennyroyal EO at ALL if you are pregnant, or around a
pregnant animal.  It can cause miscarriages).
 
Also against ants, I've heard that ground cloves are a great repellent
sprinkled around their entrances, as are dried penny
royal/peppermint/spearmint leaves, cucumber ends, or eucalyptus essential
oil.  I've also been told that ants will retreat from lines of talcum
powder or chalk or cayenne pepper.
 
Against roaches, the BEST repellent I have found so far where a couple of
osage oranges which a kind herbal listmember sent me from Florida.  (They
grow on trees near her house).  They are very ugly green looking oranges,
and I just stuck one behind my couch and one under my kitchen cabinets,
where they shriveled up a bit and dried up.  No roach will go anywhere
NEAR them!
 
I have also used diatomaceous earth with good results.  You can get it in
health food stores (food grade DE), or from pool supply stores (industrial
grade).  Be careful not to inhale this substance, or allow your pets to
inhale it!  The basic principle is that it is composed of very fine, sharp
particles (of dried shells, etc.) These sharp particles cut holes in the
exoskeleton of the roach, causing it to dehydrate and draw out (or so I'm
told) after it crawls through the DE.  By the same token, boric acid works
well against roaches, too ..  same principle, I believe.  Don't let your
pets consume boric acid, either.  What I do with the boric acid is mix it
with glue to make little "balls", and I shove it into corners where roaches
may be found.  Roaches LOVE to eat glue, so they consume the glue with
boric acid in it and die.  Heloise (as in "Heloise's Household Hints") has
a similar recipe using boric acid, flour, water, and pieces of onion, all
rolled into little balls.
 
I've found many herbs/essential oils at my local health food store, as well
as the empty muslin bags that I use to make my "sniffy bags".  There are
some good online suppliers as well.
 
Spritzes
------------
 
1 tsp. vodka or everclear
10 to 30 drops anti-bug essential oil (like lavender EO)
1/4 tsp. castor oil.
 
Mix two ingredients above together, and then add 1/2 cup distilled water.
Shake again and spritz to keep bugs away!
 
Sniffy Jars
----------------
 
Another thing that I like to make is "sniffy jars" or jelly jars.  If you
have animals, make SURE to put these somewhere out of the pets' reach!  I
put mine in baby food jars, with a bit of cheese cloth secured across the
top with a rubber band.  When I plan to be out again, I just recap them
using the baby food jar lid.
 
One popular way to make them is using Agrosoak/Soil Moist.  These products
(which also are available under other brand names) are polymer crystals
which absorb liquids when moistened to hold many, many times their weight
in liquid.  You should be able to find them at your local garden center.
I'm told www.digahole.com sells them as well.
 
To use them, put about 3/4 teaspoon of Agrosoak in a baby food container.
Add anti-bug essential oils (you can use quite a bit, since these aren't
going on anyone's skin ...), and fill rest of jar about 1/2 to 2/3 full
with water.  The crystals will absorb the fluids, and you will return to
find that they have swollen and filled the jar.  Leave jar open where it is
not accessible to pets, but in area where bugs might visit.  (Bugs don't
need to eat these crystals; the scent is supposed to repel them).
 
These will periodically dry out a bit, so just add some more
water/essential oil when they do.
[Posted in FML issue 3014]