Does This Simple Hack Keep Spiders Out of Your House?

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The last thing you want to see when you turn on the light in the bathroom late at night is a spider in the middle of the floor. Also, it can make your skin crawl to watch one scurry across the bedroom floor and hide under a dresser before you can get to it.

If there’s one spider, that means there are likely plenty more. That’s not such a bad thing as spiders kill other pests in your home, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want them anywhere near you.

There is an easy solution to repel spiders in areas of the home where you don’t want them, and that solution is: hedge apples. The natural chemicals in this funky-looking fruit of the Osage orange tree are believed to deter spiders and other pests.

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When using hedge apples as a spider repellent, just make sure they are placed in areas where pets and family members can’t get at them.

Simply place a few hedge apples in areas where you want to repel spiders such as in the dark corners of your unfinished basement, in the attic or in your backyard shed.

Though, research from Iowa State University suggests it isn’t spiders this wives’ tale works on. German cockroaches, mosquitoes, and houseflies to be specific.  The study states, “sliced hedge apples placed in enclosed, small spaces did repel insects. However, there is still no evidence that putting whole fruit around the house or in the basement will have any effect on insect pests.”

While the jury is out on the effectiveness of hedge apples against spiders specifically, we’ll try anything to make our home less creepy-crawly. For the future, it’s better to learn how to keep spiders out in the first place.