Best Bed Bug Sprays in 2020 (Only 3 Actually Work)

The Rutgers Study on Biopesticides for Bed Bugs

The definitive Rutgers study compared biopesticides, synthetic insecticides, and detergents including Bed Bug Patrol, EcoRaider, Essentria, Green Rest Easy, Eradicator, Bed Bug 911, Bed Bug Bully, Rest Assured, Bed Bug Fix, Stop Bugging Me, EcoEXEMPT IC2, Demand CS, and Temprid SC. The last two are synthetic insecticides typically used in professional bed bug treatment.

The study involved two experiments. In the first, detergents and biopesticides were tested. Bed bug nymphs were placed on filter paper and treated directly with a pesticide spray then transferred to a clean plastic petri dish. Mortality was recorded at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 days after exposure.

The most effective biopesticides from this test were included with additional biopesticides and the two synthetic insecticides in a second experiment involving the same procedure.

The study clearly showed that EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol were the best natural pesticides producing high mortality rates after 10 days in both experiments. The other biopesticides caused 60% mortality or less after 10 days. Some even had no effect when directly applied to bed bugs.

Among the synthetic pesticides used in professional bed bug treatment, Temprid SC was found to be much more effective than Demand CS. Bed bugs have developed moderate tolerance to Demand CS.

While these results are very promising, its important to remember one thing:

These experiments involved applying the bed bug sprays directly to the bed bugs body. Thats hardly representative of real-world conditions.

Lets go into more detail about how Bed Bug Patrol and EcoRaider work where other sprays fail and why you shouldnt rely on sprays alone to get rid of bed bugs in your house

EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol both deliver great results in a lab setting. They can both be great at controlling and reducing a bed bug population in your home but alone, they wont be enough.

Thats because bed bugs in your house hide in crevices, creases, and tiny cracks. The effectiveness of these products will certainly be much lower when the bugs arent exposed directly to the product. When dry on a surface, they have a reduced effect.

When bed bugs were exposed to the day-old residue of Bed Bug Patrol and EcoRaider, 93% were dead after 10 days. This is encouraging but the residue was only 24 hours old. Because plant oils are volatile, they will probably break down within a matter of days or up to two weeks.

In a real-world environment, theres no guarantee the bed bugs would even be exposed to the residue. It seems bed bugs will avoid surfaces treated with biopesticides but not necessarily surfaces with the residue of synthetic pesticides.

Ideally, you want products that:

To reach this goal, you should combine the best bed bug spray like EcoRaider with other proven solutions for conquering bed bugs.

To get the best effect with any bed bug killer, you need to use it correctly. With bed bug sprays, your goal should be spraying where you will likely make direct contact with bed bug nymphs and eggs that arent easily seen with the naked eye. You will also want to spray cracks, crevices, and tiny hiding areas. You may not hit the bugs directly but you will leavearesidue that they will need to crawl through when theyre ready to feed.

Start by spraying hard-to-reach areas and crevices like under and around baseboards and trim, inside drawers, and around lightswitch covers. Move on to spraying around your headboard, the feet of your bed, and the seams of your mattress and box spring. You should also treat your luggage with the spray.

Make sure you pay the most attention to the area around your bed. In most bed bug infestations, around 70% of the bugs are on the mattress, bed frame, and box spring.

The mattress and box spring you can treat with box spring and mattress encasements and the bedding can be washed. That leaves the bed frame and headboard which should be treated liberally with a EcoRaider or Bed Bug Patrol.

Even the best bed bug spray isnt enough to kill all of the bed bugs. Follow up using a bed bug spray with this effective treatment plan to finally banish bed bugs from your house.

Use a Mattress Encasement

A mattress encasement works by sealing bed bugs that are already in your mattress to keep them from escaping, reproducing, or biting. Eggs, nymphs, and bed bugs in your mattress will be trapped and eventually die as long as you use the right product.

The SafeRest bed bug mattress encasement is a good example of what you should be using. Its zipper has very fine teeth and theres a flap at the ends of the zipper. Bed bugs are small and flat enough to crawl through regular zippers with no trouble!

After installing your new mattress encasement, leave it on for at least 12 months. You may be surprised to learn adult bed bugs can live a year or even longer in ideal conditions without food. Bed bugs survive best without food in chilly conditions. The warmer the temperature, the faster they will die. With a constant temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit, adult bed bugs will be dead within 40-90 days. By leaving the mattress encasement on for a year, you can be sure theyre all dead when you do take it off.

Spread Silica Gel

Forget diatomaceous earth (DE), the supposed ideal bed bug powder. While it does kill bed bugs, it isnt very effective because bed bugs are very resistant to desiccation or dehydration.

Silica gel is made from sand and works like diatomaceous earth but with greater speed and efficacy. Silica gel first causes tiny cuts in the cuticle or exoskeleton of the bed bug. It then literally pulls moisture out of the insects body. Thats why you find silica gel packets in electronics and clothes: its a powerful drying agent that works much better against bed bugs than diatomaceous earth.

Its also non-toxic and safe to use around your bed and clothing although you want to be careful that you dont inhale the dust.

When using silica gel, make sure you choose a product with 100% amorphous silica gel like CimeXa insecticide dust or Harris Bed Bug Killer Silica Powder.

According to trials conducted at the University of Kentucky, silica gel kills all bed bugs within 24-48 hours of direct exposure to a barely visible amount.

That makes silica gel faster-acting and more effective than even EcoRaider.

It even performs very well in real-world settings, killing 98.1% of bed bugs in infested apartments when used alone.

To use silica gel, apply it dry as a powder with a combination of powder dusters (included with the product) and brushes like old cosmetic brushes and paint brushes. Apply the powder to cracks, voids, and hard-to-reach areas including around baseboards, light switch covers, and the headboard. Use the silica gel to create a barrier across flooring transitions, doorways leading to your bedroom, and across the doorway of your closet.

Clean Clothes and Bedding

Heres some bad news. Bed bugs, eggs, and nymphs arent just hiding in and around your bed; theyre probably hanging out in your clothes and other linens, too. Bed bugs probably think your closet and dresser are great places to hide and reproduce but the good news is its very easy to kill bed bugs on clothes and bedding.

A quick run through the washer and dryer on the hottest possible heat settings will be enough to kill adult bed bugs, nymphs, and heat-resistant eggs.

Carefully remove everything from your bedroom that you can wash and dry including bedding, spare blankets, clothing, and curtains. To avoid spreading the problem to other areas of your home, seal these items in disposable trash bags to transport to the laundry room. Once there, unseal the items one bag at a time and dump directly into the full washing machine. Dont forget to throw away the now contaminated bags.

Once your belongings are dry, place them in new plastic trash bags and seal them up. Keep all items sealed until the bedroom is fully treated.

Add Interceptors to the Feet of Your Bed

Interceptors are an affordable way to check for the presence of bed bugs in your bed and help catch them as they try to get in bed with you. Interceptors are placed under the legs of your bed frame. When bed bugs try to crawl in the bed, they have to crawl over the interceptors. The design traps them with high, slippery walls and a moat.

ClimbUp interceptors definitely cant stop bed bug infestation but they create yet another defense to keep the bed bugs at bay. Unlike other brands, they have a two-wall system so you can see if the trapped bed bugs were crawling into your bed or out of it.

Vacuum Thoroughly

Dont overlook the importance of simple vacuuming, especially if you have carpet. Imagine all of the hidden bugs, immature nymphs, and eggs that can be lurking in your comfy bedroom carpeting. A vacuum definitely wont suck up all of the bugs hidden in your carpet but it can get a good amount to reduce the size of the infestation.

Go over your mattress carefully with a vacuum attachment, paying attention to the seams, stitching, and tag area. A stiff brush is helpful for loosening any eggs or nymphs on the surface. Go over your headboard and box springs, too, then cover the floor around and under the bed, the baseboards, the nightstand, and other nooks and crannies in the room.

Be sure to seal and throw away the vacuum bag as soon as youre done!

Kill Bed Bugs With Heat

A bed bugs greatest weakness is heat. You cant just crank up your thermostat, though: it takes a consistent temperature of 125 degrees F for a minimum of 20 minutes to kill adults, nymphs, and eggs.

Applying heat treatments to kill bed bugs can be harder than it sounds. Even if the air temperature is high enough, it may not get hot enough inside a mattress or other hiding place. Still, heat can effectively drive bed bugs out of their hiding spots.

Heat is becoming the preferred method of professionally treating bed bugs thanks to their growing resistance to pesticides. You can skip the expensive heat chambers, though. You can use heat to kill bed bugs with your clothes dryer, a steam cleaner, and even black plastic bags and a hot, sunny day.

Running items through the dryer for 30 minutes on the highest setting will even kill heat-resistant eggs.

You can also use a steam cleaner to apply sufficient heat directly to items like your mattress, baseboards, and furniture. Make sure your steamer gets hot enough and apply the heat very steadily. As long as you go slowly, you can even see adult bed bugs crawl out of hiding.

For items that dont fit in the dryer, seal them in a black, plastic garbage bag and leave in direct sunlight on a hot day. The contents of the bag can reach 40 to 70 degrees above the outdoor air temperature after several hours. To be effective, it needs to be at least 80 to 90 degrees outside. To play it safe, leave the items in the sun for the entire day.

What About Essential Oils for Bed Bugs?

On the subject of bed bug sprays that really work, lets spend a moment discussing essential oils.

Essential oils are frequently on lists of DIY bed bug treatments but most are useless at doing anything more than making your home smell good. Tea tree oil, for example, is often touted as a bed bug killer but it only has limited results and only with direct contact. Most essential oils offer the same results or worse doing nothing to bed bugs on contact except giving them an expensive perfume.

A study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology compared the results of 18 essential oils, three silicone oils, and paraffin oil against bed bugs.

The most effective essential oil was blood orange oil but it still wasnt as effective as the paraffin oil and silicone oils. One silicone oil in particular which mixes well with water killed 92% of bed bugs after one day after direct exposure.

There are definitely more effective products you can buy at a low cost, including EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol. Still, you could potentially use the results of this study to create your own DIY bed bug spray.

I wouldnt recommend it, though.

To begin with, paraffin oil is flammable and you definitely dont want to spray it around your house. A good water-soluble silicone oil can also be hard to find and may be fairly expensive.

Skip the essential oils and use something like EcoRaider for well-tested results and a lower cost with the same environmentally-friendly properties.

Dont Use Rubbing Alcohol As a Bed Bug Spray!

Well end with an important caution about rubbing alcohol and why you should avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately, people continue to use rubbing alcohol as a DIY bed bug spray around their home sometimes with deadly results.

Despite the dangers, you may still see rubbing alcohol recommended to repel or kill bed bugs.

Its true that a 91% isopropyl alcohol solution may help kill some bed bugs by acting as a drying agent and even partially dissolving an insects cells. As with most other drying agents like diatomaceous earth, the results simply arent that great.

A 2013 Rutgers University study found that rubbing alcohol killed only up to 50% of bed bugs that were directly sprayed with the solution after four days.

There are definitely better options out there.

In addition to its low efficacy, this treatment requires dousing your mattress, furniture, and belongings with a highly flammable liquid.

Several house fires across the United States have been started by rubbing alcohol in an attempt to kill bed bugs. In Cincinnati, a teenager trying to kill a bed bug with alcohol in 2017 started a massive apartment fire that damaged six units. A man in Mount Carmel, Ohio in 2011 accidentally set his apartment on fire after trying to kill bed bugs with alcohol while smoking. These arent isolated incidents, either.

Instead of risking your life and home to exterminate bed bugs, use safe and proven methods like EcoRaider, silica gel, mattress encasements, and the other techniques explained above.

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Best Bed Bug Sprays in 2020 (Only 3 Actually Work)