Use This Bathroom Staple And A Simple Cup To Make A Trap For Garden Pests

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Dealing with pests such as aphids, whiteflies, and fungus gnats is just par for the course when you have a garden — no matter what the size. These critters also have a sneaky way of showing up right when your plants are finally thriving, biting chunks out of leaves and taking nibbles from stems before you even notice the damage. Sure, you can reach for a store-bought trap or a commercial-grade pesticide, but the fix might already be sitting in your bathroom's medicine cabinet. Try Vaseline instead the next time you find yourself becoming frustrated with plant pests. 

The thick, sticky texture makes it surprisingly good at trapping unwanted bugs in your garden. In fact, it's one of the many handy ways to use Vaseline around the home that even some avid gardeners have never heard of. In addition to the Vaseline, you'll need a few brightly colored plastic cups for this clever garden hack. For example, Zopeal's 200 pack of plastic cups will work perfectly for this project. While yellow tends to be the color that attracts many of these insects (and is most recommended), you can also use blue cups if you are dealing with thrips, as this seems to be the color they can't resist. 

This particular garden trick is about as low-effort as it gets, and chances are you already have everything you need sitting around the house. The solution also bypasses the harsh chemicals in many pesticides, so you don't have to worry about what's lingering on those tomato plants or in your soil afterward. It's proof that sometimes the best pest control really isn't a fancy product, but a household staple that can sometimes moonlight as a formidable pest fighter.

Once you have your Vaseline and yellow cups ready, start by coating the outside of each plastic cup with a generous amount of Vaseline. Next, set the cups near your plants, particularly the ones that show the most pest damage. For the best results, position your cups at the same height as your affected plants. This will help you catch the pests while they're cruising. For example, you can set a wooden stake (or several) in the ground next to the plants and then set the coated cup on top of it.

The cup's attention-getting color will draw in garden pests like aphids and whiteflies, which are attracted to bright colors. When they land, they'll become stuck in the Vaseline, unable to move and continue their destruction of your plants. This simple trick also works wonders indoors, offering a great way to use Vaseline to keep pests out of your house. 

For indoor potted plants, just place a Vaseline-coated yellow cup in the soil to keep the numbers of fruit flies and fungus gnats down. One thing to note with this hack is that the Vaseline will also attract dust and will dry out as the weeks pass, reducing its stickiness and ultimately, its effectiveness. So be sure that you check on your trap periodically to ensure it still has enough tack to get the job done.