Draw the curtains or shades
You will usually see the most insect activity at night. Shadflies, moths, and multitudes of other insects are attracted to the light that shines through your windows. Dimming their attraction to your windows is easy – install blinds, shades or curtains that prevent light from shining through your windows. Be sure to turn out lights when you aren’t using them anymore, and consider installing smaller light sources such as floor lamps in rooms of your home that have lots of windows and using these at night rather than bright overhead lights.
Discourage spiders with vinegar
Cobwebs start appearing on your windows almost immediately in the Spring since spiders will try to catch all of those bugs flocking to your windows. Once every couple of weeks, take a spray bottle of diluted vinegar to your windows on the outside to wipe off cobwebs and leave a slight film of acetic acid, which is harmful to spiders and will discourage them from building webs on your windows.
Shadflies: Go nuclear if you have to, clean up afterward
The great plague of North Bay only hits for a couple of weeks, but those couple of weeks aren’t fun for any homeowners downtown or in Ferris. While dimming the lights will help, realistically we get too many shadflies – also known as mayflies – to eliminate the problem. You have two options with shadflies; hunker down until it’s over and clean up the bodies, or try using a natural pesticide on the outside of your home to discourage them and clean up the bodies. Either way, when the shads have completed their annual scourge, you’ll probably want to follow our tips on how to clean your windows. A good cleaning is necessary after the shadflies have left to keep your windows clear all summer.
Keeping insects off-screen doors and screened-in sun porches
What will work for your windows will work for your screens. A spray mist of vinegar once every couple of weeks will discourage spiders. A periodic application of citronella oil to the screen will also keep mosquitos off of screens. As with your home, be sure to turn off lights on sun porches at night and use low light sources in the evenings where possible.