With summer comes warmer weather, beach trips, and bugs. Pests are reportedly most active this time of year. A TikToker shared a repellent for unwanted critters—specifically mosquitoes. To keep them 15 feet away from you, all it takes is Folgers coffee grounds and a lighter.
TikTok user Ceith Griffith (@ceithgriffith) often shares random tips and tricks with his 1.7 million followers. In a video, he demonstrates how to repel mosquitoes. It has 6.5 million views.
“So, if you take coffee, it can be any brand,” he says, while showing that he is using Folgers coffee. “Just take one tablespoon of the coffee and place in any area.”
He dumps the coffee grounds on the ground and takes out a lighter.
“Then, take a lighter, and just light it, and let it burn,” he says, lighting the coffee.
According to Griffith, this is an effective repellent. “This is gonna get rid of every mosquito within 15 feet,” he declares.
Griffith then tackles how to get rid of some other pests, like gnats, flies, and wasps.
He starts by showing off a bottle of Sue Bee’s Hot Honey. “All you’re gonna need is hot honey. You can get this at Walmart or Amazon and pure baking soda,” he says.
Then, he pours an ounce of hot honey and adds a teaspoon of baking soda into a bowl. After he mixes the two, the concoction resembles a milky liquid. “Just take the mixture and place it in any area. Guarantee you, it will get rid of any fly, gnat, or wasp,” he says.
Before ending the video, Griffith reveals that he already caught a wasp. “I literally just put this down. I’ve already caught one wasp,” he concludes.
@ceithgriffith #cartricks #isitworththemoney #tips #cartricksandtips ♬ original sound – Ceith Griffith
Viewers praise the hack
The Daily Dot reached out to Griffith via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment. Viewers in the comments section praised the coffee hack.
“So I can throw coffee in my fire pit and the mosquitos will stay away? Definitely trying this,” one questioned.
“Bro. DC mosquitoes are watching you try to set them up. they can’t be fooled, but I’ll try it,” another said.
Others expressed concern that the honey hack would harm bees because they are pollinators that help most of the world’s major food crops thrive.
“Does hot honey affect honey bees? Just don’t want to kill the pollinators,” one user asked.
“The hot honey catch bees too? cause I don’t want to mess with the bees, but there are way too many wasps around,” a second inquired.
However, Griffith reassured, “No, that’s why I use hot honey and not regular.”
Do coffee grounds really work to repel mosquitoes?
According to Mr. Mister’s Mosiquto Control, ground coffee is a natural repellent against mosquitoes. “They work by masking the scents that attract mosquitoes, making it harder for them to find targets,” per Mr. Mister’s Mosiquto Control. Furthermore, the instructions Griffith shared are the same as the website recommendations.
Does hot honey and baking soda get rid of wasps?
Although there isn’t a lot of information about this, wasps dislike strong plant scents, such as peppermint, spearmint, basil, eucalyptus, cloves, geranium, thyme, citronella, bay leaves, and lemongrass. In addition, they don’t like vinegar, cinnamon, coffee grounds, and sliced cucumber. The best wasp deterrent is vinegar, according to the Spruce.
Can hot honey and baking soda hurt bees?
Moreover, bees are attracted to sweet and floral scents along with warm honey. Since Sue Bee’s Hot Honey contains honey and vinegar, it could harm bees. On the other hand, baking soda hasn’t been shown to hurt them.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.