Natural Mosquito Repellent Recipe?

Our mosquitoes have been pretty bad this year....already! I don't have a great recipe for you..But, I have noticed they bite my husband more as well..I take a lot of B vitamins and minerals - he doesn't...and honestly, I don't think those buggers like the B vitamins! That's just my experience....and I think they are attracted to certain blood types. ;)

Comments

  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    Ruth is right, sometimes is the blood type they are attracted to.
  • Casey Cash
    Casey Cash Posts: 21
    edited April 2018
    Thanks for the letting me know Ruth, maybe i'll try to get him to take some B vitamins!

    Heather, I have heard that certain blood types are more appealing to mosquitos - O types especially. I thought that was really interesting since that I am O and my partner isn't...he still gets bit more than me!

    He must just be sweeter than I am! Haha
  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    we used to have a machine run by a natural gas tank..it lures and captures the mosquitos..it worked wonderfully
  • MikeF
    MikeF Posts: 35 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    We have had some results with essential oils to repel mosquitoes from our bodies.  Mosquitoes dislike:  Citronella, peppermint, lemon, eucalyptus, basil, clove, thyme, lemongrass, geranium, and lavender.

     

    I had decent results keeping them out of my garden area with a strong garlic oil spray around the border.  It only lasts a few weeks, then you have to re-spray.  I used a recipe similar to this:  https://www.hunker.com/12533804/how-to-make-a-garlic-mosquito-barrier

     

    M

     
  • Scott Sexton
    Scott Sexton Posts: 42 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    There is a great plant you might like called beautyberry. It's very easy to identify from the smell and the clusters of magenta berries. The leaves have a natural insect repelling quality. You can crush them and rub them on your skin. I use it all the time. It's very effective. Helps with ticks too.

    I started experimenting with making a beautyberry lotion last year. If you can wait for the leaves to start growing again, I bet I can finish the recipe.
  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin
    edited April 2018
    Hi Scott,

    Glad you brought up American Beauty Berry - I love that plant!  I also eat the berries although they've been accused of being posionous...  They aren't that tasty, but do come in handy when you've been on a walk about and are a bit hungry :)  I see them in raccoon scat all fall.

    Regarding insect bites - how much sugar and junk you consume makes a huge difference.    A friend of mine had been out in the bush for several months eating mostly game and wild edibles.  He had no problems with any insects.  When he came back into town - of course it was a couple hours wait until the bus showed up.  He hung out for a while, but then decided to get some food at the local diner.  He treated himself to cups of tea with several teaspoons of sugar.  He noticed that when he went back outside to wait for the bus he suddenly was attracting a lot of biting insects (mosquitos, flies, etc.)

    I am one of those who tends not to get bitten.

    This summer when you go to one of those outdoor parties, look at who is most bitten and what they are eating :)

     
  • Casey Cash
    Casey Cash Posts: 21
    edited April 2018
    I am definitely going to look into Beautyberry. That it great advice!

    I have thought about diet as being a factor too, thanks for bringing that up Marjory. I tend to eat a greener diet than my partner and he is really into sweets. Maybe we will run a little experiment to see how changing his diet effects the amount of bites he gets! :)
  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin
    edited June 2018
    That's a super interesting point about diet affecting how much mosquitoes are attracted to a person. Also very interested in that Beauty Berry plant.... Thanks for the great tips!
  • swleftist
    swleftist Posts: 1
    edited July 2018
    I was working in a place called Mattamuskeet North Carolina and I had heard that cinnamon is a natural repellent, I ate it everyday I was there and was never bitten. Trying to work around that number of them was a pain in the neck, but they didn't bother me. I had long given up any form of synthetic sugar and I do believe it plays a part.
  • Sharon Companion
    Sharon Companion Posts: 28
    edited July 2018
    My husband makes a bug repellent by melting coconut oil and adding a drop of each of the following Essential Oils: neem, peppermint, rosemary, tea tree, cinnamon, lavender, & patchouli, he calls it "fcuk off fly".  It works great here in Labrador, where we have, stouts, mosquitoes, black flies, etc. etc. lol.  He also uses it to shine the dash of his truck and the only flies we have in there are dead flies.  I put the essential oils in a spray bottle with some water and spray the carpet on my front deck as well, smells nice and clean and no bugs around.
  • Ruth Ann Reyes
    Ruth Ann Reyes Posts: 577 admin
    edited July 2018
    We purchased these and so far I'd say they work pretty well. Instead of repelling, they are attracted to yeast/salt and they crawl inside and drown.

    https://spartanmosquito.com/

     

     
  • Teresa Klepac
    Teresa Klepac Posts: 24 ✭✭✭
    edited July 2018
    We have a grandson that is allergic to mosquito bites so I am always on the lookout for ways to keep the property mosquito-free.  This year we used Spartan Mosquito Eradicators with great success (https://www.facebook.com/spartanmosquito/).  Before we put them out we had mosquitoes all over us and the rabbits.  Now I rarely see any!  And the grandson come for a visit and went home without any bites!!  Great product to use  - especially when you want to treat both humans and animals naturally.
  • Ruth Ann Reyes
    Ruth Ann Reyes Posts: 577 admin
    edited July 2018
    YES! Teresa, I have had great success too!
  • Connie
    Connie Posts: 5 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    I am one of those people that mosquitoes love. I've tried several different herbs and combinations of herbs to repel, I take B vitamins, I don't eat bananas and avoid sugar. We've been on our property 5 yrs and when we first moved here you had to run from the door to the car even midday lest the mosquitoes carry you off. This year we are finally able to sit outside and enjoy our surroundings. Our tactic changed. Rather than looking for a repellent that works we looked for a solution to reduce the population to a bearable number. Here's what we found worked for us: Get a handful of foil lasagna pans, add a brick, water to the just below the surface of the brick, and a piece of a mosquito dunk. Place in shady areas in a sort of perimeter around the area you live/work the most.  Mosquito dunks are little pucks  made with Bt-israelensis (Bt-i), a highly specific biological bacterium that is harmful only to mosquito larvae, not the adults, not birds or fish or mammals. The larvae get infected and die before they hatch. Adults only live to a maximum of 45 days and then die. Pucks generally cover a 100 sq ft so you only need a small piece in the tray and never let it go dry...keep it topped up. Females lay eggs in the tray and they leave a pheromone behind that encourages other females to use the same spot. They like cool, shady areas for laying. It took two years of diligent use but we have now reduced the population down to so few that we can sit out during the day with no bites, and in the evening perhaps a few bites which can be solved with a homemade repellent. My chickens free range and sometimes drink out of the trays if they find them and so do the squirrels so I have to keep topping them up.  We have beehives and it doesn't harm them either. If you have rain barrels or ponds or whatever, use them there too. This is the only thing that has helped me enjoy being outside and I'm finally able to tend to my garden better.
  • Patricia McBurney
    edited September 2018
    I am a mosquito magnet.  I have made a few different repellents, that worked so long as it wasn't humid out, you know constantly wiping the sweat off your face and neck, because of course you end up diluting the recipe by sweating.  So I decided to try a natural Essential Oil bug repellent, Patchouli. I fill a 2 oz bottle with olive/coconut oil and add aproximately 12 drops of patchouli oil to it. I pour some off on to my hand and rub it on my neck, arms face, etc. This works really well for me, nothing has been biting me since i started using this. so for now....so long mosquitoes, fleas and bees! You don't need much, and I can add a few more or less drops of the patchouli oil. I usually have to apply only 1 time a day.
  • Linda Listing
    Linda Listing Posts: 2
    edited September 2018
    And this topic leads to another question, got any recipes to soothe the itch of a bite? I am O positive and get bit a lot.
  • Connie
    Connie Posts: 5 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Vinegar. I find if I spray it on the bite right when it happens it seems to neutralize and it doesn't itch after. But ya need to use it right when the bite happens rather than hours later. I carry a small pocket size spray bottle for it.
  • Vicky Myers
    Vicky Myers Posts: 3 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    I use E.oils too and if you eat garlic. In a summit they said planting Tulsi/Holy Basil plants were helping people not get malaria
  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Linda,

    Vinegar works well, so does witch hazel, White Tea and Chamomile Tea Bags, citrus oils and lemon eucalyptus EO are effective, peppermint oil, ylang ylang and lemongrass essential oil, baking soda and water poultice, aloe as well.
    Homeopathic remedies work well too
    Apis mellifica: This remedy is not just for beestings, but for any insect bite with swelling. The bites feel better from cold applications.
    Ledum palustre: For insect bites or stings of any kind without significant swelling, including mosquito, flea, or tick bites.


    Heather
  • Angela
    Angela Posts: 42
    edited September 2018
    I use a very simple combination of fresh parsley and apple cider vinegar.  I saw a video recently of a woman making this recipe, so I tried it and it really works.  Put a handful of fresh parsley in a bowl (mortar and pestle are ideal), crush and bruise the leaves and stems with a spoon or the bottom of something solid and small, add vinegar (ratio about 1 part parsley to 10 parts vinegar, I just threw mine together), mix and set it steep for several or more hours, ideally overnight.  Put mixture into spray bottle and spray it on you and/or your clothes.  The vinegar has a strong smell to it, but it goes away as it dries.  It also soothes bites if you have already been bitten.  I've used it with great success this summer, I was the only one getting bit (and I eat much less sugar than everyone else in my house), and the bites stopped as soon as I started using the spray.

    Good luck, I hate mosquitoes!

     
  • StacyLou
    StacyLou Posts: 89 ✭✭
    edited September 2018
    My base for mosquito repellent is a yarrow tincture. I have so much yarrow, that I usually double steep it. I take the decanted tincture and fill a small spray bottle about 1/2 full. You can use it at full strength, but it seems to work just as well at half strength for me. I add distilled water to this - leaving enough space for my essential oils. I put several drops of citronella and catnip essential oils in to finish it up. It works quite well for me!

    Things to note -  Don’t forget to shake it up before use and also keep in mind that natural bug repellent needs to be re-applied much more frequently than regular repellent.