Natural Mosquito Repellent

A dab of white vinegar takes the itch away for me.

A dab of white vinegar takes the itch away for me.

A dab of white vinegar takes the itch away for me.

A perfectly safe way to keep stagnant water mosquito free is olive oil. The larvae/nymph guys can't breathe throug it but our animals can drink it.

a point on diatomatious earth--DO NOT INHALE the powder from it. It works on bugs because it is extremely sharp and tiny particles--it will cause big problems in your lungs. Also you can put it around your house inside or out--watch for your animals sniffers--and it keeps bugs at bay, just replace after a rain if it gets wet.

well not sure about a lot of these things , but i know for a fact that Diamatious earth works on killing fleas like in a 12 hours there dead and works on ants and even roaches and its natural and its a simple pool chemical but its safe

The essential oil tea tree also works very well for all insect bites and is an anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal as well. Just use a single drop on the bite. It works wonderfully on fire ant bites and I keep it handy for those. Be careful of it around cats, however as it can be toxic to them.

For fleas in your home, try Fleago, available at pet stores or online, which is a borate crystal that you sprinkle on carpets, upholstery and fabric surfaces, work into carpet, leave on for 5 days, then vacuum. You won't have another flea. It works even in Florida where fleas are a year-round annoyance.

Not sure if this belongs here or not, but a never-fail remedy for beestings is pure ammonia, straight out of the bottle, as soon as possible after the sting. It intensifies the sting for just a few seconds, then you're good to go with no more pain, swelling, or after effects. The alkali neutralizes the acid in the sting.

Great article and comments. I will save this for all the info.

Regarding the Cedarcide (and also Wondercide), you can buy the liguid and a cold fogger directly from these companies. You shouldn't use it on plants, but it is supposedly harmless on pets and people. Will kill flying insects, roaches, fleas, ticks, scorpions etc. I use a little bit of their pet solution directly on my cats if I see a "hitch-hiker" on them. But I also spray it on my couch and anywhere else they lay around on. So, even if there is a critter, it will die if it goes onto the couch etc. I have no carpets and only a few upholstered pieces of furniture. I am in Virginia and we raise abundant numbers of bugs here :-{
As far as commercial spot treatments for pets, I stopped that completely when I found out it shortens a pet's lifespan.
And finally, garlic is a big NO-NO for pets. Even if they can tolerate the taste & smell, I understand that when it gets in their system, it causes problems.
Thanks everyone for the info.

The tape idea is intersting as are listerine and deoderant but then I wonder about the toxic and environemtal impacts of these ideas. I like the recipies on the Queen of Green page. She has repellants, bite treatmetns and make your own citronella candles (which smell great too).

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/NC/newsletter/bugoff.pdf

Misquitoes: anyone know what vitamin you take that repels misquitoes? Put a piece of scotch tape /duct tape/ any kind of tape over a bite and the poison cannot react. I carry tape with me everywhere. It will not stick to oily skin sprayed with repellant. Working outside put a fan blowing on you. Taking Vitamin C will also de-activate the poison.
Fleas: powder your house, upholstery, carpets with baking soda, they will go through their cycles but eventually all die from high sodium, also works for roaches. Iodized salt also works, and the iodine gets them too, but it evaporates too quickly to stop all the cycles.
Ants: feed them a little cereal outside, they won't come in to eat.
large cockroach problems, have animals/birds? can't spray? bring in a couple of small chickens and your roaches will be gone in 24 hours. They love them and can jump 6 foot high after them. And the roaches can't sense them coming like they can us!

I'm wondering why we are not hearing more about the effects of catnip oil as a mosquito repellent. The University of Iowa is/was developing a catnp based repellent, but I haven't heard much lately on it. The thing that impressed me is that they have found it to be 10 times more effective than DEET. I grow catnip around my apartment building, in my garden beds, and I make catnip oil which I use on myself and my dog with great results. I send family members containers of catnip oil whenever a batch is complete.

And does CedarCide repel ticks, attract them, or have no effect whatever on them????

Oh one warning about MC's tick-repellent recipe: APPLY UNDER SUNSCREEN ONLY!!!! If you go out in the sun with just oil on your skin, you will burn the living peewater out of yourself. Might not want to use it at all if you are highly sun-sensitive.

Does anyone know if sunscreen itself would make an effective base for the essential oils????

Answer to Cecelia re stopping Mosquitos breeding in dogs' tubs:
Marigold blossoms or dried calendula! It kills the larvae.
There's a chemical base to it, but I can't remember as it was a while back that I read it. A horticultural magazine as I recall. Not harmful either.
Hope this helps...pups need cooling off, too!

I am looking for something to put in tubs of water I leave out for my dogs to cool off in that will stop / repel the reproduction of mosquitoes in their water that is safe for the dogs.

I read an article in a parenting magazine that suggested using a cheap antiperspirant on mosquito bites. So far, this has done the trick. My two year old likes it, because she can put it on by herself. It shrinks a bite down in about 20 minutes.

A couple weeks ago I tried spraying Lysterine around our camp site in the Sierra Nevada's and the mosquitos still came. Maybe there were less of them but they were still there biting the kids even though I sprayed like crazy around the camper and tents/chairs etc... I wouldn't use it again.

I haven't had much luck with plantain, but I find that straight lavender oil (the real thing, not room deodorizer) will drive away biting bugs (mosquitos and deer flies). And, if I should happen to go out without it and get bit, a dab of lavender oil RIGHT AWAY will take the sting out. We have lavender distilleries nearby, so I keep several bottles in various places in the house.

Margaret-I recently tried the Listerine trick at my sons openhouse--worked like a charm. Previous outings that had gone into the evening had been heaven for the mosquitoes, but early afternoon I sprayed the grass in the area that we were going to be in and I encountered not one mosquito through the entire event, which wound down about midnight.

Personally I would not use mosquito repellent made from alcohol. And rather than using essantial oil, just use the real plants.

Here is a site that contains a few natural receipes for mosquito repellent.

http://www.greenterrafirma.com/natural-mosquito-repellent.html

They include one made from catnip and another using any of:

Citronella Oil
Lemon Eucalyptus Oil
Cinnamon Oil
Rosemary Oil
Peppermint Oil
Clove Oil

Enjoy.

To the woman who found that carpet fresh got rid of fleas..there is an old remedy, borox which probably is an ingredient in carpet fresh as well. The borox dries the reproductive organs of the fleas and they don't reproduce (if they live) It is best to sprinkle the dry borox, leave on rugs, sofas for a while then vacumn. I wouldn't necessarily expose children or pets to it for a prolonged period of time. I have 5 Saints and 2 older Rottweillers and they all are flea free. I do use Front line plus ONCE yearly and natural products the rest of the year. I find that for mosquito bites if you make a cross with your nail in the bite and then apply apple cider vinegar, the itch goes away. I use it to clean the dogs ears too and for their itches as well.

If you're worried about the strength of essential oils you can dilute them or use hydrosols instead. If you are familiar with Rose Water, that is a hydrosol.

Watch the store bought essential oils. Most of the aromatherapists I know refuse to use them. Many are not steam distilled, and use chemicals that you may not want to expose your pets and children to.

Although there is the potential for Heinz Body Anemia when giving garlic to dogs, some wholistic vets do use it for dogs. It would be best to check with your local wholistic vet for more information. You can find out more about wholistic vets, and if one might be close to you on the Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association website. http://www.vbma.org/

When it comes to fleas, I've found that since I moved to an area that has a lot of ants fleas have become a non-issue. My animals have not had fleas since.

As for mosquito repellent, I'm still experimenting. I still get eaten alive, and so does one of my dogs.

Fleas are nocturnal. I used to catch them by putting a light night near a pan of soapy water (it has to have soap, so the fleas sink). At night the fleas jump in the water and die.

I would not use the suggested solution on children. Any form of alcohol on children can give them liver damage, including rubbing alcohol. I WILL get absorbed through the skin. If you must rub any on their skin, use edible alcohol because if drinking the stuff would make you blind, rubbing enough of it on your toddler can do so too.

In my experience homeopathic solutions do not work well for mosquitoes. The best one against all biting bugs, but especially effective against blackflies is a mix of half water and half lemon juice plus some eucalyptus oil. If menthol oil were available, that would really turn the mosquitoes off, but alas, have not found any, just found that bodywash with menthol keeps them away more.

There is a new product out form the Fillipines, deet free, save for children, made from tree bark extract from a special tree. It is called bioneem and the main ingredient in it is called neem. i believe there are also some other brands with it available.
and no, I do not work for that company and gain anything by telling you of that product

I read somewhere that spraying LISTERINE around your picnic area will keep mosquitoes away and they don't like the smell. If anyone has tried this, please let me know if you had luck with this or not. Thanks!

Believe it or not...one day after a ton of rains weeks before, I was vaccuming my carpet. I turned over the sofa, and within seconds, my legs were covered with fleas. I had carpet fresh in my hand, and instictively sprinkled it on my legs...viola!!!, they dropped dead on the floor. I was flabbergasted!! So, I sprinkled it on the carpet, no more jumping! I began sprinkling it under the cushions on the furniture, etc., and it worked like a charm. I have since moved into a home with no carpet, and we had no fleas. After a couple of rains, the dogs got some, came into the house, and left some little friends behind. I got out the carpet fresh, sprinkled a little, never saw a live one again. But, if you use it on hardwood floors, don't walk on it, as it will scratch the surface of your floors. Sweep or vaccum within an hour or so.

I was told Red wine vinager and tsp in their water dish but my dogs wouldnt drink it. also diluted 50/50 in water and spray on dogs.If you dont mind the smell of vinager this works for instant flea repellent.

Please note GARLIC IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR DOG! Please don't put it in your dogs food. You are going to slowly kill your dog.

Before putting any garlic in your dogs dish: Beware! Garlic and onions are not good for dogs; they can destroy red blood cells. You might be solving one minor problem and creating a much worse one. Per Hound Health Handbook by Betsy Brevitz, D.V.M.

For Fleas. Sprinkle a little Brewers Yeast on your pets food, as this comes out the poors of your pets fleas will leave.
Salt your carpets, leave down for a few days then vacume, I also like to have a couple of moth balls in my vacume bag to kill any fleas that are still alive....however I have recently learned that the same fumes that kill off the moths and fleas is not good for us either,
Mosqutios. I prefer to use essential oils over anything else but you do have to use caution when using EOs they are very powerful oils and can be harmful if used incorrectly.
Skin so Soft that you get thru Avon...Mosquitos HATE it and will leave you alone....AND it smells good!

Flea remedy: It works...crush one pod of garlic in your pets food...fleas begone. I buy the chopped garlic in jars at Sam's Club(food warehouse) ...on what to put in water..haven't tried that..but there is a LOT of liquid in the jars so might work to just put a spoonful in the water..

but the garlic in the food works great.

Mosquitos: one spray of Lysol runs them off ...doesn't work for flies tho.

What is the recipe for the Dr. pitcairns pet food?

I believe Laurie is referring to the liquid Ceder-cide that Shiela posted about. I believe that is what she is putting into her dog's waterbowl to keep the fleas off.

Would someone please repost the recipe for getting rid of the fleas by putting something in the water bow. TIA

Laurie, in her 08/08 comment, said to "put 1 teaspoon in each quart of dog's drinking water" to curtail fleas. She did not say WHAT to put in the water, only HOW MUCH. Could someone please let me know what she put in the water. I have heard this before, but have forgotten it. Thank you. Sherli

Love your site and magazine!!!! Keep up the great work!

I am an angler and camper.there are a lot of mosquito in pakistan forests.I always keep my own made mosquito repellent and enjoy. one part of citronella oil and 9 parts of white or any oil.it is best to protect from mosquitores.shameem ghori pakistan

I am an angler and camper.there are a lot of mosquito in pakistan forests.I always keep my own made mosquito repellent and enjoy. one part of citronella oil and 9 parts of white or any oil.it is best to protect from mosquitores.shameem ghori pakistan

I haven't had a lot of luck with rose geranium as a mosquito repellent. I might try throwing some lemongrass oil into the mix and see what happens. Maybe AR mosquitoes are extra-hungry... or maybe they're just glad to bite someone where they don't have to compete with the ticks. No kidding-- we've got TICKS around here. Not just ticks-- TICKS. I once left my baby in his carseat under a tree for 20 minutes and ended up pulling over 2 dozen ticks off him. Rose geranium oil is bar none THE BEST TICK REPELLENT AVAILABLE. I dilute 10-20 drops (weaker for the kids, stronger for DH and me) in an ounce of baby oil and rub on the skin. I have found very, very few ticks on us since I started. A 1-oz. bottle costs $10-20 but lasts two years. And better than DEET, it doesn't turn my kids' pores red and it doesn't sweat off.

One teaspoon to each quart of dogs drinking water will keep fleas from bothering your dog. I have done this with my dog, and wanted to share. My dog still drinks the water so that is not a problem. She's almost 13 and it has not hurt her.

Hi, I am new to this site but thought since I am here, being a woman and all, that I may as well put my two cents in as well. I had an outside dog when I moved into my new home and we have a bunch of neighborhood dogs that run free and are so infested they only have of their hair. Owners need to be taught a lesson... Anyway, I worked in a bar at the time and had the sweetest older gentlmen that came in regular and I was telling them my problem and one told me this trick that I have used since. I have 3 kids and don't like chemicals especially since one had ezcema. He told me to go buy a bag of cedar- cide, you can get this at some Walmarts or fertelizer stores. Get a couple of big buckets and fill them a third full with the cedarcide, then fill with water, and cover. Let sit for 24 hours, you can buy this made at some stores but it cost alot. After it sits strain all the water into a sprayer and spray everything, being natural I sprayed my yard, the inside of my house,my furniture, everything. Then sprinkle the chips around your house outside and I put a few in the closet and such. It got rid of my Fleas, my yard bugs, I had less mosquitos, no locust, etc. It was nice. Now I buy a bag every summer and keep my yard and house sprayed. You can get a bag for 8 bucks and I only use one bag per summer. I only have about three quarters of an acre, and a small 3 bedroom house. So more land more cedar.

Beleive it or not it works:

I just moved into my new house and there are mosquito's everywhere. I was told that If I sprayed my entryways and porch with Listerine mouth wash that the mosquitos would stay away. I figured what the heck and gave it a try. I probably had 50+ mosquitos in my entryway when I began to spray listerine. 30min later I had maybe 1 brave mosquito flying around. I now spray the entry and deck in the morning and evening and I dont have mosquitos in the house.

The best natural flea and roach killer and repellent I've found
is 20 Mule Borax! I've always had cats and dogs (raise Bull
Terriers) and have used this for 20 years in my homes in Florida
and now in the bayou in Louisiana (typical bug paradises!) When we
first moved to Florida our pets and home became quickly infested
and after trying every nasty chemical with only temporary results,
we read about Borax.Sprinkled it everywhere (NOT on pets!), then
vaccumed and swept.After that, only under counters,stoves, along
baseboards,behind furniture- it only takes a little at this point,
once they are gone, to keep them gone.I was amazed.Occasionally a
roach gets in and I direct hit with a 50-50 mix of Dr.Bonner's
peppermint soap and water.I keep my dogs away from dogs I don't
know- tried a dog park once and picked up some
hitch-hikers(fleas)

Hola. Any body cant tell me whath is "fabric softener sheet" in
spanish?Those mosquitos got me and my family
crazy...HELP.<<a_ayala18@hotmail.com>>

I tried this recipe at a nursery I work at and the mosquitoes
loved it.I figure it cost me 24.00 for this.What a waste.

A safe way to deal with fleas is to sprinkle lots of salt on
carpets, rugs, and hardwood floors, especially along baseboards,
leave on for several hours before vacuuming up. This is safe for
pets, but it dehydrates fleas in all the stages of life including
the dormant stages. I don’t have pets and only used this when I
moved into a home where fleas were present. When I did it, I left
it overnight and it worked. If you have pets, you may have to do it
more than once.

I live in Jamaica and we're loaded with mosquitos. I haven't yet
found any miracle cure (and don't think plaintain grows here). I do
sleep with a mosquito net, but when I'm desparate, I just burn a
lot of incense. It doesn't kill the mosquitos, but they avoid the
smoke. Unfortunately, I do not like breathing it either.

I am new and am looking to find a way to keep mosiquitos from
hanging around. I am not much for store bought chemicals, but need
to spray or put something around my porch area (the little buggers
keep getting in when the screen door opens). This year seems to
really be bad and need something quick.Thank you in
advance!!

Thanks for mosquito repellent. A different subject that goes in
a different catagory that I don't know how to get to: How can I
make homemade shower gel. We go through a lot and I want a more
economical way to supply my large family without a lot of
chemicals. Gail Erman

Maybe in Panama we got the "plaintain" and the rosemary.Pls,
send me the scientific name ,so I can make the mosquito
repellent.

I checked out your request for the scientific name for plantain
and came accross this useful
page:http://www.vitacost.com/science/hn/Herb/Plantain.htmAnd for
Rosemary:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RosemaryHope this is useful.I
have regular battles with the plantain that grows up in my lawn,
but now that I knwo how useful it is, i might not be so annoyed.I
also grow Rosemary and have found it relatively easy to grow this.
my soil is not the greatest, so if it can survive in my garden, it
can survive just about anywhere i reckon!Gaynor Davidson

G Davidson: You may want to try using garlic in your dogs food.
I've used it for years to keep the fleas off and parisites out. I
make my dogs food following Dr. Pitcairns Natural Health for Dogs
and Cats recipes. You may also want to read, Natural Healing for
Dogs and Cats by Martin Goldstein. When starting out, you'll want
to use a sm. amount of powdered garlic on the food. If you use alot
to start out it may upset their tummy.

I dont know if you have them in the us,, but Dock Leaf is great
not only for stinging netteles and other stinging plants, but also
for bites too. I would also be interested in recipe for making
repellent from growing rosemary and rose geranium.And does anyone
know a good natural way of keeping fleas at bay in the home and on
pets? I have 2 cats and 2 dogs so really need something to deal
with it, or a way of stopping them biting me!!

The fabric sheets sound great. They are good in your kitchen
draws to keep pest oout of there also. The reason fo rthe greasy
spot they make in you clothes is that they are made from animal
fat.

Where can I purchase seeds of plants of plaintain?

I have good results warding off all biting and annoying flying
critters by taking a fabric softener sheet and tucking it into the
hatband of my hat or just about anyhere close to exposed skin. I
don't know what it does but the gnats and mosquitos will not come
around you at all! I will tell you to be careful of your clothing
when you use one like this as it will put a greasy type stain on
your clothes. But it does work, and I must say that Downy sheets
seem to do the best repelling of the ones I have tried,Hope all
your days are skeeter and gnat free,lockerridge@yahoo.com

Hola. Donde vivo, hay mucho mosquito Anofeles. Alguien sabe de
algun remedio casero para espantarlos o eliminarlos antes que ellos
me eliminen a mi y a mi familia?

I´d be interested in knowing how I could use the actual Rose
Geranium plant itself, to make mozzie repellent, and also the
actual Rosemary plant.. since I have both growing in abundance..
maybe a few sprigs in water dotted around the house might help,
slightly crushed to release the essential oils into the air? I
wonder if that would help keep mozzies at bay..? Any more
ideas/comments?

I have been making plaintain ointment and have found many uses
for it. Not only is it the best I've ever found for stings and
bites, it works great for burns, cold sores and shingles. I've seen
results from all the uses above. I've also read that it works well
for ring worm. In the past I've make mullein oil or earaches. It
worked well, than I read that plaintain worked well for earaches. I
made up the plaintain oil and it does work wonders. If I could only
have one weed or herb to use I think I would choose the humble
Plaintain.

Hello. Is that herb, plantago or plantain in the rep. of Panama?
If is not, pls tell me about other. Thanks