How To Repel Mosquitoes Naturally
91Mosquitoes are one of the most annoying insect pests alive. If you live in an area with a lot of mosquitoes, it can completely destroy your summer, and prevent you from enjoying outdoor activities in the cooler and more pleasant morning and evening hours.
With the arrival of West Nile Disease, mosquitoes have also become dangerous to citizens of non-tropical countries for the first time in many years.
Here are some tips for controlling mosquitoes around your home without pesticides or other dangerous chemicals.
Destroy Mosquito Habitat
The first step you should take is to examine your yard thoroughly a day or two after a heavy rainfall, looking for areas with standing water that might harbor mosquito larvae. Not all of these areas will be natural - in fact, some mosquitoes show a decided preference for breeding in old tires and similar man-made water collectors. Dump out any standing water you find, or better yet, remove the breeding habitat completely.
Be careful to change water in bird baths at least two times per week.
If you own a pond, consider adding a waterfall or fountain to prevent the water from becoming stagnant. Adding koi is another good idea - koi voraciously eat mosquito larvae, pupae, and adults. Other good mosquito-eating fish include: goldfish, mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis), Fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), and Golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas).
Cut edge plantings back so they don't overhang the water, and keep aquatic plants from growing in still corners of the pond, to keep them from providing protection for mosquito larvae.
Do provide some underwater and emergent plants such as sedges or rushes, however, because dragonflies - another voracious mosquito eater - will use these plants to climb out of the water when changing from their nymph form to adults. More dragonfly attracting tips.
Plants That Repel Mosquitoes
There are a number of plants that repel mosquites. Planting a mix of these plants around your home and patio can create mosquito free zones for outdoor entertaining and other activities.
One of the most famous mosquito-repelling plants is citronella grass, which is used by manufacturers to make citronella candles.
Another well-known mosquito repelling plant is marigolds. These cheery flowers repel many other insect pests as well, but are popular nectar sources for butterflies.
Catnip is famous for attracting cats, but what is less well known is that it also repels mosquitoes! In fact, studies have found that catnip oil is more than 10 times better at repelling mosquitoes than DEET!
The lovely and aromatic garden herbs rosemary, basil, lavender, lemon balm, and lemongrass are also effective mosquito repellents.
More plants that repel mosquitoes:
- cedar
- sagebrush
- bee balm/bergamot
- onion
- garlic
- tansy
- eucalyptus
- peppermint
- horsemint
- eucalyptus
There are two different kinds of plants commonly sold as "mosquito plants." One is a type of geranium that has been genetically modified to produce citronella oil. The other is Agastache cana, also known as Giant Hyssop, Bubblegum Mint, or Hummingbird Mint.
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Bring in the Cavalry
Fish and dragonflies are not the only animal that love a tasty mosquito.
Birds, bats, frogs, and toads will also take a significant chunk out of your mosquito population.
The best mosquito eating birds include swallows and their relatives, purple martins. Providing birdhouses can encourage these attractive and helpful species to take up residence.
Bats also appreciate a home, and commercially made bat houses are also available.
To learn more about attracting frogs and toads to your yard, please check out Attracting Frogs and Toads To Your Garden.
If you live in an area where they are allowed, domestic poultry also make fantastic mosquito control assistants. The best species include chickens, guinea hens, and ducks. Although free range birds are most effective against mosquitoes and other insect pests, even birds confined to runs or "chicken tractors" can take a bite out of your mosquito problem.
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More Mosquito Repelling Tips
- Eating a diet heavy in onions and garlic can make you unattractive to mosquitoes.
- Mosquitoes find their prey partly through carbon dioxide. If you are outside in mosquito-heavy locations, avoid overheating or exercising as much as possible, as these cause you to emit more carbon dioxide.
- Curiously, mosquitoes seem to be more attracted to people who consume diets high in sugary or processed foods. Eating a diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits may help reduce your attractiveness to mosquitoes.
- Avoid wearing floral or fruity scents from perfumes, sunscreens, soaps, laundry detergent, and similar products.
- Some people swear by vitamin B-1 (thiamin) tablets.
Learn More
- Chemical-Free Mosquito Control
Such spots include not only permanent ponds but also semipermanent sites such as roadside ditches, pits, canals, clogged streams, and irrigated lands. Breeding is continuous, and several generations are produced each year. The adults' flight range ex
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Comments
Good info I will have to buy some of those plants and eat more Italian food!
Great tips. I will send this to my sister. Mosquitoes just eat her up and she is always looking for ways to prevent their nasty bites.
thanks for this info
Wow! Do I really need to change the bird bath water twice a week? Didn't know that..
Very helpful information. I live very near a natural wetland / wildlife conservation area in Oregon and often wondered why we don’t have a mosquito problem. I can’t remember the last time I had a mosquito bite and I walk through or near that area almost daily. It must be the birds, bats, frogs and toads.
Thanks for this useful info. Off to buy Marigolds!
We are having problems with mossies this year. Thanks for the advice
Thanks..very informative and bookmarked it!
This is really helpful information kerryg, thanks.
I'm thrilled. I actually planted some of those plants right by the back porch. Nothin' can ruin a good porch sit like pesky mosquitoes. Will check back next time I'm planting.
Well, have you imagine in the tropical country or those tribes that lives in the jungle, how do they survive with mosquitoes? The secret is through their eating habits. From what I understand, these tribes people, eat bitter herbs from jungle and the chemicals contained in the herbs absorb in the blood veins and those cute mosquitoes won't suck the bloody bitter blood.
Looking for this info for a while. ty
I have always found eucalyptus oil, diluted with a little water and poured into an old spray bottle makes an excellent deterant. You do end up smelling like the outback and attracting Koalas thought.
Great info. Mosquitoes always seem to like me more than other people. I'm gonna go buy citronella spray at a natural food store before I go camping next time :)
I shiould have had this info when I was in the army. I tried an electronic mosquitoe repellent then but it absolutely didn't work. And for some reason, I seem to attract more mosquitoes than my fellow soldiers. If I had read this hub then, I would have eaten more onion rings and stayed off the coke. :)
Wow you really know your stuff!!
Mosquito's are the worst!! and this time of year its worse than ever! Me and my prospecting buddies always have a hard time dealing with them with natural methods and end up resorting to deet. I'm definetly going to give some of these a shot.
I've compiled a small list on my website that has some good tips for treating the bites. if its okay with you the link is http://goldpantips.blogspot.com/2009/06/mosquito-i Hopefully someone can find it helpful! Also if its okay I'd like to put a link on my site pointing here, this is quality advice!
Can't wait to try these....
Thanks for the information. Dengu fewer has becomea big problen in our country thease days. Dendu is spread because of a mosquito.
great article ;-)
I'm from Minnesota--"Land of 100,000,000 Mesquitos"--so this is so useful! Well-written too. Nice job!
Excellent advice and I travel a couple of times year to the Rain Forest, so a few of these tips will come in handy.
Another tip for you - vitamin B. I can't remember off hand why, but it repels mosquitos. If you are traveling to a mosquito haven, take some vitamin B, starting 4 or 5 days before getting there.
Yes, it is Mosquito time again. Thanks for the wonderful insight on protection.
Some people apply onion juice on their body. This would really get them flying.
Great post. Did not know about the list of plants.
Thanks that was great info, i often go fishing in the north of Finland in summer and its rife with the pests. I am new at this web page thing so if you could have a look at mine then i would be greatful. http://hubpages/hub/petes-pages
take care and have a safe weekend
Thanks for the info. I live in Thailand, which is rife with mosquitoes and they spread lots of Dengue here. One thing the Thai's do, is have a lighting source if you're sitting outside at night. Evening mosquitoes flee from light. And, I verify that Lemongrass does work! They sell tons of it here in oil and jelly forms. Also, Tiger Balm, which is used as a remedy for muscle pain (topical and warms the skin), keeps them away too! Of course, they also believe drinking copious amounts of whiskey or eating lots of chillies also works - but I can't verify that...
I loved this article. Who knew there were so many ways-naturally- to repel mosquitoes besides flooding your surroundings with insecticides, that may end up killing you along with the mosquitoes. Well written, very informative and detailed. Cool!
Really helpful. Thanks. I always appreciate common sense replacing chemicals.
Well written and informative Hub...Thanks..
When I go backpacking I always take a couple of Bounce sheets...this stuff really works great for mosquitos and those pesky no-see-ums...rub em' on your ears and neck, and exposed arms...lasts all day...smells great too...
Great hub! I have acres and acres of wetland around me and the mosquitoes are always so bad. It's strange, but in the beginning to the season my mosquitoe bites swell up and itch for days. As the season progresses and I have been bitten so many times, they don't seem to bother me as much. Maybe I build up an immunity???
Very good hub - thank you! This has been a very heavy year for mosquitoes in northern Michigan. There are few things on th planet I despise more - but I like your holistic approach to relling them - thanks again!
Fantastic ,I learned some new info! I moved to SC and they are chowing down on this new blood...I didnt know what struck me ,lol grrrr itch itch
You can always use a mosquito net. Make a hole in it and as soon as all the mosquitoes are in the net you could come out and sleep well.
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My sister's been having problems with mosquito for couple of summers now, after reading your hub I'm thinking it may have something to do with her bird bath in her backyard. I'm sending this link to my sis now, thanks for the great read.
Considering I live in mosquito city, this will come pretty handy! Thanks!
Thanks for the tips
Excellent info - Thanks
super
Thanks a lot for great post.
Thanks a lot for great post.
Great info. I've seen both the citronella and marigolds being sold off cheap recently. I might have to go out and grab some if they are still there.
Wonderful advice. I have lived many places where mosquitos reign and know how difficult enjoying the outdoors is when they are so bad. I also have an allergy to them and need to use meds sometimes. I sure would prefer the natural solutions. Thanks for this article.
Great article! My family and I always go camping, and inevitably, get eaten alive. Thanks for the info!
Truly a very informative hub. One of the the deadly disease that mosquito bring in our area is dengue fever. The information you have provided will surely be useful.
Fantastic tips. Bookmarked. This info is really useful
Very useful information.
Another trick I use at soccer games is Listerine...spray a bit under my chair and the mosquitoes do not come near me!
awesome info.! I live in Miami and they are total pests!
Kerryg
Yours is a very informative and useful Hub ... Congratulations.
I've made notes, and will share it with others, because out here in the semi-tropicals, mosquitos are not only a nuisance, but also an big health hazard.
I will be very grateful if <kerryg> can conduct some more researching and give us the receipe for an oil, or a water based spraying mixture, that eliminates mosquitoes from common human surroundings, and ... can be "made" locally by common folks... Such an oil or mixtuture, will help save millions of human lives, particularly in Africa and Asia..
My Congratulations are also due to HubPages ... For providing a Prcatical and useful Forum, where Ideas and Experiences are being shared.
shahid.bukhari@gmail.com
29th June 2009
I have 2 bat boxes behind garage and trees and shrubs attract birds, mosquitoes are not a big problem in the yard, but they can be where the precautions you mention are not taken.
keep on rocking hubpage
Can't remember if this worked or not but back in the islands they used to put coconut oil on us when we were little to help ward off mosquitoes. Great tips!
Yes, this is a great source of information, but there's an even easier way. If you make a nutritional shake in the morning with fruit, milk/yogurt, and nutritional yeast (and if you want more protein, you can always add that raw egg) and blend it up with a handful of ice cubes. The nutritional yeast has lots of trace minerals/vitamins, especially iron and B-vitamins and for whatever reason, ticks, mosquitos, fleas, mites won't drink the blood of anyone or any animal who has nutritional yeast in their systems. I give a tsp to my alpacas and my dog/cat and they've never had a tick, flea, mosquito or mite bother them at all. Even the biting flies leave them alone.
You can only do so much with your own habitat because you can only control your property, but just like the guy who was growing canola and got it polinated by bees (got sued by the seed company and lost). You still have to take care of the insect pests, like mosquitoes, that come to visit from your neighbors. I despise mosquitoes, biting flies, yellow jackets, fleas, etc., so I do whatever I can to keep them away from me. From personal experience, I've found that mosquitoes don't like me since I started drinking my nutritional shakes in the morning--and I've got a lot less stress as well. It took about 4 days before they even stopped dive bombiing me, so I know it works.
Jet
Living in South Florida, I can attest that this is all great information to keep those nasty little vampire bugs away.
Thanks so much I hate those pesky little buggers.
I use lemon extract on my skin. Doesnt irritate and works great!!!!
I just rub a little DDT on my exposed skin. It does the trick.
Wow, that's some valuable information. I like it when I catch them sucking on my blood.. I'd flex my arm a bit and they explode because I pumped too much blood into them.
Cheers!
Very useful...gr8 job!
Great information in a concise package!
The little buggers also carry the heartworm disease from one infected dog to the other.
Thanks for the information, it is good to know how to avoid this terrible insects, can never enjoy a nice evening outside my home, thanks again, will follow some of your suggestions.
I think this is the best hub which I have read
Thanks KerryG for that uselful information. God knows I cannot stand to have mosquito bites with all the itching and redness and swelling. Ooh! Just uncomfortable to think about it.
This is great! Thanks for all the info!
Kerryg, sure you weren't a misquito in your previous life? You sure do know what bugs us humans. Great info to stop the buggahs!
Mosquitos can sure put a damper on any get-together! Thank you for posting a very informative hub on how to keep them away!
Will definitely try massive pre-dusk garlic eating. But I'm not sure I'm brave enough to face a swarm of the buggers without some high concentration DEET.
Guess I'm off to the bedding plant store LOL...thanks so much for the tips I'm certainly going to use them!
When I was visiting Darwin (where mosquitoes can carry dangerous infections), I was in a store looking at insect repellent when the pharmacist said to me, "don't waste your time on those, take these tablets instead". The tablets were Vitamin B1.
They worked like a charm. I'm one of those people who is normally a mosquito banquet, and when I'm bitten, the bites come up in big red weals. I didn't get one bite while I was taking the B1.
hey thanks for the usefull information... it will surely save us from these tiny bugs that irritates us the most!
Great hub. Gives me a good excuse to do some more planting outside.
Bunches of great and helpful info here. Thanks very much! I'm going to have to bookmark it.
Wow. Great hub! Since I'm a "natural mosquito magnet" I appreciate your tips.
I'm just not sure what my wife will think about this one:
"Eating a diet heavy in onions and garlic can make you unattractive to mosquitoes."
Very informative article. Thanks, author.
Wow, I just keep learning more and more about warding off these little blood suckers. I saw a program not long ago with Bill Nigh (not sure on that spelling), the science guy, and he made reference to a potion that was equal parts Witch Hazel and Apple Cider Vinegar with an ounce or two of eucalyptus oil added in, shaken up and spayed with a spray bottle. All natural and supposed to ward off those little pests. I haven't tried it yet, but I keep meaning to.
Thanks for the great hub, I'll be bookmarking it for sure...
Great interesting tips! Take Care
These are very useful tips, thanks. Gotta share this on SU.
AMAZING!!!! I had no idea! Thanx for the great hub!
Great hub. I didn't know marigolds repelled mosquitos! We live in mosquito heaven, so I will have to try some of your tips. Thanks.
My grandchildren are a feast for mosquitos. They always say, "Danma, my t-bite hurt" That means...Grandma, my mosquito bite itches. lol. Oh, I feel so sorry for them. I tried this remedy and so far so good. I came back to say that. Thanks
Interesting stuff indeed! Thanks!
Interesting stuff indeed! Thanks!
Ahhh!!! No wonder the mosquitoes don't find my blood tasty...I eat 3 cloves of garlic a day!!LOL!! Great Antioxidant and repellent! Thanks!
I read somewhere that you can mix up a repellant using
stuff found in your cleaning closet,I forget the exact ingrediants but there was dish washing soap,lemon juice,epsom salt,etc.you mix it up,put it in one of those garden sprayer type things fill it with water and spray your yard ,patio,or whatever.It will not hurt plants or grass or your pets.And surposedly it really works.Has anyone else heard of this ? Great site by the way,I'm going to get some B-1 today.Thanks
After reading the hub, I decided to look up some info on purple martins. And, unfortunately the site I found (link below) says that purple martins do not consume mosquitoes. So I'm going to try the bat house instead.
Its commonly known that mossies like tepid water and will breed in saucers below containers. Empty them or put an oil the container such as tea tree or eucalyptus to deter them. Be careful in some asian countries not to get bitten day or night, because mozzies there carry dengie fever
Great Hub! I didn't know marigolds repelled mosquitoes.
Fantastic Tips... Mosquitos love me, so it's important for me to make sure I don't let them breed nearby!
This hub was great. Although fall is coming on, most of the mosquito repellent plant I already grow. Look out mosquitos
Great info and tips! I can say goodbye to mosquito after this :) Thanks for sharing anyway.
C.Ferreira says:
8 months ago
Another incredibly useful and informative Hub....bookmarked and will be using this all the time!
Thanks again!