How to repel mosquitoes without bug spray using homemade natural mosquito repellent recipes.
It's been so wet around here lately that the mosquitoes are out in full force!
They are driving me nuts!
It reminds me of when I was a kid and we used to go camping in the summer. For a few years we even camped all summer long. My Dad would park the trailer at a campground about 20 miles from our house and we'd sort of live there for the summer months.
Lots of swimming. Fishing. Playing in the woods.
Lots of mosquitoes.
The guy who owned the campground used to spray for mosquitoes every couple weeks to keep them at bay. He hooked up a tank thing onto the back of his lawn tractor and would drive through the campground happily spraying fog stuff out the back.
With all the kids running right behind him jumping up and down, running in and out of the fog. Trying to get as much of the spray on to them as possible.
I was one of those kids.
Were we out of our minds?
It never once occurred to us that it might not be safe. In fact I think it was DDT???
Well, in case you are having a bad year with mosquitoes where you are and you don't want to douse yourself with DDT and lose some brain cells, try out some of these non death-defying natural mosquito repellents.
Homemade Natural Mosquito Repellents:
This 4 ingredient non-toxic homemade mosquito spray is quick and easy to make and smell great too!
You can make some super cute DIY Bug Repellent Mason Jars Luminaries with Claire at A Little CLAIREification.
Natural Living Ideas has a handy dandy list of 11 plants that repel mosquitoes.
And Jessica at Mom 4 Real shows you how to make your own DIY Chemical Free Mosquito Repellent Bracelets.
Stephanie at Garden Therapy shows you how to smudge your fire with herbs to keep the bugaboos away.
Mosquito Prevention In the Backyard:
- Mosquitoes are attracted to scents, so try to limit your use of scented products. Steer clear of perfumes, scented body lotions or scented sunscreens.
- Mow tall weeds and grasses around your property since mosquitoes like to rest on the tall grass.
- Wear light colored clothing as darker clothing attracts mosquitoes.
- Get rid of standing water in birdbaths, dog dishes, old tires, etc.
- Plant mosquito repelling plants along your porches and decks (see below).
What Plants Repel Mosquitoes?
- Marigolds
- Citronella Grass
- Catnip
- Rosemary
- Basil
- Ageratum
- Lavender
- Bee Balm
How are the bugs in your neck of the woods? Shall we compare welts?
Other Post You May Enjoy:
Homemade Squirrel Repellent Recipe
How To Get Rid Of Skunk Smell On Your Dog
How To Identify And Treat Poison Ivy
(This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.)
William Stone
I read an article years ago about mosquitoes and it stated to build bat houses and hang gourds.Bats by night and Purple Martins by day.The Martins live in the gourds.It also stated that bats will consume over 10,000 mosquitoes in one evening as where the Martins will consume 15,000-20,000 in the day. Hope this helps.
Cathy Murphy
I remember riding my bike through the fog, out of breath and sucking wind. I now have COPD. My students can't believe I was so stupid. Not stupid just naive. I said " you guys douse yourselves in all that cologne and hand sanitizer - just you wait 20 years"...
Barbara Chapman ~ French Ethereal
Bless you! I need some serious repellent around here ~ we've always lived with mosquitoes but between them and the chigger mites... Oy vey! I'm am ate up, as the folks around here like to say! 😉
Willing to try anything at this point,
Barb 🙂
taryterre
good suggestions to rid ourselves of all those pesky mosquitoes .
chris tucker
being the tough old gnarly thing that i am they leave me alone, but my poor grandson gets eaten alive and swells up like a toad, hope some of this helps xx
Bliss
The mosquito is our state bird and they adore me!
Fonda Rush
I'm one of those lucky people who don't get bit by mosquitoes. They have never really liked me. One thing that is good for eating mosquitoes is bats. Make your yard bat friendly! Maybe frogs eat them, too? My wife makes sure to spray out the old water out of the bird bath frequently. We don't need to create a breeding ground, but we do want to provide water for the birds.
Jenny
Northern Illinois mosquitos are so bad that we can't even go outside for 5 minutes. And that is WITH the trucks and helicopters spraying to try to keep the numbers down. If any of these remedies really work, it would be a miracle. I think we have tried just about everything, but the only thing that works is dousing ourselves in the chemicals. Horrible.
Amy @ StowandTellU
Oh, I remember the fogging trucks! Great post, I can't wait to try some of these remedies.
Thistle
Love this post! Yes!!!! We have mosquitos....but worse than that here are the spiders!!!
Thanks for the links!
karianne
Pam
You're welcome, Girl! I have a weird amount of spiders in my house too. I've tried all sorts of things, but find stepping on them works the best 🙂
Michelle
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) food grade works great on all creeping crawlers. It's all natural and sage to use everywhere indoors. Just be sure it's pure food grade and not mixed with anything else.
Musings from Kim K.
I need to test out some of your ideas. Our youngest bites swell up 4 times the size of a normal bug bite. Of course, those mosquitoes just continue to gravitate to her. I swear she's a mosquito magnet.
Sam @ DIY Just Cuz
This is awesome! I currently live in Japan and the summer has been humid as heck with little mosquitoes flying all around. I haven't been outside much because of it but I'll have to try one of these out so I can spend some time outdoors!
taryterre
You are right all the rain has left mosquitoes swarming. I have welts everywhere. They love to bite me. Going to read through the tips you posted to see if I can rid myself of them once and for all.
Teri
My parents made sure I knew the fogger trucks were dangerous (if it killed bugs it couldn't be good for people). Mom loves to tell the story of when I was four (about 1966) I came screaming (literally) into the house that I was going to die. Loud enough that concerned neighbors came over to see what was wrong. When they finally got me calmed down enough to talk, they found out that the fogger had gone by while I was playing in the yard.
I really, really hated those things!
Pam
Well, I guess you were right to hate them!!! I'm not sure my mom ever knew we were playing in the fog, but the guy doing the fogging didn't seem to care, so maybe most people just didn't know back then?
Joi Cowell
I had an aunt, an uncle and five cousins that all lived in an area in Madison,Wi. that was sprayed all summer. My aunt and uncle both died from cancer and two children have had cancers. No I don't think there is any connection to the DDT fog. WHAT?
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
We used to ride our bikes behind the DDT trucks and pretend we were in fairyland...I seriously wonder if it lead to many of my health problems...
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
That should be "led" lol... must be DDT brain
Pam
That's a good question? Wonder how much of our "aging" issues are really due to chemicals from that era! We're doomed!
Vickie
Up until last week, it was too cold and rainy for the little pests, and even now we have very few mosquitoes. Very unusual for our neck of the woods. Maybe they migrated to Ohio.
Our niece made us goats milk bars with herbs to fend of mosquitoes, but unfortunately they didn't work.
Pam
I'll send them back up your way 🙂