They're here! With the early spring weather, a bumper crop of blood-thirsty black flies and mosquitoes have appeared, too! All insects have a purpose but some are awfully annoying to humans! Here's how to deter mosquitoes and other bugs while you enjoy the great outdoors.
We all know about store-brand products, so we're going to tell you how to fend off those pesky insects with safe, non-toxic repellents.
Natural Remedies
- Burn a little sage or rosemary over coals to repel mosquitoes.
- Rubbing the skin with baby oil or imitation vanilla extract repels biting insects such as mosquitoes and blackflies.
- Some people swear garlic works and swallow slivered garlic to ward off these summer pests. Others take garlic tablets or rub garlic juice directly on their skin.
- Some people have luck with high doses of vitamin B1 (100 milligrams, two or three times a day), but it doesn't work for everybody.
- Rub cider vinegar on your skin to repel insects. If you take in enough cider vinegar by putting it on foods you eat, you'll develop a body odor that will repel insects, including black flies.
In the Garden
- It is thought that certain plants repel a broad spectrum of insects. Marigolds, chrysanthemums, asters, and pyrethrum daisies, as well as herbs such as basil, anise, and coriander, are all thought to repel insects.
- To keep mosquitoes to a minimum, eliminate their breeding sites on your property. They need standing water to lay their eggs in, so empty those puddles, old cans, buckets, and plant pots.
House Hints
- Add a few drops of citronella to each gallon of exterior paint to keep away flying insects such as blackflies and mosquitoes. The citronella won't affect the paint, but it will keep the bugs from messing up your fresh paint job.
- And your home, add a bat house! Did you know that one small brown bat can eat as many as 600 mosquitoes in one hour?
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DEET-Free Bug Repellents
If you're looking for a non-toxic insect repellent we'd recommend this product: BUG OUT. The water-based BUG OUT Spray in a recyclable plastic pump bottle is totally chemical-free yet creates a powerful bug barrier on your clothing and exposed skin. Definitely an outdoor essential to prevent being eaten alive!
The same plant-based repellents that work in the garden work on your skin. BUG OUT is formulated with lemongrass, rosemary, peppermint, thyme, cedarwood, geranium, and wintergreen (to name a few). These scents pleasing to humans—and noxious to insects.
Check out the line of BUG OUT sprays, candles, and other DEET-free repellents here.
You can't bite back, but you can relax on the patio, camp in the woods, and enjoy nature without being bothered by swarms of biting bugs!
Oh—If you do get bitten or stung, a paste of mashed garlic can help take the sting and itch away. Some people apply garlic, onion, or radish juice for the same purpose. See a list of remedies for insect bites and stings.
We hope this is helpful and biting bugs beware!
From The Old Farmer's Almanac: Sign up to receive a FREE guide (A $4.95 value!) plus updates from Almanac.com.
Comments
By Hilary Rawson
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Getting Garlic Powder from your local grocer and sprinkling it all through your yard creates a great Mosquito barrier! It has NEVER affected my pets, and I use it all summer every summer. I go a little extra thick around the patio and porch area where I sit. Citronella is actually derived from the Citronella plant. I have one in a pot on my front porch and it help a lot too. And for ticks...ticks also hate vinegar, a cotton ball with vinegar works just as well.
By silversage3
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ticks,, to get a tick to back it's self out from it's bite on you fill a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol, gather the tick in the cotton ball and hold the tick in the alcohol soaked cotton ball for a few minutes. the tick will back it's self out, in tact.
By Sarah Meyer
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Snails! Snails! Snails! They're in my garden, on my house, in the plants all around my yard. I have picked them, stomped them, sprayed them, put down crushed egg shells and diatomacious earth . . . HELP! They're eating everything!
By swozlek
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Use iron phosphate. Its great. Bonide sells it as a granular called slug magic. Its safe around your edibles and wildlife also
By Frances Reberg
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Slugs and snails love beer.
Get a lid from any small shallow jar, (mayo works well), and put the beer in it. Place near any plants, flowers, herbs that you see those little monsters. The next day, look at how many drink themselves to death.
By Almanac Staff
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Hi Sarah, Have you tried iron phosphate? You can buy snail and slug bait with this ingredient, which is usually successful. Have a look at our slug page. Many of the remedies you see there will also work for snails: http://www.almanac.com/content/slugs Also, check out our new video on eliminating slugs! http://www.almanac.com/video/gardening-beer-slug-board-game-video
By cory613
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Last year I had a lot of little holes in the leaves of all my plants and trees. I was told it was crickets or grubs but the can't get in trees, Can they ?
By paulajean57
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I believe that garlic is poisonous to cats!! I would not recommend giving it to them to ward of flies or mosquitos.
By sunnyshores88
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Garlic is toxic to many animals. Garlic - along with other alliums such as onions - contains the chemical thiosulphate. This can be extremely dangerous to pets (onions being more of a danger than garlic). The blood-cleansing properties that make garlic sulphides beneficial to humans can damage the blood cells of animals. This can result in anything from mild anemia to major bursting of the blood cells leading to death.
So feeding garlic to your pet would appear to be a risk.
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