Poop.
It’s a fact of life on a homestead.
And poop brings flies. Lots of ’em.
Back in the days before I got all crunchy, I used to use loads of chemical fly sprays on my horses… And even though I hadn’t fully “awakened” to the world of chemical-free living at that point, I remember it would still bother me when I could taste the fly spray in my mouth after dousing the horses…
I’ve seen questions about homemade insect repellent all over Facebook lately, so I decided it was high-time to do a round-up of all the spectacular, all-natural bug sprays I’ve come across while blog-surfing.
Any of these ideas should work just fine for your homestead critters too, minus the cats. (Cats and essential oils generally don’t mix…) I regularly mix up natural sprays for my milk cow, horses, and goats, and they really seem appreciate it.
I’ve noticed that different bugs respond differently to homemade insect repellent recipes, so if you find that one isn’t working for you, give another one a try. But, with the treasure-trove of ideas below, you should be able to find something that will work where you live!
20+ Natural Insect Repellent Recipes
For Mosquitos:
1. DIY Mosquito Repellent from Lexie’s Kitchen
2. Five Homemade Mosquito Repellent Recipes from Survival at Home
3. 15+ Tips & Recipes for Repelling Mosquitoes from Accidentally Green (I’m especially interested in trying the basil vodka spray.)
All-Purpose Homemade Insect Repellents:
4. Natural Insect Repellent for Camping from Green Boot Living.
5. Bug-Be-Gone Balm from Smithspirations
6. Homemade Insect Repellent Spray from DIY Natural
7. DIY Bug Repellent Oil from Growing Up Herbal
8. DIY Essential Oil Bug Repellent from Dr. Eric Z
9. Indoor/Outdoor All-Around Bug Spray from Your Thriving Family
10. DIY Marigold Insect Spray from Deep Roots at Home
11. Healthy Bug Spray (That Really Works!) from Scratch Mommy
12. Dried Lavender Insect Repellent from WikiHow
13. Beeswax Insect Repellent Candles from Design Sponge (how cool are these?!)
14. 13 Tips for Keeping the Bugs Away Naturally from Day2Day Joys
15. Bug Bite Relief Stick from The Prairie Homestead
Garden & Barnyard Pest Control
16. Strategies for Fly Control in the Chicken Coop from The Prairie Homestead
17. DIY Liquid Fence from The Prairie Homestead
18. Homemade Fly Spray Recipe for Livestock from The Prairie Homestead
19. DIY Organic Garden Pest Control Spray from The Prairie Homestead
20. Three-Ingredient Pest Deterrent (especially for mice and spiders) from Scratch Mommy
21. Using Diatomaceous Earth in the Garden from The Prairie Homestead
22. Homemade Fly Trap from The Prairie Homestead
23. Four Strategies for Farm Fly Control from The Prairie Homestead
Thanks for this list! Will visit each site for sure 🙂 Mosquitoes seem to come from miles around to bite me, something in the blood? I use a dab of arnica oil on a bite right away and seems to keep it from becoming a swollen and scratchy. In my younger days living in the country, the horses were washed with a brew steeped with rosemary to keep the flies away. That was long before I knew about essential oils and their effectiveness.
Has anyone tried “Fight Back 2” from Mission Essentials ?
http://www.mission-essentials.com
It is by far the best I’ve ever used – no alcohol and no oily feeling. It smells great and works fabulous!
Now here we are in April 2017 in Florida and elsewhere continuing to battle the Zyka virus mosquitoes especially around pregnant women and women and their partner looking to become pregnant probably everyone else at this point to be safe. It’s hard to say. Up where you are and probably where there are extended hard freezes it will work. But you should include that caveat with your post to be clear.
great variety of recipes !!! thank you. I have been experimenting around with mixing our own big spray … the bugs are especially bad here this year. I will give all those recipes a closer look and try some of them out for sure !!! ~nik~
HELLO Nicole,
We are trying to move inventory on some 15ml bottles, clear, blue, and amber. I think they would go great for your bug repellent experiments.
clear and amber -540 per case @54.00
blue-468 per case @56.16
Thoughts on which one might be best for Mosquitos? I’m in coastal easy Texas and literally can’t let my kids outside to play some days b/c they might get carried off by Mosquitos!!! I’ve read I can put rosemary & thyme and such in the nest boxes for my gals and myself but which could I spray on the whole yard!? Almost an acre!
Hi Jaci-
there are a bunch of different mosquito recipes on there– however, I think it might be hard to spray any of them over a whole yard– at least it would be really expensive.
It’s impossible to spray areas that large, but it is possible to set up traps to kill the adults and help prevent breeding. Check this out – http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf22399231.tip.html You need sugar, yeast and a plastic 2 liter bottle to upcycle.
Have you ever tried a side by side comparison of commercial bug spray versus your recipes. I think it would be interested to one evening use one or the other then try to compare the number of bites.
I’ve thought of trying to do tests, and I might in the future– but I think it would be hard to get accurate results. One night might have more mosquitos, etc. But, it would be fun to try!
The best all natural bug spray out there by far is made by a company called Mission Essentials (www.mission-essentials.com) – it’s called Fight Back 2…it smells great, works fabulous and has no alcohol so it feels good.
I wish there was something that would scare the spiders off!! EEEK! You should have seen the one I found right next to my bed the other day. It was huge! Make your thumb and first finger meet to make a circle…..that’s how big it was! I sprinkled Borax under my bed, but boy do I wish there was something that would keep them out of my house!! 🙂
Try Peppermint oil! It’s reported to be a good spider repellent.
What will keep rodents out of your house?
Rodents make scent trails with their urine that they use to return to the feast and leave for the benefit of subsequent generations. They can also tunnel into spaces behind walls and slip inside along plumbing. If hiring a rodent control company is not practical, a do-it-yourself project may work, but resolve to pursue relentlessly. To clear an infestation of them them out of the house, first block any holes larger than 3/8′ square (Yes, think teeny, tiny baby mice with bones that flex to squeeze through tiny spaces). Larger holes you don’t want to plug can be covered with 3/8″ hardware cloth. Also block gaps under doors, applying gaskets where necessary. Next clean up any food spills, traces or smears anywhere in the house. Follow this by spraying all walls,ceilings and floors, insides of cupboards, dressers, cabinets, drapes, anywhere rodents can get a grip and climb, with household 4% vinegar solution, one part vinegar too six to ten parts water. The vinegar spray will break down the scent of rodent urine trails. And of course, set traps in the quiet, dark spaces that rodents will tend to travel. Bait with something that won’t fall off and have to be cleaned up. Be persistent, clean up spills immediately, and diligently do a thorough Fall and Spring clean up
I’m sorry to be the boring one, but do you know if there are any clinical studies that prove that any of these work? Or any other studies? Any theories behind why they work?
Also, “chemical-free” living? Umm, you do know water is a chemical right? Just as oxygen. Are there no better words for what you mean? Because that type of living seems nice, but chemical-free is just not the right word for it.
There are numerous studies on http://www.pubmed.gov regarding essential oils and insects. I know they work because when I spray them on my milk cow, the flies don’t land on her. That’s enough proof for me. And I know enough about the commercial pesticide alternatives to know I don’t want them on myself or my animals, as evidenced in this article- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14713564
My readers know that when I use the term “chemical-free living” I am referring to refraining from the use of things like DEET, Roundup, or other insecticides/herbicides. I also use the term natural living frequently, but sometimes I like to mix it up.
Agreed Jill. I have been using various vinegar-based herbal fly sprays on our horses and my ‘evidence’ is, the flies don’t land on them! Great collection of articles here. I am pinning it for future reference.
Thanks for the pin Lisa! 😉
I understand Jill perfectly , as probably all the rest here. These aren’t chemicals. These are from plants which Yaweh gave for us to use. Water was created for us to live , also for the plants and animals. Yes. Chemical free if you make your own .
I have a prayer request regarding mosquitoes, if any of you would be inclined to pray for this! 🙂 I would like to pray that whole towns and cities become aware of the problem of mosquito fogging and that they would consider natural methods like these. I do not know how effective “overall” these methods are, but the current use of pesticides fogging over entire cities makes life really hard for those like me who have Toxic Injury/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. My TI/MCS is so bad that I cannot go into fogged cities for days after fogging without getting bad symptoms. Also, it appears that pesticides like these are killing off the honeybee population–not good. Would love prayers for all of this!!!
Sounds great…we need to breath something besides harmful chemicals. We need our bees desperately to be protected. I shall pray for this change with you.
Me too!
I still believe that when they did that phoney mosquito spraying over our county, that the next year and so on, my garden never grew well. Could be a coinsidence but I think not.
Thanks so much for including Accidentally Green today!
You betcha!
This list would have come in handy a few weeks ago. I was at a lake house and got eaten alive by bugs. I pinned this post for future use!
Hope it’s helpful for the future Meghan! 🙂
These are great. I am using a product called Sweetly Citron I found on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Bug-Repellent-Pleasant-Mosquitoes/dp/B00DG63BEC
It works great and smells good on the skin.
Great post. I’ve been looking for all natural bug sprays for the summer. Thanks.
Thanks for the additional recipes. Last year I made Four Thieves Vinegar using the herb mix from Bulk Herb Store and it seems to work very well. The nasty no-seeums even seem to stay away. I just need to make enough to spray the animals as well. This year, I added about 40 drops of geranium essential oil to the diluted quart of Four Thieves and I think it is even better. Oh, and it smells wonderful!
Yes– good idea on using the vinegar solution- that contains a great blend of insect oils as well!
could you possibly give me the receipe? I am from ohio and the flys are nasty. my horse is so frustrated. thank you
Susan,
The Four Thieves herbs were purchased already mixed together from the Bulkherbstore.com and then steeped in apple cider vinegar for 2 weeks, strained, garlic added and after 3 more days strained again. The mix is then diluted 1:1 with water. As far as the herbs used, there are various Four Thieves recipes but as I said, I purchased mine already mixed.
Fill a Ziploc sandwich bag half way with water and put a penny in it. Then zip up the bag[s] and hang them wherever you have problems with flies. It works in your home, barn, your animals, their trailers, etc. Anywhere the bags are, it will repel the flies. You just need one bag per problem area and hang it above the entryway.
There are many speculations as to why it works, but it does. And I will attest to it. I haven’t seen a fly since I first learned this trick 2 years ago.
Good Luck !!
Anything to cut down the harmful chemicals in our lives…a little at a time. Thanks for the post – I will give some of these recipes a try.
You are most welcome Billy- enjoy!
I’m hoping someone has a natural alternative to keep fleas and tick off of dogs. I have tried everything and I really do not want to continue using chemicals but I need something that works! Help Please!!!!
I have heard you have to be careful with Essential Oils on pets, they can be really sensitive and some I hear can be deadly..Jill???
Yes– I always dilute oils heavily when I use them on my animals– and I never use EOs on cats.
food grade diatomaceous earth is the best for fleas. It’s a great de-wormer, also. Someone brought me a puppy to rehome and it had gotten bad fleas, ticks, and worms. My dogs got infested as well as my home. Two weeks of ingestion and external application of DE got it all totally under control. No negative side effects.
Dogs can ingest DE? If so,how much?
hi, just browsed through the bug spray post. i saw the one for flies but that seemed to be an outdoor one. does that repel horrible pesky house flies? is it safe to use indoors? we have a lot of them this year. finally gave up and put up that icky fly paper.
Yeah… I use the fly paper too. Any of these natural recipes should be just fine for indoor use, though. 🙂
Any one ever heard of what repels kissing bugs, otherwise known as cone nose bugs or assassin bugs…they like to sneak into beds and suck blood …I had skin reaction and had to take benadryl….I hear they are becoming a bigger problem…they come up fro south america and mexico…I am in northern Arizona….they say lavender works….any advice on repelling these nasty things would be so appreciated 🙂
Yuck! 🙁 I would imagine that any of the essential oil combos in some of these links would be a good place to start. Lavender, Lemongrass, and Eucalyptus come to mind.
Ok, you can NEVER take this post down! It is bookmarked, copied and printed…(ok, not printed but I might LOL) Thank you for this! We have so many bugs around here I can’t enjoy my yard anymore. Now if you have something that hornets and wasps don’t like, I will love you forever!
Angel
I here ya! The flies are insane this year at our house!
Wasps don’t like peppermint. I found that when I had a wasp bugging me at work. I happened to have a Peppermint Patty handy. I opened that, broke it in two (so the peppermint would smell stronger) and just left it on it’s wrapper near my desk and the only time I saw that wasp again (a week later) it was steering well clear of my desk. I was worried about the chocolate attracting other pests, but I was desperate and nothing new seemed to come around. I’m sure using peppermint EO would be better, but was a great emergency solution.
I would be thrilled if you could help me figure out what is the best option for me and my toddler to protect against mosquitoes. I have tried a couple of simple mixes of apple cider vinegar + lavender, or ACV/lavender/clove (can’t remember if I added anything else to that one – maybe eucalyptus?). But as soon as I step out the door to our back yard, the mosquitoes find me and attack! And shortly thereafter they start on my 15-month-old. And when they bite me, it’s 4 or 5 bites at a time. I’d like to be able to enjoy being outside with my son and allow him to be outside without being eaten. Since my sprays aren’t working very well, I got to thinking that maybe the issue is that I’m using “bug repellant” oils but maybe they aren’t the best ones specifically suited for *mosquitoes*! So I need something that is effective against mosquitoes but is also safe for breastfeeding moms and toddlers. I’ve never been a fan of citronella, so ideally I’d prefer something besides that. It’s frustrating to have to spray myself to step outside of the house for 5 seconds, but if I have to do that, I’d at least like to smell like something besides citronella. 🙂 I thought that lavender was supposed to work against mosquitoes, but I’m still being bitten. And I thought that even ACV alone could work, but so far I’m not having any success. Is it necessary to mix with witch hazel or oil instead of just diluting in water as I have been doing? I’d appreciate any help you can provide.
Hey Tara– it really seems to depend on the area. There are 2 essential oil blends that I like in particular for bug stuff- one is the blend, and the other is the blend– . It can be tricky to find just the right solution sometimes!
Jill,
I’ve been really happy with Bugs at Bay stuff from our local farmers market — as with many of your recipes, it’s natural essential-oil based. I can get it at the Durham Farmers Market here in NC, but the company has a website and their stuff is on Amazon, too.
OK, now I know that we all need bees and we really don’t want to kill them but since I have been using oils and it’s getting warmer they all want me, or one of my grandkids if I’ve oiled them, they also swarm around the front door, please tell me what to use to make them go where they should, or maybe what I shouldn’t wear so they aren’t attracted to us 2 of my grandchildren have had slight reactions and I really don’t want an emergency on my hands, These guys are handful enough’s, I already raised 6 I wasn’t expecting to have to raise 3 of my kid’s kids. OH well I love it it keeps me young so please help us!
Hmmm… I’ve never had that happen before–how strange! Usually these oils tend to repel bees. You might try mixing up your formulations to see if there is a particular oil that the bees are being drawn to.
Bees can be drawn to geranium EO.
I would guess they are attracted to honey and possibly beeswax and to flower essences.
Hi, thank you for those resources! I could only recommend to add doggies to the critters on which you should refrain using essential oils, etc.
I think it’s important for people to understand that their sense of smell being that much more developed than ours, to them some experiments might smell and feel like being thrown in a pool of steaming poo… So it’s not just them disliking EO.
Even worse, their skin won’t take it. In general, my vet always told me to compare doggie dermis to that of a baby. Be cautious, ask your vet before turning your golden retriever into the biggest, most awesome guinea pig your daughter ever had.
And if you are the lucky parents of a bulldog, forget about it, plus you’re probably already a platinum member at your vet club and you know you can’t mess with the kibble or the grooming/hygiene of booboo…
I thought dogs loved rolling in steaming poo…..LOL (kidding, kidding!! **ducking and running**)
Check out Dr Melissa Shelton’s book of Essential Oils for Animals. I use EOs on my animals: dog, cats, reptiles. Really puts a stop to those nasty Respiratory Infections! Always start with diluted oils and work up to using neat if needed. Palo Santo and Purification Raindrop Technique is good for Fleas on animals.
I agree to a point with you about using EOs on dogs. A holistic vet told me to do this: open the various bottles of EO’s that you are thinking of using on your dog(s) (I have 4 at present with 1 more coming to live with us in a month), space them out on the floor – maybe 2 feet apart, then bring the dog to each one. The dog will either have no reaction or turn away immediately. DO NOT USE any of the EOs that your dogs turns away from, either topically or internally. The ones that they either have no reaction to, or show a great interest in will be the ones they either need or will accept wthout issue. But ALL EO’s must be highly diluted before using on any dog. Hope this helps. We use fresh cedar shavings in their dog beds, and spray the shavings and the beds with pennyroyal oil, or sprinkle fresh/dried pennyroyal inside their beds. a highly diluted pennyroyal can be sprayed on them (avoid eyes, butts and ‘privates’) for fleas and ticks.
do any of these work for repelling ticks?
Any suggestions for someone who is allergic to essential oils? I get a severe skin reaction when using essential oils or fragrances so a lot of stuff is out of the running for me. 🙁 I was using NO BITES! from Heritage Essential Oils but can no longer.
I keep reading all these disclaimers on essential oils about consulting your doctor before use if you are pregnant. Well I am searching for something without chemicals for my horses BECAUSE I am pregnant. Can you offer any insight?
Thanks for all the great recipes to keep bugs away! I looked for one for indoor plants and may have missed it. I have bugs tinier then fruit flies on one plant and I’m not sure what the plant will tolerate.
This is an awesome site. I could stay on it all day! But I have to get some work done! I’ll be back!
Hope to see you back Wendy! 🙂
Very useful information. We all hate mosquito and fly and we really want to kill them but since I have been using oils and it’s getting warmer they all want me, but I still have no good idea until I find the website topmosquitokiller.com and your blog. You all give me many good ideas about choosing a better mosquito killer. Thanks, very good blog! I will introduce your blog to my friend who are also disturbing by the annoying insects.
I’m a new reader of your website and I’m enjoying it so far as I try to get back into using essential oils more. Since you have a good deal of material for me to look at, I’m hoping you can point me in the right direction. Next year I’m taking a 15-day cruise on what will be a brand new ship; going thru the Panama Canal and I’ll be taking shore excursions in Costa Rica, Columbia, Guatemala, Mexico. Loads of bugs! I’d love to take more natural products with me as an insect repellant. Do you have any recipes on your site which you can point me to? I’d love to put some in spray bottles to carry with me, other than using the chemical sprays and wipes you find on the market. Thanks!
Great post! Question for you. Have you heard of no-see-ums? Horrible things and they are eating me alive! Can’t spray anything, not that I want to, because of my sand toads. You may not know but they are highly sensitive to chemicals, as in kills them or causes biological changes. I have already found one that only has one eye and that is not normal. So what can I put on myself to protect from those horrible things? Any idea are welcome!
Check the CDC website. If you can’t find an answer there, call your county offices and talk to someone who has knowledge of outside pests. If I had one thing to try it would be Lemon Eucalyptus EO. That is recommended by the CDC (along with DEET) for some pest control. I use LE EO in all my recipes for any pesty critters.
As far as EOs harming the little pets you have, who knows…I think if they are exposed there could be a reaction…but I am no specialist. I just mix up stuff I know will work and then think about my skin and how I want it to feel. Sometimes I might add 15 different EOs…but always Catnip.EO, Citronella EO, and my fav, Lemon Eucalyptus EO. (I am.allergic to Eucalyptus, but not lemon eucalyptus).
Hate to tell you to experiment with your sweet little favorites, but just jeep track of what you use and when
Also I would like to add…diffusing the EOs that are effective against those hated summer creatures from hell can add a lovely fragrance to your home and keep bugs away. I diffuse Lemon Eucalyptus, Catnip, Citronella, Citrus, Peppermint in bedrooms each night. Never have any tiny flying demons trying to bite me in the night.
For mice, spiders and ants I diffuse a strong Peppermint EO large diffuser for about 10 hours every night in the kitchen. So far so good.
I mix a Peppermint EO with water in spray bottle and spray the screen in my bathroom often. So far no so good.
Thank for for this article and the informative links!
Peace be with you, all of you
The?e is certainly a lot to learn about this s?bject. I li?e all of th? points you
have made.
My grandbabies love it outside but mosquitos were a big problem. I won’t put insect repellent on them. My friends mother told me to use dryer sheets. Like snuggles or Downey. She said rub it all over them then tuck the used sheet in the back pocket or diaper. I thought this sounded to good to be true. But I tried it and it really worked. Even for me! No more bites!
Yes, It’s true. That works perfectly fine..
The fact of the matter is..
Most people use commercial products to prevent mosquitoes and other defenses for their safety due to mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya, Yellow Fever, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) , LaCrosse Encephalitis (LAC), West Nile Virus (WNV).
But the problem with commercial products can be harmful to the environment or to the children because of the chemicals.
Instead, they decide to do Natural Mosquito Repellent by planting herbs plants around or inside the house..
It’s really works. thanks for sharing. 😉
Jaime Scott PHD
Health and Wellness Advisor
My husband is currently in Botswana working on a Bible translation into the native tongue. I’d normally avoid DEET at all cost, but I absolutely had to send bug spray, in any formula, in a size the TSA would approve. OFF won.
What is the best homemade spray for ants that are in the house. We can’t find the spot where they are coming from. We have 2 indoor cats so I want to avoid commercial sprays. I tried looking through the archives for the answer..lol
Whole bay leaves are a good repellent for ants and safe for cats. We put them down under and near the cat water and food dishes (which is where we usually see the ants first).
This year we have hordes of mosquitoes. Our hens were pullets last year, and they got pretty good at snatching the biting bugs out of the air, but this yea they are having trouble keeping up. There worst suffering is from mosquitoes biting their legs and feet. They cry out and stamp their feet day and night. I am wondering which EOS and base oils are safe for avians to use topically?
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Lexi’s kitchen no longer has the DIY Mosquito Repellant. It brings up a 404 error page now.
Thank you for doing so much research into how to keep pests away. In Florida, we have a lot of them and they are always attacking my kids. I have been looking for ways to make it easier to handle next summer with flies, mosquitoes, and more. I think you have helped me immensely.
So glad you found this post helpful! I would imagine you do have a lot of pests to deal with down in Florida!
Hello! I noticed this post is getting a bit older. Do you still use most of these insect repellents, or have you done further research and use more updated repellents? I would love to hear if you have or if you can do an updated post on this one! My fiance has used dust and sprays all his life in the believe that they just wash off, but here in Kentucky, we are plagued every year with Japanese beetles, worms in the corn, moths and their larvae early on in the year on our brassicas, and horrible spotted beetle like bugs on our squashes and tomatoes. We honestly cannot win! We are going to be getting married and sharing a garden next year, and I would love to be able to justify the use, and effectiveness (which is a big thing to him) of organic methods versus chemical to him, so I don’t have to worry about him pulling the sevin spray out behind my back! LOLThanks so much!
I am having a problem with ants killing my lawn. I am looking for a natural remedy as this area is near my well so I need to make sure nothing seeps into my water supply.
Hello! I noticed this post is getting a bit older. Do you still use most of these insect repellents, or have you done further research and use more updated repellents?
I would love to hear if you have or if you can do an updated post on this one! My fiance has used dust and sprays all his life in the believe that they just wash off, but here in Kentucky, we are plagued every year with Japanese beetles, worms in the corn, moths and their larvae early on in the year on our brassicas, and horrible spotted beetle like bugs on our squashes and tomatoes. We honestly cannot win! We are going to be getting married and sharing a garden next year, and I would love to be able to justify the use, and effectiveness (which is a big thing to him) of organic methods versus chemical to him, so I don’t have to worry about him pulling the sevin spray out behind my back! LOLThanks so much!