So, you want to naturally ban mosquitoes from your property? You’ve come to the right place.
One of our many secrets to success is that the Mosquito and Tick Proprietary Blend (MTPB) we engineered is filled with natural remedies. Pesticides kill mosquitoes, but natural mosquito deterrents create the barrier around your home and mask your mosquito attractants. Pesticides can’t do that.
Mosquitoes Are Attracted to Lactic Acid and Thermal Heat
Mosquitoes always seem to be looking for their next meal and you’re always it, right? Understanding what attracts mosquitoes to you will help make sense of how you can naturally repel them.
Believe it or not, only female mosquitoes bite and they do it to nurture their eggs. Once a “blood meal” has been taken, the eggs can grow and become mosquitoes themselves. It’s a survival instinct for them, the continuation of the mosquito life cycle.
Female mosquitoes have specialized receptors that can hone in on sweat, breath, and body heat, amongst other things. These are common signs of a living host that will have blood pulsing through the veins. Exactly what female mosquitoes are looking for.
The Best Mosquito Repellents Will Disguise Your Attractants
Because it’s a survival instinct you can’t stop the feeding, you have to disguise yourself.
Luckily, there’s many natural mosquito deterrents that can do the trick. Some are irritants that can shut down the mosquito receptors. Others have powerful smells that block the attractants.
Not all work as effectively, so natural remedies can be a bit of a trial and error process until you find something that works for you.
Rest assured, there are natural remedies to keep mosquitoes away, and we’re going to share the insider secrets with you right now.
DIY mosquito solutions and natural repellents may seem attractive because they allow you total freedom in what you choose. You get to adjust your budget, control the methods based on your needs and wants, and work out which ones suit you best.
Here, we’ll discuss the main three options found for natural remedies today:
- Tree and plant repellents (including citronella candles)
- Options with essential oils
- Homemade remedies
No matter which solution you choose, you should always understand the pros and cons of what you’re getting into.
Mosquito Control Plant and Tree Repellents
Plants have survived bugs for millions of years, and it’s thanks to evolutionary developments. In fact, the oils and chemicals in mosquito-repellent plants are often inspirations for store-bought products!
Eucalyptus Trees
Eucalyptus trees, while they grow large over time, can still grow in portable containers. They have a sweet pine or mint smell, which helps repel mosquitoes. Their leaves produce an oil called eucalyptol. Placing a few fresh leaves on your window sill can help keep mosquitoes away.
Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus
In addition to eucalyptus trees producing a sweet smell that repels mosquitoes, there’s also a special kind of oil that can be extracted from the leaves known as oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE).
OLE is quickly gaining a reputation for itself as the most effective natural repellent. In fact, Consumer Reports tested multiple OLE products and found that they offer between 5-7 hours of complete protection. The CDC and EPA has also certified OLE as safe and effective to use against mosquitoes.
Lavender
Lavender is a hardy plant that can outlast winters and provide a pretty purple sight in spring.
The strong smell of lavender may make it difficult for mosquitoes to track you down by your lactic acid.
Its linalool oil is also an alcohol that inhibits mosquito receptors the same way over-the-counter bug spray does. Planting a few lavender plants in your yard may distract the mosquitoes and make it harder for them to focus on you.
Citronella
This is the one you may know! Probably from the term citronella candles. These small shrubs make great container plants at about 1-2 feet tall and wide. It’s called the mosquito plant because its natural citrus fragrance helps repel mosquitoes. The candles that include their oil are frequently used to promote a natural scent barrier inside and outside a home.
Other Plants
There are many other plants that produce similar oils and scents, including:
- Marigolds
- Rosemary
- Mint
- Sage
- Monarda
- Allium
Each of these offers a way for your garden to act as a natural deterrent against mosquitoes.
However, they are plants that need to be taken care of. This often requires a lot of time, energy, and research. Otherwise, any plant you bring in might make a rapid departure to that holy compost pile in the sky.
Repellents and Essential Oils for Mosquito Control
Each plant we mentioned, and most others, have an essential oil that manufacturers have distilled. Eucalyptol, linalool, and citronella are just three of hundreds of options.
You can use each essential oil in a mix of water for easy spraying. Simply dabbing drops on your wrists or around your home may also work as well. Not only can these oil mixes help repel mosquitoes, but many of them are naturally pleasant scents to enjoy around the house anyway!
Homemade Remedies
We all probably know at least one person who swears by apple cider vinegar for… everything. Anecdotal cures for pests have been around for centuries—in part because many work, and in another part because that’s what we’re told.
Plants and essential oils make another appearance here in these homemade options. Many homemade remedies today involve mixing essential oils into water or another medium:
- Apple cider vinegar + essential oil drops
- ⅓ cup witch hazel + essential oil drops
- Coconut oil + water
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice + water
- Isopropyl alcohol + water + essential oil drops
Each of these solutions works on the same principles we’ve covered: masking our scents from breathing.
These make for attractive solutions. The investment is simply a matter of purchasing the ingredients, mixing them, and regularly spraying as needed. However, these solutions may fail to work in the long term.
If they do, it will be difficult to diagnose why. It might be your solution mix. It might be the oils used. It might be the mosquitoes around you.
With homemade remedies, it is hard to be certain of anything.
Natural Mosquito Deterrents in Mosquito and Tick Proprietary Blend (MTPB)
At Mosquito Shield, we’ve made it our life’s work to create the best mosquito control. Nobody likes being bit, and now it’s a thing of the past!
We’ve studied every conceivable option for 20+ years and put the best into our MTPB. After all our experience and tests, we’ve found that a healthy mix of pesticide and essential oils / natural products serves best.
The pesticide will kill any mosquitoes on your property and essential oils will create a barrier that prevents more from coming.
Many other mosquito control companies simply paint your yard with chemicals and leave you with instructions to stay off until dry. How long is that? What happens if you don’t?
If you want to experience what it’s like to partner with a company that won’t just kill the mosquitoes on your property, but also keep more from coming, give us a call or visit our website at https://moshield.com/ to find a location near you.