Warm weather means barbecues, gardening, and hanging out on the patio. But it also means there are more mosquitos out and about.
There is nothing more annoying than being plagued by pests when enjoying outdoor activities. Plus, mosquitos are vectors for diseases, which means repelling them is crucial to your health.
Unfortunately, many common mosquito repellants are chemical-based. This makes them harsh on the environment and on your skin.
A lot of people don’t know that there are actually a lot of natural ways to repel mosquitos. These solutions are either herbal or depend on natural resources and ecosystems. And they are just as effective as the chemical-based products.
Keep reading for a list of natural solutions for mosquito prevention. These five tips will serve as a natural mosquito repellent. Before long, you will be able to ensure that your outdoor experiences are pest-free.
1. Garlic
Garlic is fabled as a vampire repellant. But it will also help you with some real blood-sucking creatures.
Simply crush a few cloves of garlic and boil them in water. Let the solution cool and pour it into a spray bottle.
This spray can be used in enclosed spaces or on your body. This can be useful if you have a few mosquitos trapped in your house. The odor will dissipate quickly when sprayed into a room.
But if you spray your body with garlic, beware of the smell. The mosquitos won’t like it, but you might not either.
2. Essential Oils
If you are looking for something as potent as garlic, but with a more pleasant odor, consider using essential oils. There are actually a lot of herbs that mosquitos don’t like.
You can buy these herbs in oil form and anoint your body with them. Many of these will give you hours of protection from pesky mosquitos.
Some top essential oil recommendations are lavender and tea tree oil. Mosquitos hate the smell of lavender, and many people wear this oil as a natural perfume anyway. It’s easy on the environment and is a very pleasant and calming smell.
3. Build a Bat House
Building a bat house can be a great way to naturally repell mosquitos. A lot of people are uneasy around bats, but the truth is, they are your friends. Bats will go after the mosquitos for you, and then leave you alone.
All you have to do is build them a habitat so that they’ll want to spend time near your outdoor space.
Building a bat house is easy. Bats like cedar, so it’s recommended that you use cedar planks to build your bat house.
It is also important to install grooves on the inside of the wood. That way, the bats have something to hang onto when they are inside it.
For step by step instructions on how to build your bat house, click here. When it is done, it can hang in a tree near your outdoor space.
Building a bat house is an easy way to alter your outdoor space to make it less mosquito friendly. But don’t make the bats work too hard–make sure that you are also taking care to remove any standing water from your space.
Mosquitos use standing water to breed. If you have a birdbath or something like that, you won’t be able to remove all standing water. When that is the case, try other solutions for mosquito vector control.
4. Piñon Wood
Burning piñon wood will drive away mosquitos. The smell is a natural mosquito repellent and can aid in mosquito prevention.
Piñon wood is favored for outdoor campfires because of its pine-like smell. The trees are native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
It is sometimes called the hardwood of all softwoods. Even though it is classified as a softwood, it is hard and slow-burning, giving off a lot of heat. This makes it perfect for a campfire.
If you happen to have a fire pit in your backyard or outdoor space, consider burning piñon wood as a natural mosquito repellent.
5. Plant a Garden
Do you have a designated outdoor space where you spend a lot of time? Maybe you have a back porch where you like to spend summer evenings.
If so, you can naturally drive away mosquitos by planting certain things in and around your outdoor space.
Mosquitos hate rosemary, basil, and mint. Plant these things near where you hang out. Plus, these plants are standard members of any good herb garden. They will prove themselves useful in more ways than one.
Many herbs contain natural insecticides. So even though you’ll be driving the mosquitos away, you won’t be negatively impacting the environment.
Lemongrass is another great addition to your garden–mosquitos hate it. It is comparable to Citronella candles made to repel mosquitos. But instead of buying a candle, you can plant lemongrass in your yard.
If you happen to have a grill in your outdoor space, you can use this to your advantage too.
Harvest some of your rosemary or mint and throw it on the grill in bunches when you’re grilling your dinner. This will drive the scent into the air and help repel mosquitos. Plus, it will add delicious flavors to your dinner.
Natural Mosquito Prevention is Easy
There is no getting around it: mosquitos are annoying. But they are more than a nuisance. It is important to mitigate your exposure to mosquitos because they can be disease vectors.
Fortunately, not all mosquito repellents have to be chemical-based. The above tips are natural and environmentally friendly. They depend on the environment’s natural regulatory systems.
These natural mosquito prevention solutions can be lifechanging. You will be enjoying a pest-free outdoor space in no time.
Did you find this article helpful? Check out more tips in our Green Living section!
