19 replies to this topic

[dconklin]

We have a flea, tick and mosquito problem in our area.  Not so much in our yard because I sprinkle garlic in our yard once a month.  This does work to keep them out of our yard, our neighbor couldn't get rid of the fleas in her house with 9 flea bombs and we have only done the garlic thing.

When we walk to the river I worry about ticks and mosquitoes.  My youngest had a deer tick on her last year and the head was embedded so I had to take her to hospital to have it removed.

Are there any natural bug repellents that we can use when we go for walks? I eat a ton of garlic and they don't bite me, but the kids eat garlic and the bugs still bite them.

[Sandra Piddock]

Orange peel rubbed over the skin is a good repellent for mosquitoes - they don't like the strong smell. Whisky is also good, but if strangers smell alcohol on your kids, they may think you're an unfit mother. Tra tree oil is another good one, and for some reason, Avon's Skin So Soft (original woodland fragrance) keeps the bugs at bay. Why not try a shower gel for the kids, and see if it helps?

[Shortpoet-GTD]

dconklin, on 18 July 2012 - 06:24 AM, said:

We have a flea, tick and mosquito problem in our area.  Not so much in our yard because I sprinkle garlic in our yard once a month.  This does work to keep them out of our yard, our neighbor couldn't get rid of the fleas in her house with 9 flea bombs and we have only done the garlic thing.

When we walk to the river I worry about ticks and mosquitoes.  My youngest had a deer tick on her last year and the head was embedded so I had to take her to hospital to have it removed.

Are there any natural bug repellents that we can use when we go for walks? I eat a ton of garlic and they don't bite me, but the kids eat garlic and the bugs still bite them.

We "emit" a few hundred chemicals from our bodies, and insects, especially mosquitoes can pick
up on our emissions-through sweat, our breathing out-plain old body heat. If you're hiking, you're sweating
and becoming hotter; they'll find you.

Make sure you bathe the kids in soaps/shampoo's-etc. that have no scent to them. They like odors/scents too.

One of the best things defenses is wear the proper clothing when hiking or camping.
Maybe not so much on urban walks, but out in the boonies or by the river? For sure. And kids-for double sure.
(If there is such a term)

Wear white or light colors-dark colors retain heat and they'll find you quicker.
Wear long pants; long sleeved shirts that are tucked into the pants.
Wear long white (you can see any critters that may jump on you) socks that
cover (come up over)
the bottom of the pants.
If they won't stay up, rubber band them. It's worth the extra effort. And don't forget about chiggers. A hassel too.

Plants for the yard to help repel them include Catnip, (it may cause your yard to become a love haven for
all the neighborhood cats, so be forewarned)
Citronella grass, Clove (you can carry a handful of store bought cloves in your pocket if you like),
Cedar (pants made of cedar are too hard to walk in though-this is what to plant section, not what to wear section)

Eucalyptus, Garlic (wearing a garland of Garlic may be over the top but you won't have to worry about vampires),
Lavender, Lemon balm, Marigolds (pretty but they do stink!) and lastly- Peppermint (for tea too-yummy)
and Rosemary.(can be used in cooking too.)



Vinegar helps to prevent skeeter bites and some on a cotton swab for tick bites.
But tick bites should be closely monitored. And NEVER EVER pull it out.
(Old sage advise, compliments of an old sage.)

Worldwide, skeeters still infect 350-500 million people with Malaria.
http://health.nytime...s/overview.html

[steph84]

Fleas hate peppermint oil and eucalyptus oil. Just put some drops of the essential oils into a water bottle and spray it all around your house and yard.

[jasonb]

Eucalyptus oil good for mosquito's too! just put some on cotton wool and dab headboard and leave swab next to bed on bedside table... was stunned with success and relieve from mosquito whining (who can sleep when the bombers come in!)

[dconklin]

Great advice everybody, thank you! Ticks are our biggest worry since it seems that a lot of people are finding ticks on them lately.  Fleas are a nuisance, but ticks scare me more then anything.  We had a deer tick on my younger daughter last year and I had a Dr at the hospital remove it - these things never happen during office hours!

Our yard gets sprinkled with garlic at least once a month and it seems to work quite well.  Since we have a ton of wild cats around the neighborhood, we need to make sure we keep up with the yard and our garlic supply.  I have also been growing garlic which seems to help.

@Shortpoet, the walk to the river is really an urban walk until we walk down the stairs or boat ramp.  There is woods right along the river next to the "beach" we do our treasure hunts on.

[dconklin]

Sandra Piddock, on 18 July 2012 - 01:10 PM, said:

Orange peel rubbed over the skin is a good repellent for mosquitoes - they don't like the strong smell. Whisky is also good, but if strangers smell alcohol on your kids, they may think you're an unfit mother. Tra tree oil is another good one, and for some reason, Avon's Skin So Soft (original woodland fragrance) keeps the bugs at bay. Why not try a shower gel for the kids, and see if it helps?

lol! Half the people in this town probably would think the smell of alcohol was coming from themselves or the local town alcoholics that walk all around But yeah, if they actually smelt it on the kids it would be tough to explain.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

A few years ago, I bought these battery operated devices made by Coleman that were supposed to ward off mosquitoes.  It did so by emitting a high pitched tone.  I couldn't hear it, so I'm reluctant to say it worked.  I do know the Summer that we used them, the mosquitoes avoided us.

You might get a visit from CPS if your kids walked around smelling like whiskey.  :D

[dconklin]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 19 July 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

A few years ago, I bought these battery operated devices made by Coleman that were supposed to ward off mosquitoes.  It did so by emitting a high pitched tone.  I couldn't hear it, so I'm reluctant to say it worked.  I do know the Summer that we used them, the mosquitoes avoided us.

You might get a visit from CPS if your kids walked around smelling like whiskey.  :D

Can you walk around with these or are they used in the yard?

Yeah DYFS would be pounding on my door! No worries, I don't even drink so there is no alcohol in the house for my kids to stink like

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Related-
ads target children with cartoon characters.
Kids influence their parents, so parents buy this toxic chemical product.

And kids are more susceptible because their bodies are still developing.
Article here.
We've all seen those propaganda ads from monsanto using animated dandelion weeds-
here's the other side. (And once again, when trying to find facts on toxins, there are always ads promoting
this junk-note the ad from dow on the same page as the article.)
http://www.scientifi...ing-herbicide-p

[James Richard Bailey]

Hi, This is a post from my blog, Namekagon Notebook from May 29, 2012.
It's bug season! Tips & tricks to beat insect problems
That golden time of year in the north woods, when winter is banished but the bugs have not yet made their debut, is over. Bug season is now in full throttle. Ticks, mosquitoes and biting flies all abound.
Of course, there are numerous chemicals available to repel, kill and otherwise abate the insect pests. How about N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide? You know it as DEET, the ubiquitous repellant in Off! and Repel. It works great, but it stinks, stings, burns the eyes and lips, and melts the finish on my Martin guitar.
For our pets we have Frontline as well as the usual neurotoxin-filled flea and tick collars. Once a veterinarian put Frontline on my dog Janus without my permission. It coincided with the site of an unrelated injection, and she ended up with a huge, necrotic wound that took a month to heal.
You have probably guessed by now that I am no fan of commercial solutions to biting bugs.
Non-toxic repellent

There are inexpensive, non-toxic ways to keep the bugs at bay. Here is a simple recipe for a repellent I use on myself, my dog and plants. It uses citronella oil, tea tree oil and liquid peppermint soap, and only costs about $2 to make a quart.

Citronella oil is available at health food stores. The brand I find locally is Nature's Alchemy, which costs $4.75 for 15 milliliters (ml). That is about a tablespoon. Since the recipe uses a teaspoon, that works out to $1.60 per batch.

Tea tree oil is available at both health food stores and discount retailers. It is obviously cheaper at the latter businesses, where it costs $8 for 60 ml. Since the recipe uses a teaspoon, that works out to 53 cents per batch.

The liquid peppermint soap, Dr. Bronner's brand, is also available at health food stores, where it costs about $6.40 for 237 ml. Since the recipe uses a tablespoon, that works out to be 40 cents per batch.

So, all you need to do is get your ingredients together and mix them in a spray bottle with warm water. I use an old Windex sprayer. The recipe is:

• 1 teaspoon citronella oil
  
• 1 teaspoon tea tree oil
  
• 1 tablespoon liquid peppermint soap

Mix them into a quart of warm water and spray on yourself, your pets, plants, kitchen surfaces, screens, anywhere you think that bugs are a problem. I spray my dog with this concoction first thing in the morning before I take her outside, and again mid-day and in the evening. It is not quite as potent as DEET, so I make sure to spray her all over, and then rub it in.
Likewise, when I'm going to be outside cutting firewood or walking her, I spray my socks, pants cuffs, T-shirt, hat, arms and head net.
Head net
Get a good head net. This is an absolute must in the north woods. It looks kind of goofy to the uninitiated, but it doesn't look as goofy as somebody who is constantly waving their hands around their head and slapping themselves in the neck to kill mosquitoes.

I prefer a large one shaped like a little pillow case. They also sell head nets with built in beanie caps, which I don't like. I'd rather wear a plain old baseball cap underneath it.

It's amazing how carefree outdoor activities can be when you aren't inhaling mosquitoes and scraping flies out of your ears with a finger.
Indoor bug management
What do you do when the insect pests get inside? There are a number of non-toxic solutions.

• Flypaper strips – These are available everywhere in the bug spray aisle at grocery stores and discount retailers. Costing about $1 for four of them, they are good for taking all flying insects out of circulation. Tip: hang them sideways close to light bulbs. Here's how you do it. They come with a thumb tack for attaching to the plastic loop that pulls the tightly curled strip out of its tube. Before you do that, though, take a piece of tape and make a tab on the tube itself so you can thumb tack both ends up out of the way. At night, bugs naturally circle around light bulbs. Eventually they all run into the flypaper strip and meet their demise.
  
• Bug zappers – These really don't do much good outside. They just attract bugs to the area where you don't want them. But inside, that's another matter. I put a small one in my mud room (entry room to you city folks). Plugged in at night, most of the bugs that enter when you are going in and out quickly get electrocuted.
  
• Floor level flea trap – Here is a neat trick to get the biting hoppers who sometimes set up shop in carpets and pet beds. Put a night light, one that uses a 4 watt light bulb or the LED equivalent in an outlet near the floor. Then put a shallow pan with detergent water on the floor underneath it. The fleas are attracted to the light at night, jump at it, and end up drowned in the soapy water. Note: do this in a place where you aren't likely to kick it as you walk about half awake on the way to the bathroom.

Ants
While researching an article on beekeeping, I learned about a non-toxic substance that kills ants and other crawling insects. Called diatomaceous (DI-ah-to-may-shus) earth, or DE, the beekeepers spread it on the ground around their hives to keep ants out of the honey.

It is a naturally occurring, soft,sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. The main component of this stuff is silica, which is a mild abrasive. It works by scratching the underside of crawling insects, so they die of dehydration.
Since DE is non-toxic, you can spread it along baseboards, along the backsplash of kitchen counters, and outside around the perimeter of your house. It is inexpensive, and available at hardware and garden stores. It is safe for use around food.

So, there you have it. My strategies for dealing with summer's insect problems. Now you know why I like winter better.

— 30 —

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Very nice-thank you!

[Pat]

I wish I had read this post last week.  I went for a walk, stopped to talk to a neighbor, the bugs ate me alive.  I had multiple bits on both legs.  I will put cloves in my pockets the next time I walk at night.

[dconklin]

James Richard Bailey, on 21 July 2012 - 06:27 AM, said:

Hi, This is a post from my blog, Namekagon Notebook from May 29, 2012.
It's bug season! Tips & tricks to beat insect problems
That golden time of year in the north woods, when winter is banished but the bugs have not yet made their debut, is over. Bug season is now in full throttle. Ticks, mosquitoes and biting flies all abound.
Of course, there are numerous chemicals available to repel, kill and otherwise abate the insect pests. How about N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide? You know it as DEET, the ubiquitous repellant in Off! and Repel. It works great, but it stinks, stings, burns the eyes and lips, and melts the finish on my Martin guitar.
For our pets we have Frontline as well as the usual neurotoxin-filled flea and tick collars. Once a veterinarian put Frontline on my dog Janus without my permission. It coincided with the site of an unrelated injection, and she ended up with a huge, necrotic wound that took a month to heal.
You have probably guessed by now that I am no fan of commercial solutions to biting bugs.
Non-toxic repellent

There are inexpensive, non-toxic ways to keep the bugs at bay. Here is a simple recipe for a repellent I use on myself, my dog and plants. It uses citronella oil, tea tree oil and liquid peppermint soap, and only costs about $2 to make a quart.

Citronella oil is available at health food stores. The brand I find locally is Nature's Alchemy, which costs $4.75 for 15 milliliters (ml). That is about a tablespoon. Since the recipe uses a teaspoon, that works out to $1.60 per batch.

Tea tree oil is available at both health food stores and discount retailers. It is obviously cheaper at the latter businesses, where it costs $8 for 60 ml. Since the recipe uses a teaspoon, that works out to 53 cents per batch.

The liquid peppermint soap, Dr. Bronner's brand, is also available at health food stores, where it costs about $6.40 for 237 ml. Since the recipe uses a tablespoon, that works out to be 40 cents per batch.

So, all you need to do is get your ingredients together and mix them in a spray bottle with warm water. I use an old Windex sprayer. The recipe is:

• 1 teaspoon citronella oil
  
• 1 teaspoon tea tree oil
  
• 1 tablespoon liquid peppermint soap

Mix them into a quart of warm water and spray on yourself, your pets, plants, kitchen surfaces, screens, anywhere you think that bugs are a problem. I spray my dog with this concoction first thing in the morning before I take her outside, and again mid-day and in the evening. It is not quite as potent as DEET, so I make sure to spray her all over, and then rub it in.
Likewise, when I'm going to be outside cutting firewood or walking her, I spray my socks, pants cuffs, T-shirt, hat, arms and head net.
Head net
Get a good head net. This is an absolute must in the north woods. It looks kind of goofy to the uninitiated, but it doesn't look as goofy as somebody who is constantly waving their hands around their head and slapping themselves in the neck to kill mosquitoes.

I prefer a large one shaped like a little pillow case. They also sell head nets with built in beanie caps, which I don't like. I'd rather wear a plain old baseball cap underneath it.

It's amazing how carefree outdoor activities can be when you aren't inhaling mosquitoes and scraping flies out of your ears with a finger.
Indoor bug management
What do you do when the insect pests get inside? There are a number of non-toxic solutions.

• Flypaper strips – These are available everywhere in the bug spray aisle at grocery stores and discount retailers. Costing about $1 for four of them, they are good for taking all flying insects out of circulation. Tip: hang them sideways close to light bulbs. Here's how you do it. They come with a thumb tack for attaching to the plastic loop that pulls the tightly curled strip out of its tube. Before you do that, though, take a piece of tape and make a tab on the tube itself so you can thumb tack both ends up out of the way. At night, bugs naturally circle around light bulbs. Eventually they all run into the flypaper strip and meet their demise.
  
• Bug zappers – These really don't do much good outside. They just attract bugs to the area where you don't want them. But inside, that's another matter. I put a small one in my mud room (entry room to you city folks). Plugged in at night, most of the bugs that enter when you are going in and out quickly get electrocuted.
  
• Floor level flea trap – Here is a neat trick to get the biting hoppers who sometimes set up shop in carpets and pet beds. Put a night light, one that uses a 4 watt light bulb or the LED equivalent in an outlet near the floor. Then put a shallow pan with detergent water on the floor underneath it. The fleas are attracted to the light at night, jump at it, and end up drowned in the soapy water. Note: do this in a place where you aren't likely to kick it as you walk about half awake on the way to the bathroom.

Ants
While researching an article on beekeeping, I learned about a non-toxic substance that kills ants and other crawling insects. Called diatomaceous (DI-ah-to-may-shus) earth, or DE, the beekeepers spread it on the ground around their hives to keep ants out of the honey.

It is a naturally occurring, soft,sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. The main component of this stuff is silica, which is a mild abrasive. It works by scratching the underside of crawling insects, so they die of dehydration.
Since DE is non-toxic, you can spread it along baseboards, along the backsplash of kitchen counters, and outside around the perimeter of your house. It is inexpensive, and available at hardware and garden stores. It is safe for use around food.

So, there you have it. My strategies for dealing with summer's insect problems. Now you know why I like winter better.

— 30 —

Great info! I have the peppermint castile soap that I use for cleaning now.  I had started using dish soap a while back to do a lot of my cleaning instead of buying chemicals and I read about castile soap.  My Mom saw it in the store and got me a bottle of the peppermint soap.  I love it for cleaning!!

I heard that DE is great but that you shouldn't leave it where it will get "stirred up" a bit because it is harmful for lungs, but I have not tried it yet.  Do you use a respirator to spread it? That is just what I heard, I don't know much about DE.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

dconklin, the ones I had made by Coleman hooked onto your clothes, so, they were mobile.  They ran on a battery.

By DE, did you mean diatomaceous earth?  We've been using that for ants in the yard when they get to be too big of a problem, like when they are all over the lawn chairs.  I have not had any problem with it getting in my lungs.  It can be an irritant, though.

My understanding is their is food grade DE, and then, other types that are treated.  You want the food grade.

I found a great page on diatomaceous earth: http://www.squidoo.c...fossilflour��It shows you what it is, where it comes from, and the different uses.

James, thanks for those ideas!

[dconklin]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 16 August 2012 - 10:29 AM, said:

dconklin, the ones I had made by Coleman hooked onto your clothes, so, they were mobile.  They ran on a battery.

By DE, did you mean diatomaceous earth?  We've been using that for ants in the yard when they get to be too big of a problem, like when they are all over the lawn chairs.  I have not had any problem with it getting in my lungs.  It can be an irritant, though.

My understanding is their is food grade DE, and then, other types that are treated.  You want the food grade.

I found a great page on diatomaceous earth: http://www.squidoo.c...fossilflour��It shows you what it is, where it comes from, and the different uses.

James, thanks for those ideas!

Cool thank you! I have been reading up about it, I was going to use it for the flea outbreak last year but I ended up getting rid of them with persistence and salt along with flea traps.  I remember reading a couple of articles where people say you can't use the DE in a high traffic area because it can be a problem in the lungs.

Good to know that you have been able to use it with no problems, I feel safer using it now :)

[taskeinc]

Insects are repelled by different chemicals. Mix one part essential oil with a portion of carrier oil or alcohol. For small batches use 10-25 drops of essential oils and 2 tablespoons of carrier or alcohol.

The essential oils that work well against biting insects (mosquitoes, flies, ticks, fleas) are:

• cinnamon oil (mosquitoes)
  
• lemon eucalyptus or regular eucalyptus oil (mosquitoes, ticks, and lice)
  
• citronella oil (mosquitoes and biting flies)
  
• castor oil (mosquitoes)
  
• orange oil (fleas)
  
• rose geranium (ticks and lice)

Safe Carrier oils and alcohols include:

• olive oil
  
• sunflower oil
  
• any other cooking oil
  
• witch hazel

Carrier oil is a vegetable oil derived from the fatty portion of a plant, usually from the seeds, kernels, or nuts. It has to be diluted because if it's applied directly to the skin, it can cause severe irratation to the skin.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

For other natural repellents of insects in the yard, check out this slideshow.
Scroll down to bottom of page-
http://www.bobvila.c...tting-projects/

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Went looking around for a natural repellent for ants; as I have a few starting to come in.
Found this site which recommends (among other non-chemical answers)
lemon juice, cinnamon, peppermint, borax, diatomaceous earth, good old baking soda, and more
here from
Mother Nature Network.
http://www.mnn.com/y...he-ant-invasion

[Shortpoet-GTD]

For ants; try cinnamon.
Via Treehugger-
http://www.treehugge...-naturally.html