Are you excited about using all natural essential oils to repel bugs this summer? I am! I was so glad to discover how I could use aromatherapy to prevent bug bites, and to not have to use commercial bug sprays. Using essential oils can be safer and definitely smells better! Let’s discover some more bug repelling essential oils we can use to keep the pests away while we enjoy the outdoors.
Basil:
Basil just smells like summer, doesn’t it? And guess what basil plants don’t have to worry about? Getting pestered by dust mites and mosquitoes. Basil is also a natural larvicide (which means it can kill the larvae of some pesky bugs. That’s helpful!) Plant basil by your tomatoes to help them grow, and basil around your porch to help prevent mosquitoes.
Catnip:
I confess, I’ve never worked with catnip essential oil and I have no idea how it smells. Remember, essential oils don’t always smell exactly like the plant they came from. I’d be willing to give catnip a try though because it not only repels mosquitoes but also bees, wasps, fleas, and ticks. On the other hand, it might attract a lot of cats! Which might be wonderful if you love kitties like I do.
Citronella:
This one is probably a no-brainer. Citronella is the most well known of the essential oils you can find for repelling pesky bugs. It’s easy to find a lot of commercial bug repelling products with citronella in them. This is probably because citronella is so good at chasing away a variety of insects such as ants, bees, wasps, fleas, flies, gnats, mosquitos, spiders, and ticks.
Clove:
It might come as a surprise that clove is an insect repelling essential oil. Clove oil
can help chase away bees, wasps, and mosquitos. It also doesn't smell like insect repellent which can be nice when you’re tired of smelling like citronella.
Eucalyptus:
This one seems almost as obvious as citronella, but maybe you didn’t know that fresh,
clean smelling eucalyptus has insect repelling qualities? Eucalyptus is actually a powerhouse bug repellent, chasing away bees, wasps, fleas, flies, gnats, mosquitos, and ticks. Eucalyptus is also a natural insecticide.
Geranium:
Geranium smells so beautiful! Dab on some geranium oil like it’s perfume. Not only will you feel calm and serene, you’ll also be chasing away bees, wasps, fleas, lice, mosquitos, and ticks. Rose Geranium is a similar oil you can use that has a rosier scent, and repels gnats and mosquitos.
We still have more oils to explore, so stay tuned for our next blog article. I’ll share more bug repelling oils with you and some of the easy ways to use them.
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