How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes Without Harmful Chemicals
Imagine, being outside enjoying your yard and garden without being surrounded by buzzing mosquitoes.
What if you could sit peacefully? No swatting away insects and free of sticky repellents.
Sounds good, right? But how?
You can use all natural ways of repelling mosquitoes.
So, rather than dousing yourself with DEET, and spraying harmful chemicals on your lawn, try these safer, all natural alternatives.
You can thank Howard Garrett for this advice. He literally wrote the book on natural organic gardening called The Organic Manual.
Here’s how you take back your yard.
Kill Mosquitoes Without Harmful Chemicals
Clean Up Standing Water
Eliminate standing, stagnate water.
You’ve heard this bit of advice before, but there could be areas you’ve missed.
Look for standing water in your gutters, gardens, bird baths, and planters. Empty if possible. Discard things like planter trays because they collect water.
Be sure to check your gutters because if they aren’t clean, you can also find mosquito breeding grounds there too.
For standing water that you cannot eliminate, use Bti product such as Bactimos Briquettes or Mosquito Dunks. You can find these products at your natural gardening store.
What is Bti?
Bti is a bacteria that specifically targets mosquitoes and black flies in their larval stage, but causes no collateral damage. The mosquito larva eat the Bti and die within minutes after ingestion.
What you’ll love about Bti is that it kills the larvae AND repels the adults from laying eggs. The EPA has categorized the risk to non-target organisms as minimal to non-existent.
What to do if Bti is not available?
Try sprinkling instant coffee crystals in the standing water.
Scatter Dry Granulated Garlic
Scatter dry granulated garlic in problem areas. Some of the worst areas are around trash cans and in the tall grass borders that are always moist. Broadcast at 2 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. in beds, turf, pots and plants.
Dry granulated garlic can repel mosquitoes for up to four weeks.
Buy the dry granulated garlic from your grocery store (in the extra-large size) and start shaking.
Spray With Garlic Spray
Spray adult mosquitoes with garlic spray or garlic-pepper tea. Using garlic sprays can repel mosquitoes up to 14 days. See recipe below for how to make garlic-pepper tea. You can buy garlic spray at your gardening store.
After spraying, your place will have a strong garlic odor, but it quickly fades and is well worth it.
Use Natural Herbs as Repellents
Use mosquito repellents that contain natural herbs such as aloe vera, citronella, vanilla, eucalyptus, tea tree oil and citrus oil. These really do work well and are available at your natural grocery store.
HOMS BiteBlocker from arbico-organics.com works well.
You can also mix your own. Try Vanilla dabbed on the skin or clothing. Or, Vanilla Mix which is 8 oz. water, 2 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tsp. orange oil. Spray on skin and clothing liberally.
Garlic Pepper Tea Recipe:
To make garlic/pepper tea, liquefy 2 bulbs of garlic and 2 hot peppers in a blender 1/2 to 2/3 full of water. Strain the solids and add enough water to the garlic/pepper juice to make 1 gallon of concentrate. Use 1/4 cup of concentrate per gallon of spray.
To make garlic tea, simply omit the pepper and add another bulb of garlic. Add two tablespoons of molasses for more control.
Be very careful with the pepper solids and concentrate because it might irritate your eyes and skin.
What’s Next?
So, put down the DEET and grab some garlic and Bti and take back your yard!
Got fleas or ants? Check out our other articles on natural pest control: