One of the biggest problems that households encounter is pests. Over-the-counter pest sprays are commonly bought to address pest problems at home. Though these chemicals may be effective, natural pest control is better for your family’s health, pets and the environment. Try these essential oils for pest control and get rid of insects.
Essential Oils for Pest Control
Essential oils are made by distillation to make the natural oils of a plant substance very concentrated. Because they are so concentrated they can have a medicinal effect, but you want to make sure you only use therapeutic grade essential oils and not oils with fillers. You can look at the ingredients. If there is anything extra besides the oil itself, the it’s not 100% pure and the quality of the oils definitely make a difference when dealing with a variety of insects.
Try these DIY pest repellent recipes!
Natural Homemade Insect Repellent
Tea Tree Oil Ointment for Bug Bites
Wasp Repellent for Your Diffuser
Wasp Repellent Candle
Therapeutic essential oils can be used for so many things but I love using them for garden pests. You can make a homemade spray that has such a strong scent to bugs that they will stay away and it’s so much better than using something with toxic chemicals.
Essential oils can be used as relief for existing bug bites as well either diluted with a carrier oil or by making a salve.
Considering the health and environmental risks that chemical pest sprays have, more and more people are now opting for natural products for pest control. Fortunately, depending on the type of pest problem you have, you can conveniently control pest problems by using home remedies and essential oils.
By applying essential oil blends for pest control, you’ll no longer have to worry about your family, pet and the environment being at risk to harmful chemicals. There are many studies being done these days to determine the effectiveness of essential oils against bugs – for instance there is a study that suggests citronella helps repel mosquitoes as well as fleas, aphids, mites, and flies.
{ Read More: Orange Peel Pesticide }
What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are derived from natural sources and they are very accessible. You need not purchase too much, because a few drops of essential oils are all you need to combat pests. The essential oils for pest control you will need will depend on the type of pest you are dealing with. You may need one to five kinds of essential oils, depending on the type of pest and their number.
Essential Oils for Common Insects
These essential oils can be combined to control different type of pests. Once you identify your pest problem and have purchased your oils, you can then prepare your natural pest control spray.
In the summer, we’re faced with the ever-growing population of insects. Each year there seems to be more and more different varieties of every species. Ticks, mosquitoes, flying insects, creepy crawlies, and bugs that eat through every plant in your yard.
Fight back against these pesky critters with your own, do-it-yourself blends of essential oils that repel insects. Whether you want a spray for your plants, a candle to repel insects while you’re enjoying your evenings outside, or a lotion to soothe and repel, you can use these essential oils that will fill the need.
Natural Pest Control Recipes
Here are some recipes for insect repellents you can try making at home to control your pest problem. However, if you are already dealing with a pest infestation, it is wise to consult with a pest control professional. Just be sure to do some research about the company you will be hiring and ask about natural pest control methods they use.
Of course, you can use your own special blend of essential oils for your specific requirements using a basic recipe.
Basic Insect Repellent Spray
- 1 teaspoon witch hazel or vodka
- 1 teaspoon carrier oil such as avocado oil or sweet almond oil
- 20 to 30 drops of a blend of essential oils
- small spray bottle
- 1 1 /2 Tablespoons distilled water
In the small bottle, mix everything together and shake well. Recipe can be easily doubled to make a larger batch.
Make sure to pin this for later!
What Essential Oils Keep Ants Away?
You will need an essential oil mixture of peppermint or spearmint, tea tree, patchouli and citronella. Once you have combined these oils, dip cotton balls into the mixture and place them in affected areas. The scent of these oils will keep ants away. Replace the balls after a week with new cotton balls that have been infused with the essential oil mixture.
{ Read More: How to Keep Ants Out of the House }
Which Essential Oil is Best to Repel Mosquitoes?
Combine use a blend of two or more of the following: citronella, peppermint, lavender, lemon, eucalyptus, basil, thyme, lemongrass, geranium or clove into a spray bottle and use as an air freshener. You can also use the mixture with your aromatherapy burner. If you want to use the mixture on your skin, you can combine the mixture with carrier oil, such as Argan Oil or Rosehip Oil, and apply it as a lotion.
{ Read More: How to Repel Mosquitos Naturally }
Get Rid of Fruit Flies
One of my favorite ways to prevent and get rid of fruit flies is with essential oils. These creatures are deterred by the smell of certain essential oils. While the oils won’t kill the flies, they will keep flies from accumulating and may encourage them to leave. Fill a spray bottle with a cup of water and five to ten drops of lemongrass, eucalyptus or peppermint essential oil. Spritz areas of the kitchen that tend to attract fruit flies, like near the sink and trash can.
{ Read more: How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies Naturally }
Go Away Flies
For flies and gnats, use a mixture of lavender essential oil, rosemary, spearmint or peppermint, patchouli, lemongrass or citronella.
Keep Ticks Away
Lavender naturally repels ticks and prevents tick eggs from hatching. Lemongrass oil is another great way to keep ticks off your skin, as ticks hate the scent and will generally stay away from it. The active ingredients, citral and geraniol, are natural repellents. Cedarwood oil is extremely popular for pest control, as it both repels and kills ticks on both animals and humans.
Clove oil is extremely effective at killing and repelling ticks and should only be applied directly on the skin after diluting it with carrier oil. Essential oils are easy to use and effective solution to controlling ticks.
{ Read more: Natural Tick Repellent Recipe }
Stink Bugs
Fortunately, stink bugs are harmless to humans but still pretty gross to have inside your home as they are a fairly large bug and can be unnerving to find one crawling around your bedroom. They are very sensitive to smells since that is how they attract their mates, so it can be easy to keep them away if you put some essential oils in a cotton ball and put them in corners or in windows. They really seem to hate clove oil, lemongrass oil, spearmint, ylang ylang oil, wintergreen, geranium, and rosemary.
{ Read More: How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs Naturally }
Send Fleas on their way
Lemongrass essential oil contains insecticidal properties that can repel fleas and other insects. Rosemary essential oil can kill and repel many varieties of insects including fleas. However, it is toxic to cats so do not use around them. Geranium is a pleasant-scented essential oil that has insect repelling properties against fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.
{ Read More: How to Get Rid of Fleas Naturally with Essential Oils }
Spiders Hate these Smells
Mint oil has also been scientifically proven as a potent weapon against spiders as well as Tea tree oil, and eucalyptus oil. Mix these oils with apple cider vinegar to repel spiders as they hate all these smells. Another surefire way to keep spiders away While lemons and citrus fruits are a delicious food ingredient, they are also a powerful spider repelled as their acidic nature is something that spiders can’t stand the thought of facing
{ Read More: Home Remedies for Spiders in the House }
Moths Go Bye Bye
Lavender is one such oil that will encourage moths to stay far away. You can put several drops onto a sachet and deposit it into your drawers, or mix several drops in a bottle with water and spritz your home regularly.
{ Read More: How to Get Rid of Moths }
Essential Oils for Indoor Use
The use of essential oils doesn’t have to be limited to just bugs or garden use. There are many reasons to use them even if you just want your house to smell nice. An added benefit to using the oils in your home is that not only will your home smell nice, but you will probably also benefit from from the health rewards.
Essential Oils for Pest Control at Home
| Fleas | Ants | Spiders |
| Lemongrass Spearmint Lavender Peppermint Cedarwood Citronella | Peppermint Spearmint Tea Tree Patchouli Citronella Citrus Cinnamon Clove | Cinnamon Peppermint Spearmint Lavender Lemon Orange |
| Mosquitos | Moths | Ticks |
| Cedarwood Citronella Clove Geranium Lemon Peppermint Eucalyptus Lavender Lemongrass Orange | Cedarwood Lavender Orange Peppermint | Citronella Eucalyptus Lavender Thyme Geranium Sage Lemongrass Tea Tree Cedarwood |
| Aphids | Bed Bugs | Beetles |
| Cedarwood Orange Peppermint | Lavender Peppermint Tea Tree Oil | Peppermint Thyme |
| Roaches | Chiggers | Flies |
| Cedarwood Eucalyptus Cinnamon Thyme Orange | Lavender Lemongrass Sage Thyme | Cedarwood Citronella Lavender Peppermint Rosemary Sage |
| Gnats | Lice | Wasps |
| Cedarwood Citronella Eucalyptus Geranium Orange Peppermint | Cedarwood Geranium Lavender Peppermint Rosemary Tea Tree Oil Thyme | Clove Geranium Lavender Lemongrass Peppermint Rosemary |
| Snails/Slugs | Silverfish | No-See-Ums |
| Cedarwood Pine | Cedarwood Cinnamon Orange | Lemongrass |