love the woods. the ticks & bugs? not so much.
YES! You can buy it now…
for now, it is found exclusively at our local bulk, refill store Simple Bare Necessities in Sparta, NJ.
Soon, I’ll make it so you can buy it right here!
My happiest place on earth has always been in the woods. I grew up spending most of my time in the woods building forts, climbing trees and discovering amazing things. I never owned dolls (well, my mother did give me a couple, but I never understood how to play with them). Nope. The woods I understood.
The next best place is a lake near the woods, and we just moved to a new home which is nestled privately among some ancient trees in the woods next to a perfect private lake! We have a front porch AND a porch off the master bedroom and I spend as much time as possible out in these areas, but being so embedded in nature means we live among the bugs. Mosquitos love the water and they also love me.
So, I went on a search for the best, most effective, least offensive (to me, my friends and family, my dog AND the planet) and there are some decent ones to buy, but somehow I never seem to have any when I need it, and of course, they aren’t necessarily cheap. Nope, I’m determined to create a natural bug repellent recipe that I can make at home and keep all the ingredients handy when I run out.
There are a lot of natural bug spray recipes out there. We have a few DIY natural bug repellent recipes here on the GD site! But here’s one I’ve landed on that seems to work. I spray it on me, the dog, the grandkids clothing and we don’t stink!
Watch my silly 1 GD Minute video tutorial and see how easy it is to make:
Green Diva Meg’s DIY natural bug repellent recipe:
what you need
4 oz. glass spray bottle
20 drops geranium essential oil (UPDATE: I have since started using ROSE GERANIUM, which is even better!)
10 drops citronella essential oil (although I didn’t use it in my video batch, you can add for additional mosquito protection)
7 drops lemon essential oil
7 drops eucalyptus essential oil
7 drops lemongrass essential oil
1 teaspoon peppermint castile soap
1/4 cup witch hazel
1/4 cup water
what to do
- put all the essential oils into the glass bottle
- add teaspoon of the peppermint castile soap and mix it all up (this will help distribute the oils evenly and ultimately emulsify them in the entire mixture)
- add the water and witch hazel to the bottle
- mix vigorously before using!
Please check out our YouTube channel to see our short, funny and useful 1 GD Minute videos with recipes and DIY tutorials. Here’s a recent one…
And if you want to learn more about the content of this video, please read the corresponding post!
Haralee
May 2, 2016 at 7:23 pm
I love this! Will try it.For some reason spiders are on attack to me and my husband. Last year he had a reaction to a spider bite and although I don’t get as big as a reaction , knock wood, I still get big welts!
Javi Gil
May 5, 2016 at 11:15 am
I have been using citronella for the past several years. Not sure if it worked or not. I will give a try to your insect repellent recipe. I spend so much time outside in the yard.
Great post, and thank you for sharing!
Javi
Green Diva Meg
May 5, 2016 at 11:27 am
Yes, Javi Gil! you can add citronella to this for better mosquito protection. I formulated this primarily to ward of ticks, but easy to add citronella.
Javi Gil
May 5, 2016 at 4:45 pm
Sorry, I thought my first post never got posted. Sorry for the double post.
I love the smell of citronella, but if was not doing anything for the ticks. Can’t wait to try the new repellent.
Thanks again!
Javi
Javi Gil
May 5, 2016 at 4:42 pm
I have used citronella in the past. Not sure if I ever got good results with it. There are tics everywhere now outside in the fields when I take the dog for a walk. I will definitely give your natural bug repellent a try!
Thanks
Javi
Susan
November 26, 2016 at 9:10 am
Hello to all…
Im needing to know if ticks are on the same line as a bedbug? if so i want to try your solution.
If not do you have a natuarl green solution to get rid of the blood hungry little pests?
Green Diva Meg
November 26, 2016 at 3:44 pm
Hi Susan, no ticks are not the same as bedbugs and don’t respond in the same way to repellent. see my post about bed bugs here… my suggestion is to get professional help with the little beasts. 🙁 http://thegreendivas.com/2015/05/17/that-time-we-almost-had-bed-bugs/
Mary
May 15, 2017 at 11:00 am
I am wanting to make a good natural bug repellent. I have one main concern. The time I did use one it did fine repelling mosquitoes but the bees were attracted to it. Do you know what ingredient might be the cause? I am wondering if maybe Lemon Balm.
Green Diva Meg
May 15, 2017 at 11:26 am
Mary, I’ve never had a problem with bees using this formula. Hope it works for you!