BPAL oils that repel bugs, flies, mosquitoes, bees, insects?

[lookingglass]

Mad Hatter is what I use. It has pennyroyal and lavender, which are known bug repellants, and it works and smells fabulous!

[columbus]

I'm pretty much going to be echoing what others have already said: Pennyroyal works wonderfully, so Mad Hatter's great for all sorts of buzzing, flying insects.

 

I've heard that strong alcohol works well also, but I don't know if it's the smell or the actual alcohol content. If it's the smell, I'd suggest Juke Joint!

 

Also, if anyone's trying to get rid of ants, tea and pepper are good ant repellants, and wait! White Rabbit has both of those! The apartment I lived in last semester had a wicked ant problem for the last month of the year (ew!) and I put some White Rabbit on cotton balls and let them in the cupboards, and it seemed to work really well.

[juniperus]

I met some elderly hedge-witch types at a retreat center who mized their own lavender oil/pennyroyal oil/citronella oil (or may be it was lemongrass. er) in a carrier, put it in water and shook and spritsed all day. They swore buy it for repelling both skeeters and the every so enjoyable central MO black flies and ticks.

 

I was pregnant at the time, so I did not have the opportunity to test drive their concoction myself - but I'm a skeeter magnet, and nothing much does work on me, actually, save nasty DEET.

 

If you aren't preggers nor trying to be such, maybe try Pain.

Edited June 24, 2006 by Juniperus Intrepidus

[bifemmefatale]

One thing I want to note in regard to all the folks who mentioned lemongrass as a bug repellent: Lemongrass apparently mimics a palmetto bug pheromone. So if you live down south in palmetto-bug land, don't wear this during mating season! My hubby's working at a NOLA B&B and his boss, who cooks for the guests, was telling him about being swarmed by palmetto bugs while chopping lemongrass for a Thai dish. Eww!

[Aloiis]

Lavander does not repel insects - depends which ones anyway. There are a lot of these in my garden and you will find a lot of insect in them. Especially bee-like types.

[UploadedLobster]

Just thought I'd mention: wearing anything with a banana note is bad if you want to avoid bees. I don't think mosquitoes or flies would give two damns about it, other than 'woo, fruit!', but since we're talking blended oils here, it's possible a banana could get thrown into something that otherwise works.

 

The chemicals responsible for a banana's scent are almost identical to bee 'attack' pheromone. It's most pronounced in honeybees but hornets, yellowjackets, and even those bastard wasps will sit up and take notice.

 

THE BANANA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. SO SPEAKS THE LOBSTER.

[Celogrl]

Psych! I have both Pain and Mad Hatter, so hopefully, I can watch the fireworks tonight and not get zapped, stung, bit or anything else the little flyers can do to me

[Dinerdulcinea]

I know that Tansy is a mosquito repellant. I don't know of any BPAL scents that have it, but if you have some tansy in your yard, it works fairly well.

[juniperus]

Not BPAL but may give you ideas: http://enfleurage.safeshopper.com/40/1721.htm?170

[anomie]

I don't know, guys. Saturday, while wearing Herbal Armor bugspray? Fifteen bug bites in three hours. Last night, while wearing a generic deet-based spray? One bite in an hour and a half. I like the idea of not wearing poisonous chemicals, but they really do just seem to work better. *shrug*

[EarthBrat]

Alright, at the end of the month I'll be returning back to school. My school is in a fairly wooded area, enough wooded to produce a significant amount of insects. Can BPAL oils be worn amongst nature or only in small doses or certain scents?

 

I know that one of my classmates has oodles of BPAL imps but I only remember her wearing them during winter time and parts of spring. I'm not sure if she was afraid of the insects or thats when she perfers wearing them.

[lohengrin]

Alright, at the end of the month I'll be returning back to school. My school is in a fairly wooded area, enough wooded to produce a significant amount of insects. Can BPAL oils be worn amongst nature or only in small doses or certain scents?

 

I know that one of my classmates has oodles of BPAL imps but I only remember her wearing them during winter time and parts of spring. I'm not sure if she was afraid of the insects or thats when she perfers wearing them.

 

 

Florals and fruity scents will attract mosquitoes and, in the latter part of summer, wasps. These oils have been found to help REPEL mosquitoes, however:

 

* Citronella Oil

* Lemon Eucalyptus Oil

* Cinnamon Oil

* Castor Oil

* Rosemary Oil

* Lemongrass Oil

* Cedar Oil

* Peppermint Oil

* Clove Oil

* Geranium Oil

* Possibly Oils from Verbena, Pennyroyal, Lavender, Pine, Cajeput, Basil, Thyme, Allspice, Soybean, and Garlic

 

(list copied from chemistry.about.com)

[apinchofsugar]

With the weather turning warm, I wanted to know if any of you have had any experiences with some BPAL scents attracting bees! I am allergic to bee stings, and I have only recently started wearing BPAL (specifically, in late fall). Any notes or scents in particular I should watch out for? Many thanks.

[marared]

The *only* time I have ever had a bee wimble its way over to me on the basis of scent (at least, I thought that's what it was at the time), I was wearing Secret Crush from Victoria's Secret. Dang thing wouldn't leave me alone.

[faerywolfe]

I've never had a problem with this at all, thankfully. Just to be on the safe side, you might try wearing your sweeter scents and florals close to home at first, in case they should decide you smell pretty.

 

My horses love BPAL scents, though, interestingly enough. And I'm not allowed to wear Gunpowder in the field anymore unless I want a good licking, lol.

[femmefatale]

I haven't noticed bugs, bees, etc being more attracted to me with bpal. And we get a lot around here.

[Dark Alice]

I can't wear the sweeter scents in the summer time due to this very same problem. I tend to wear scents with tobacco, vanilla extract, and other natural bug repellants. I esp. can't wear florals...I really do attract bees with them and really sweet/sticky scents attract the mosquitos....so I would try some tobacco based scents if you can. And also looking up some of the notes to see if they naturally repel bugs...

Edited March 10, 2009 by Dark Alice

[topaz]

I have a natural spray I purchased locally that works fantastic (and not toxic to the kiddos either). Her description says she uses citronella and eucalyptus essential oils.

 

If anyone is interested, she has fantastic goat's milk soaps, lotions and soy candles and really great prices- plus she is an incredibly nice person too . Chickenmash Farm

 

eta: The BugOff spray even keeps those biting flies off of us while fishing or eating outdoors.

Edited March 10, 2009 by topaz

[volpe]

The chemicals responsible for a banana's scent are almost identical to bee 'attack' pheromone. It's most pronounced in honeybees but hornets, yellowjackets, and even those bastard wasps will sit up and take notice.

 

Isoamyl acetate. Smells like banana. It is alarm pheromone. But you cannot make bees attack somebody by spraying them with it, even if this does occassionally appear as a creative method of murder in thriller novels. This is because if you are near the hive, it makes the bees attack you, but if you are far away, it makes the bees flee. Probably it is not a good idea to wear a banana-scent, though, because you might happen to go near a colony without knowing it, and the distance required before it means 'run!' rather than, 'fight!' varies from species to species. Or sub-species -- the trouble with africanized 'killer' bees is that they respond to it with fury at a much greater distance from the hive.

 

It is lemongrass oil that will attract bees. It smells like Nasonov pheromone. You can attract a swarm to an empty hive by putting lemongrass oil in it. Bees use it to orient and to recognize their home. If you've got it on you, bees may believe that many other bees have been walking on you and may try to find the nectar-source that those other bees were after.

Edited March 13, 2009 by volpe

[stillalive]

AHHHH FLEAS!!! What BPAL's work best for keeping fleas from biting?

[autumnal]

AHHHH FLEAS!!! What BPAL's work best for keeping fleas from biting?

Um, try Mad Hatter? It's got pennyroyal, which I've found useful for repelling mosquitos, and I think it has a general anti-bug reputation. (In fact, I've got 3 imps just for that purpose -- it's sure better smelling than any mosquito repellent I know of!) Fleas are a major league drag. Best of luck!

 

[tartchef]

AHHHH FLEAS!!! What BPAL's work best for keeping fleas from biting?

 

Pain saved our household from what could have been a flea seige - we tracked some in from the cat-infested garage... I made a spray out of 2 mls Pain in about 4 ounces of boiled-&-cooled water, and misted down all our rugs, bedding, couches, etc. Then I took another ml-worth & rubbed it into some Borax, then sprinkled that over the worst of the rugs - let it sit for about 2 hours, the vacuumed it up.

 

The fleas were GONE.

[zankoku_zen]

AHHHH FLEAS!!! What BPAL's work best for keeping fleas from biting?

 

Pain saved our household from what could have been a flea seige - we tracked some in from the cat-infested garage... I made a spray out of 2 mls Pain in about 4 ounces of boiled-&-cooled water, and misted down all our rugs, bedding, couches, etc. Then I took another ml-worth & rubbed it into some Borax, then sprinkled that over the worst of the rugs - let it sit for about 2 hours, the vacuumed it up.

 

The fleas were GONE.

 

You know, I know you've told me this before (as I got you that particular bottle). But it STILL boggles my mind.

 

Pain kills fleas.

 

Somehow I think we should have a t-shirt. Or that should be Pain's slogan now.

[portalkat]

Lavander does not repel insects - depends which ones anyway. There are a lot of these in my garden and you will find a lot of insect in them. Especially bee-like types.

This is actually not correct. Lavender is a natural mosquito and moth repellent. Hmmm, I wonder how it does with fleas.....must figure that out......

[fairnymph]

Sigh...I absolutely ABHOR pennyroyal. I wish there were other things people had reported working!