People nowadays are considering using various scents to have control over mosquito entrance into their homes, and using scents has been proven to be quite effective in repelling mosquitoes.
However, not every scent is equally beneficial as mosquitoes dislike some particular scents only, thereby, you may wonder what are those smells that are despised so much by mosquitoes. Thus, keep reading ahead to find out the answer to this query.
11 Smells That Mosquitoes Dislike And How To Use Them:
Mosquitoes detest the scent of peppermint, rosemary, basil, lemongrass, lavender, citronella, catnip, garlic, eucalyptus oil, cinnamon oil, and pine oil. Use the scents of essential oils to make mosquito repellents and the scents of plants can either be used in dried form or grow the whole plants.
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To repel mosquitoes from homes, using various natural smells is on top of the list of mosquito repellents, so here a full list of scents highly disliked by mosquitoes has been described to help you know which scents are good at driving mosquitoes away.
Catnip:
Catnip is one of the robust natural smells that is widely known for its capability of warding off mosquitoes. In fact, the scent of catnip has been considered as effective as DEET at keeping mosquitoes away from a place.
You can simply plant a bunch of catnip plants in your garden or can crush catnip leaves and rub them onto your clothes/skin. Catnip oil-based mosquito repellent will do wonders in deterring mosquitoes.
Peppermint:
To a reasonable extent, the strong minty scent of the peppermint successfully wards off mosquitoes because of menthol which is peppermint’s main element and mosquitoes can’t tolerate it.
Using a peppermint essential oil homemade/commercial mosquito repellent or crushing dried peppermint leaves and rubbing them onto the skin will keep mosquitoes away.
Rosemary:
Rosemary is another aromatic herb that’s disliked by mosquitoes, so they avoid flying in places with rosemary scents. Placing a few dried rosemary branches in mosquito-prone places, using a rosemary-infused diffuser/repellent, or cultivating rosemary plants outdoors/indoors will keep mosquitoes away.
Basil:
Basil emits a robust odor that bothers mosquitoes highly, thus, mosquitoes leave an area that smells like basil. Using mosquito sprays made of basil essential oil or just growing basil in your yard/home will surely deter mosquitoes.
Lemongrass:
Lemongrass is also one of the most effective plants when it comes to driving mosquitoes away because the natural citrusy smell of lemongrass seems to be unbearable to mosquitoes. Simply growing the lemongrass plant outdoors or indoors is enough to repel mosquitoes.
However, you also can use dried and crushed lemongrass, as well as lemongrass oil-infused mosquito deterrents.
Lavender:
Lavender is another most beneficial plant in repelling mosquitoes because the pungent scent of lavender irritates the sense of mosquitoes, so mosquitoes find lavenders highly unpleasing.
Whether you grow lavenders in your garden, use crushed lavenders, or use a lavender essential oil-made mosquito repellent, all the forms of lavender scent will ward off mosquitoes effectively.
Citronella:
The odor of citronella is capable of blocking the smell receptors of mosquitoes, leaving them confused and unable to fly around the place. Spraying citronella-based homemade commercial mosquito deterrents or burning citronella-based candles would surely repel mosquitoes.
Garlic:
Mosquitoes can’t withstand the odor of garlic because they find it highly unpleasing, as a result, the pungent odor of garlic drives away mosquitoes efficaciously. Scattering chopped garlic cloves or spraying a garlic oil-based mosquito deterrent should effectively deter mosquitoes.
Eucalyptus Oil:
Among all of the essential oils that effectively repel mosquitoes, eucalyptus oil is the strongest as the powerful natural smell of eucalyptus oil irritates the delicate senses of mosquitoes and makes them fly away from a place with eucalyptus scent.
Eucalyptus essential oil can directly be used on the skin or can be used for making a natural mosquito repellent.
Pine Oil:
Pine essential oil is the other best working essential oil that repels mosquitoes successfully, even research proved it’s 97% effective in warding mosquitoes off. You can opt for using a pine essential oil-based diffuser inside and outside your home to repel mosquitoes.
Cinnamon Oil:
Cinnamon essential oil is just a great option as a mosquito repellent because mosquitoes can’t even tolerate the strong scent of cinnamon oil. You can dilute cinnamon oil with water and spray the solution at mosquito-prone places to drive them away.
Neem Oil:
Organic neem essential oil helps in deterring mosquitoes as mosquitoes dislike the odor of neem essential oil. Using a neem oil-infused deterrent is the most beneficial as a mosquito deterrent.
Where To Place These Scents To Get Rid Of Mosquitoes?
Below the spots have been listed where you should place the above-listed scents to get rid of mosquitoes from your house and to get the best result.
Inside Your Home:
You can grow plants like peppermint, lavender, lemongrass, basil, rosemary, and catnip in medium to small pots inside your home, and use their pungent scents to get rid of mosquitoes.
If growing these plants is impossible, you can scatter crushed lavender, rosemary, peppermint, or catnip around the mosquito-prone spots in your home, the circulated scent from these crushed plants will repel mosquitoes.
Also, you can use essential oil made of any of the above-listed scents to make a homemade mosquito deterrent spray to use inside your home.
Outside Your Home:
If you own a yard, opt for planting catnip, lavender, lemongrass, rosemary, basil, peppermint, or citronella plants in your yard because the strong scent of these plants will waft through the wind and will keep mosquitoes away from your home.
On Your Skin/Clothes:
You can opt for diluting essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, catnip, lemongrass, rosemary, neem, and eucalyptus oil with water to make a mosquito repellent solution and then spray it directly onto your clothes. The smell won’t let mosquitoes come near you.
Lavender, pine, peppermint, eucalyptus oil, and rosemary lotion can also be used on your skin to repel mosquitoes.
Near Windows Or Doors:
For mosquitoes, windows and doors are the ways into your home, so you can dilute any of the essential oils mentioned above, then put the diluted solution in a diffuser, and keep the diffuser near your windows and doors. The diffused aroma will drive away mosquitoes.
You can also burn lavender, citronella, and cinnamon-based incense or candles near windows and doors, the fragrance eventually will help you get rid of mosquitoes.
What Are Mosquitoes Attracted To?
Although mosquitoes can bite anyone, however, a few certain things are mainly responsible for attracting mosquitoes to people.
Things that are the most likely to attract mosquitoes are as follows- Type O blood, sweat, floral perfumes, black clothes, genetics, higher body temperature, consuming alcohol, exhaled carbon dioxide, someone with a high metabolic rate, and pregnant women.
How To Prevent Mosquitoes In The House?
Preventing mosquitos from entering your home is always the best step that all of us should take beforehand, therefore, here some very helpful ways are listed below to help in preventing mosquitoes in the house.
Clean Any Standing Water:
Standing water is the ideal spot for mosquitoes to lay eggs and spread their population, thus, regular cleaning of any standing water from indoor flowerpot saucers, pet water bowls, or trash cans is an effective way of averting mosquitoes in your home.
Also, you must scrub and clean trash bins, pet water bowls, and flowerpot saucers once a week.
Install Fly Screen:
Installing fly screens on your windows, chimneys, vents, and doors is another useful method of preventing mosquitoes in your home as fly screens have very tiny holes that mosquitoes can’t pass through and enter your home.
Burn Candles or Incense:
Candles and incense infused with essential oils such as lavender, citronella, rosemary, basil, and citrus have a powerful yet refreshing scent that is intolerable to mosquitoes.
As a result, if you burn any of these essential oil-infused candles or incense near the windows/doors/mosquito-prone spots will efficaciously work against mosquitoes while leaving a refreshing aroma.
Plant The Right Herbs:
Rosemary, basil, and peppermint plants are the most impactful herbs that drive away mosquitoes instantly as mosquitoes can’t stand how these plants smell.
You can grow any of these herbs near any sunny window to prevent mosquitoes from coming inside your home as well as to complement your cooking.
Use Homemade Mosquito Repellents:
Try making a homemade mosquito repellent by diluting any essential oil (cinnamon oil, citronella oil, pine oil, garlic oil, lemongrass oil, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil, neem oil, peppermint oil, basil oil, or catnip oil) with water.
Then, pour the solution into a spray bottle and spray it in mosquito-prone rooms.
Final Thoughts
Strong scents that include lemongrass, citronella, garlic, catnip, rosemary, lavender, basil, peppermint, and essential oils like cinnamon, pine, eucalyptus, and neem oil are disliked by mosquitoes. Mosquito deterrents made of these scents or planting the herbs is the best way of using these scents.