There’s a lot to love about warm summer evenings like sitting on the patio, grilling out, and enjoying all the fresh local food. One thing that’s not to love this time of year- mosquitoes. Nothing ruins a perfect outdoor evening than having to go inside because your family and friends are getting ‘eaten up.’ To keep you outdoors for longer and to keep the good times rolling, here’s some of our favorite easy ways to repel mosquitos from your yard.
First off, you need to understand why mosquitos are attracted to us to begin with. Our body temperatures and the smell of blood source are likely theories as to why these guys (or should I said ladies, after all the mosquitoes that bite are females) are after us. The big reason mosquitos are attracted by the carbon dioxide we exhale. So you could just hold your breath while outside (maybe we’ll call that plan ‘B’,) or you could try some of these methods.
Organic Options
For organic methods, lots of blogs suggest plants like lemon grass or citronella. However, it’s the oil they produce and not necessarily the plant itself that works. In order for the plants to repel mosquitos you need to break the leaves/grass blades to release that oil.
You can also use products like Maggie’s Farm Simply Effective Mosquito Killer that use plant oils such as lemon grass oil and clove oil to spray around your home. This is probably our favorite approach.
Insecticide
Of course, there is other options that work extremely well like insecticide. Cutter’s Backyard Bug Control is one of Pat’s preferences.
Granules
Mosquitoes are also attracted to standing water. So make a loop around the yard to make sure any lids, buckets, etc. don’t have any rainwater that’s gathered. If you have bird baths or flower pots with water try throwing some environmentally sound granules in, like Summit Responsible Solutions Mosquito Bits, to deterrent mosquitoes from laying larvae in the water.
Light it up!
Okay, not the little buggers themselves, but there’s lots of different citronella candles and tiki torches that help keep mosquitos away. Some are better than others, but it’s always better than nothing!
If the problem is really bad and you can swing it financially, you can always try services like Mosquito Shield, that will spray your yard once a year. They typically use a combination of plant oils like we were talking about above.
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