Lemon Eucalyptus Oil Mosquito Repellent Recipe

    Recipe Categories - Spray; Bug Sprays and Repellents
By pixie
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Try this easy lemon eucalyptus oil mosquito spray recipe to keep the bugs away - plus find out if it really works as well as everyone says it does.

You might have heard that lemon eucalyptus oil has been scientifically proven to repel mosquitoes and that it’s the only natural ingredient recommended by the center for disease control for protection against mosquitoes. But is this really true?

Unfortunately the answer is no. The ingredient used in the scientific studies and recommended by the CDC is “Oil of lemon eucalyptus”, which is made from lemon eucalyptus oil but isn’t the same thing.

Lemon eucalyptus oil contains small amounts (less than 2%) of a substance called p-methane-3,8-diol (PMD), which is a very effective and long lasting mosquito repellent. Oil of lemon eucalyptus is lemon eucalyptus oil that has been processed to increase the level of PMD to around 71%. That’s a big difference. You can read about the process here.

So does lemon eucalyptus repel mosquitoes? Yes it does, but not as effectively as oil of lemon eucalyptus and not for anywhere near as long. I still like to use it and I find it effective but it needs to be re-applied every hour or so. And if I’m going anywhere that’s really heavily infested with mosquitoes or that has disease carrying mosquitoes, I always use a spray like Cutter Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent that contains oil of lemon eucalyptus.

The Cutter spray was found to be effective against disease carrying mosquitoes in 2 different studies. This study compared 8 different mosquito repellents and found that the Cutter brand was around as effective as products containing DEET. This study compared 11 different spray on and wearable repellents and also found the Cutter brand to be very effective.

If you’d like to try making your own diy lemon eucalyptus mosquito repellent, here is the recipe.

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Ingredients


The dilution of this recipe is 0.9%. This dilution is suitable for young children, pregnancy and sensitive areas.


24 drops Lemon Eucalyptus
1/2 cup Distilled Water
3 tsp 151 proof or higher alcohol eg Everclear (OR 96 drops of Solubol)

Ingredients

Instructions

Add the lemon eucalyptus oil and either the alcohol or the Solubol to a 4oz dark coloured glass spray bottle and shake well. The alcohol or Solubol is an important ingredient as it dissolves the essential oil in the water. Don’t use witch hazel as it doesn’t effectively dissolve the oil.

Add a bit less than half a cup of distilled water to the bottle, leaving a bit of a gap at the top. Put the top on and shake well to dissolve the oil.

Make sure you re-apply the spray every hour or so as it wears off fairly quickly.

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