What plants attract the least amount of bugs?
While many plants can serve multiple purposes in your garden, lavender is the most effective at keeping the most insects away18. Though many people love the scent of lavender, insects tend to dislike it. Lavender repels mosquitoes, moths, fleas, flies, and others. Citronella and citrus oils like limonene are popular and well-known insect repellents. They’re commonly used in candles to help repel insects. Studies suggest citronella helps repel mosquitoes, as well as fleas, aphids, mites, and flies.Citronella Grass (Lemon Grass) Known for its distinct smell, citronella grass (or lemon grass) is the most commonly used natural ingredient in mosquito repellants. In fact, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden recommends lemon-scented plants such as citronella grass to keep mosquitoes at bay.Rosemary helps deter mosquitoes, basil turns away flies, and mint repels various species of bugs. If you want to decorate your outdoor space with flowers that ward off creepy-crawlies, try planting marigolds, chrysanthemums, or lavender.Overall, chemical repellents like DEET and picaridin offer long-lasting and wide-ranging protection, repelling mosquitoes, ticks and many fly species. Synthesized plant oils, like lemon eucalyptus oil and IR3535, don’t protect quite as long and are effective against mosquitoes and some tick species.Make an All-Purpose Insect Repellent 2 cups witch hazel, ½ tsp. Lemongrass or citronella oil, and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
What smell is a natural bug repellent?
Citronella and citrus oils like limonene are popular and well-known insect repellents. They’re commonly used in candles to help repel insects. Studies suggest citronella helps repel mosquitoes, as well as fleas, aphids, mites, and flies. A completely different plant, the Cymbopogon (lemongrass) genus, produces the perfumed oil. Citronella plants (or Pelargonium citrosum) are commonly thought to be the best at repelling mosquitos. However, Lemongrass (or Cymbopogon) is superior.Citrus scents like orange, grapefruit, and lemon, including lemon balm, keep mosquitoes at bay. This plant, which isn’t actually a lemon plant but rather closely related to mint, is a favorite of gardeners for its bold lemon fragrance and its use in the kitchen.Citrus scents like orange, grapefruit, and lemon, including lemon balm, keep mosquitoes at bay. This plant, which isn’t actually a lemon plant but rather closely related to mint, is a favorite of gardeners for its bold lemon fragrance and its use in the kitchen.Overall, chemical repellents like DEET and picaridin offer long-lasting and wide-ranging protection, repelling mosquitoes, ticks and many fly species. Synthesized plant oils, like lemon eucalyptus oil and IR3535, don’t protect quite as long and are effective against mosquitoes and some tick species.
Does lavender keep bugs away?
While gardeners have long appreciated the beauty of different lavender cultivars and collected the blooms to dry for sweet-scented sachets, entomologists are just discovering that lavender can act as a natural insect repellent. Lavender is a plant that attracts pollinators, such as native bees and butterflies. Lavender may also repel some insects like mosquitoes. The type of lavender can influence the amount of compounds it contains.
Does spraying vinegar on plants keep bugs away?
Vinegar can sometimes be effective; however, using vinegar for pest control is generally a short-term effort to control pests since it is not effective as a long-term treatment against serious pest infestations and will not keep pests completely away from your property. Vinegar is a contact herbicide, so you can unintentionally kill plants in your garden if you accidentally spray them with vinegar. Using vinegar as a weed killer works best on newer plants. On more established plants, the roots may have enough energy to come back even if the leaves you sprayed have died.
What smell do bugs hate the most?
Peppermint and marigold are good repellents and can work safely inside. Also orange, lemon, lime and other strong citrus fragrances will drive a way pests while freshening a room. Mint, is beloved for it’s smell, tastes, and nutritional properties. But mint plants, as well as other plants from the mint family — catnip, lemon balm, and pennyroyal — are among some of the best fly repellent plants available.
How do you deter pests from your garden?
If marigolds aren’t on your list, consider adding onions and garlic. The smell can deter insects and rodents from exploring your garden. Flowering herbs, like lavender, thyme and basil, are also good companions for your fruits and vegetables, and they add layers of lovely scents to your garden. Marigolds are one of the flowering plants that can help in so many ways. They attract bees and butterflies to help pollinate your vegetables, attract predatory insects that love to eat the pests that may plague you, and ‘trap’ certain types of pests so they leave your veggies alone.It’s important to point out, however, that not all plants work as marigold companion plants. For example, some gardeners swear that marigolds stunt the growth of pole beans. I’ve also heard that marigolds and cabbage don’t get along so well.The most common pests that damage marigold leaves are aphids and spider mites. Yellow or brown speckling on leaves is usually caused by a bug infestation. Aphids or spider mites are usually the culprits on flowering annuals such as marigolds.Marigolds are often touted as a go-to pest-repelling flower, but not all the claims made for it are true: they won’t deter deer, slugs or snails, all of which are in fact rather partial to marigolds, and they won’t repel bugs like spider mites and aphids – or at least, the unprocessed plant won’t.Aphids: Small, soft-bodied insects known as aphids occur in a range of hues, including green, yellow, and black. They normally have bodies that are pear-shaped and range in length from 1 to 4 mm. With tiny needle-like mouthparts, aphids pierce the tissues of marigold plants to feed on the sap.