Pleasant way to repel gnats & mosquitoes

[bixaorellana]

You've got to try this ~~ it will change your life!

The mosquitoes and gnats have been making me crazy lately with their biting and whirring. A couple of nights ago I looked around in desperation for something to make them leave me alone. I dug out a bottle of essential oil of eucalyptus and another of lemongrass. I put some drops of the lemongrass oil on a paper napkin and of the eucalyptus on some litmus paper and set them both on the metal grid of my bedside lamp. This worked wonderfully and almost immediately, and continued to work even with the lamp off.

This afternoon the flying teeth cranked up again. I re-treated the napkin & the litmus paper, but didn't turn on the lamp. Went out for a walk and on my return the house was bug-free.

[Deleted]

The grassy area in Avignon where people waited for the fireworks positively reeked of citronella.

[Deleted]

Many of the commercial herbal insect repellents have this combination (Burt's Bees in particular has a great blend) but I find that using it topically all that oil can stain your clothes. Will try the light bulb thing. Litmus paper is not something I have handy,fact I don't know that I've ever had. Curious,why do you keep litmus paper? Not your run of the mill household item.

[bixaorellana]

Be careful about putting oil close to a heat source. My lamp is one of those government-issue things from the 50s, with a fiberglass shade that has a metal grid on top, so the paper is not very close to the bulb.
What I'm calling litmus paper is an insert into a plug-in mosquito killer. It looks something like this: and has little inserts that are like litmus paper on one side and foil on the other: . The one available here is made by Raid and works really well with no annoying smell or anything. However, I don't know that I'd use it around children or anyone with respiratory problems.
In any case, I've run out of the inserts but happened to find that used-up one.

My hint did not work last night. Don't know if it was a particularly big mosquito in the room or what. What works best of all is a fan, particularly a ceiling fan which is silent and can be turned down really low.

[Deleted]

You know I clearly remember you telling me about those plug ins and Mr. C. and I have looked for them and can't find any where. I'm still on a mission for them but no luck. Either they're always sold out but don't see a rack for them empty or they are banned here

[gringalais]

We have those Raid thingies here, I use them for flies sometimes in the summer months. I've never tried putting essential oils on them before.

[Deleted]

The only thing that works for me is the ceiling fan on high and screened windows. Those suckers will buzz in my ear and I end up swatting my head and inevitably get bitten for all that in the end. They are very bad here.