Homemade Bug Spray: Natural Recipe That Works – Slim Trim Shape

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Homemade bug spray is a deterrent for household pests that can bite, annoy or spread diseases. Such bug sprays can be made using ingredients already available in your house or at easy to find stores.

Mosquito

Mosquitoes are the number 1 pests that annoy and bring life-threatening diseases to humans. In fact, according to an internet source, they top the deadliest animals on the planet. They act as vectors of microbial parasites such as plasmodium falciparum (malaria), Flavivirus (dengue), and worm (filariasis). The small but terrible bug can easily spread through stagnant water such as ponds, canals, standing cans, birdbaths, pots, and tires where water can’t drain. They can even lay eggs and grow their wrigglers in a water collecting tray of crockeries.

Lemon eucalyptus repellent

Ingredients: Lemon, sunflower oil, eucalyptus oil 

Process: For every 10 parts sunflower or with hazel, mix one part of lemon and eucalyptus oil.

Cinnamon oil repellent spray

Ingredients: 10 ml of Cinnamon extract, 40 ml of water

Process:  

  1. Fill up the spray bottle with water.
  2. Add the 10 ml Cinnamon extract
  3. Shake until the mixture is combined.
  4. Spray your body and reapply if needed.

Lavender oil, Lemon, and Vanilla repellent

Ingredients: 

  • 3 tablespoons of vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup of water
  • 10 drops of lavender essential oil

Process:

  1. Mix vanilla extract with lavender oil in a spray bottle.
  2. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.
  3. Add water.
  4. Shake until the ingredients are combined.
  5. Use it on your skin (2x or 3x) daily.

Neem and Coconut oil

Ingredients:

  • 49 ml of coconut oil
  • 1 ml of Neem oil

Process: 

  1. Pour the neem oil into a squeeze bottle.
  2. Pour the coconut oil and then mix.
  3. Apply in your skin.

Cockroach

Cockroach or roaches refers to a number of a family of insects of Blattodea order. Out of 4, 600 species, 30 are linked to human habitats. The common roach considered as pets are the American cockroach, oriental cockroach, brown-banded cockroach, Australian cockroach, and German cockroach. They live in filth such as garbage, fabrics, leftover food, old furniture, and book bindings. Roaches can be a nuisance when they can bite and fly around. They can spread diseases such as dysentery, diarrhea, leprosy, typhoid fever, cholera, plague, and viral diseases. Roaches leave a strong odor and unsightly droppings.

Cockroach spray

Ingredients

  • Water
  • Natural fabric conditioner or softener

Process:

  1. Mix the ingredients.
  2. Spray on roaches.
  3. The thick spray can kill roaches because it can coat the bugs that breathe using their skin.

Roach killer recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of Borax
  • Water
  • 1/8 cup of bacon grease, Crisco
  • 1/2 cup of white or wheat flour
  • 1/8 cup of confectioner powdered sugar
  • Plastic berry box

Process

  1. Mix the bacon/Crisco grease, flour, borax, and sugar.
  2. When the mixture becomes a soft dough, roll them into a ball about the size of an olive.
  3. Put 2 to 3 balls in places frequented by roaches such as food cupboards, sinks, and behind appliances.
  4. Spray the roach buster balls with a fine mist to keep them soft, moist, and scented for roaches.
  5. Add or replace the balls if needed.

Homemade roach killer

The sugar in this recipe attracts roaches.

  1. 1 cup of baking soda
  2. 1 cup of sugar
  3. Mix baking soda and sugar in a bowl.
  4. Pour the roach killer mixture in areas frequented by roaches such as crevices, bathrooms, sinks, and cupboards.

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Ants

Subsisting on starch, sugar, and anything edible on their path, ants have long survived in households. Ants can contaminate food and invade food storages thus making them a potential microbe carrier. 

Ant killer spray

Vinegar and water (50/50)

Ingredients:

  • Essential oil: A choice of one of these: tea tree oil, witch hazel extract, peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender.
  • Spray bottle
  • Water 
  • 1 tablespoon of dish soap

Process:

  1. Mix the ingredient in a spray bottle

Other recipes you can use with water

  • Bay leaves
  • Cinnamon
  • Cucumber peels
  • Ground black pepper
  • Red chili
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Sage
  • Salt
  • Whole cloves

Housefly and other flies

Houseflies can multiply quickly through garbage bins, animal excrement, leftover food, and anything that is organically found in waste bins. They are vectors of diseases as they love to land on food and suck with their grooved mouthparts. Houseflies have been associated with anthrax, parasitic protozoans, cholera, typhoid, salmonellosis, and ophthalmia. Like houseflies, fruit flies live in filth, where they lay eggs on leftover food and fruits. They can be a nuisance and possible vectors of microbes by landing on food and fruits. 

Vodka fly repellent

  • 1 teaspoon lemon eucalyptus oil
  • 1 cup of vodka
  • 1/2 teaspoon essential oil blend
  • 2 teaspoon aloe vera
  1. Mix the ingredients.
  2. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
  3. Spray the flies or infested areas.

Lemon oil repellent

  • 1/2 cup of hot water
  • 20-25 drops of lemongrass essential oil

Note: You can use lemongrass substitutes such as peppermint oil, citronella oil, and eucalyptus oil.

  1. Mix the solution in a spray bottle.
  2. Spray in windows and doorways.

Citronella and camphor smoke

Directions:

  1. Light a camphor or citronella candle in an infested area. The smoke can repel flies.

Witch hazel extract and apple cider vinegar fly repellent

A natural fly repellent for house flies.

Ingredients:

Process:

  1. Mix 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of witch hazel extract.
  2. Add 30 to 60 drops of eucalyptus oil.
  3. Shake well and apply to your uncovered body parts.

Note: Avoid contact with your mouth and eyes.

Silverfish

Due to its fish-like movements and silvery light and grey appearance, silverfish got its name. These bugs have no wings and are nocturnal. They don’t bite and are not known to carry diseases but they can be a nuisance as they prefer a diet of carbohydrates and sugars. Due to their appetite for carbohydrates and starchy things, they can chomp down on paper, cardboard, books, and newspapers.

Citrus spray

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of water
  • Lemon juice

Process:

  1. Fill the bottle with water
  2. Pour some lemon juice.

Lavender spray

  • 1 cup of water
  • a small bottle of a lavender oil
  • spray bottle

Process

  1. Add 10 drops of lavender oil in a spray bottle.
  2. Spray in areas frequented by silverfish such as a stash of old magazines, walls, and deep corners of furniture.

Note: You can use cinnamon as a substitute for lavender oil.

Centipedes

Joining the ranks of scariest insects, are the centipedes. Although they are sometimes referred to as insects, centipedes are classified as arthropods – the same group as spiders. These hundred legged creatures can even take down small birds, lizards, bats, and frogs. What makes them scary could be their numerous legs, elongated bodies, or their venom.

Isopropyl alcohol spray

When ingested isopropyl alcohol is toxic to centipedes.

Ingredients

  • 1 quart of water
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1 cup of alcohol
  • Spray bottle

Process

  1. Mix the ingredients.
  2. Spray in gardens, crevices, and flower beds.

Soap Spray

Soap can dry centipedes upon contact.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons of dish soap
  • 1-gallon warm water

Process

  1. Mix and shake the ingredients.
  2. Spray in dark corners and crevices.

Diatomaceous earth spray

Ingredients:

  • 1 to 4 tablespoons diatomaceous earth
  • 1 gallon of water

Process

  1. Mix and pour in a spray bottle.
  2. Spray in dark corners of your home, crevices, and plants where the bugs live.

Vegetable spray

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of water
  • 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap
  • 1 cup of vegetable oil

Process

  1. Mix in a deep bowl with 2 cups of water.
  2. Pour in a spray bottle and shake.
  3. Spray in infested areas.