Here, our goal is to find out if eucalyptus oil repels bugs.
Natural pest remedies have increasingly grown in popularity due to their beneficial impacts on the environment. Among the many natural products for pest control is eucalyptus oil. This is known to kill a variety of pests.
Eucalyptus Bug Control
To ensure you don’t get confused, it’s necessary to state what bugs are. These shouldn’t be mistaken for bed bugs although bed bugs are part of the greater bug species.
The term “bugs” has been used loosely to refer to all creepy and crawling insect pests found in homes. In reality, though most of the critters we refer to as bugs can be categorized into one of three groups; insects, bugs, and arachnids.
For this article, we’ll stick to the most common definition.
Bugs include ants, bed bugs, roaches, and flies. Others are fleas, mites, lice, mosquitoes, stinging insects, spiders, stored product pests, termites, and ticks among other pests.
These creatures are pesky and will cause a lot of damage to structures or transmit communicable diseases.
Will Eucalyptus Repel Bugs?
When it comes to pest control, eucalyptus comes in handy as it offers quick relief from pest presence by keeping them off. Does this apply to bugs? It does! All the bugs mentioned above, including lice, termites, and fleas can be repelled using eucalyptus oil.
To do this, you’ll need to know how to apply eucalyptus oil.
Benefits Of Eucalyptus Oil
This essential oil has proven to be quite useful for a variety of purposes including bug control.
Unlike chemical insecticide which leaves environmental pollution in its wake, eucalyptus oils are much safer. While repelling bugs, eucalyptus oil leaves no negative environmental impact.
Another benefit obtained from this product is that it is entirely harmful. Despite being harmless to both humans and pets, there are times when some persons might react negatively to it. You may have allergic reactions without realizing it.
Eucalyptus oil is also an excellent solution for fungal and bacterial infections. Before using eucalyptus oil on your body, try testing on a little patch of your skin.
How Eucalyptus Repels Bugs
If you’re curious enough, you’d like to find out how bugs are repelled with this natural product. The strength of eucalyptus is strongest when in oil form.
These oils release a vapor that hangs in the air and repels these bugs from your home. Generally, eucalyptus oil smells pleasant to humans.
However, bugs find such scent irritating and keep their distance. One of the many benefits of this product is that its vapor gets released, thus permeating your home’s surroundings. As long as this remains, bugs will find it difficult to stay around.
How To Use Eucalyptus For Bug Control
However effective eucalyptus oil is, you’d never get the desired results you seek if you don’t know how to use it. Eucalyptus oil can be used to prepare a bug spray to either exterminate or repel bugs.
On the other hand, its bark or chipped wood can be used as mulch to get rid of pests.
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Using Eucalyptus Oil To Repel Bugs
In most cases, most bug repellents are applied to keep these pests at bay. You won’t mind if they die in the process because all you need is relief from their annoying activities.
To repel bugs with eucalyptus, you’ll need to first make a spray.
To make this natural remedy, get a teaspoon, and measure about ¼ of eucalyptus oil. This should be poured into a spray bottle and about a cup of water added. Close and shake this mixture.
Now, your bug repellent is ready. Either spray directly on these bugs or spray on infested surfaces.
This process has to be repeated whenever the strength or its effect wanes. This happens every few hours and requires reapplications. To do this, shake the remaining contents of the bottle before applying.
This is necessary because the oil separates with water.
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Exterminating Bugs With Eucalyptus Oil
Certain bugs may get killed when eucalyptus oil is sprayed directly on them.
In other words, contact is needed for such pests to be exterminated. For this to happen, prepare a spray by mixing or adding some dishwashing liquid (about half a teaspoonful) to a teaspoonful of eucalyptus oil.
Pour both of these into a spray bottle and add about 2 cups of water. Close the bottle and shake the contents of the bottle. Now, apply to these bugs or too infested areas for complete extermination.
Like the point discussed previously, you may have to repeat the process to ensure maximum effect.
Your eucalyptus spray remedy wanes after a few hours. Repeat this process to ensure bugs are completely killed.
However, you should know that not all bugs will be effectively killed using this strategy. This only gives you temporary relief.
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Using Eucalyptus Mulch For Bug Control
Chipped or shredded eucalyptus mulch serves as an effective bug repellent. Such wood or bark contains eucalyptus oil. All you have to do is spread these around your grounds for a gradual release of its oils.
This happens slowly but surely kills or repels bugs.
Unlike eucalyptus sprays that last only for short periods of time, mulch lasts longer. Nevertheless, it still doesn’t have a lasting effect as compared to other forms of bug repellents.
Will Eucalyptus Completely Resolve All Bug Issues?
This is an important question to ask.
We’ve seen that eucalyptus offers relief from certain pest issues by repelling or exterminating them. However, this is mostly short-lived. These pests are likely to return when the strength of this repellent wanes.
More difficult bugs like termites will continue to thrive even when you use eucalyptus against them. You may end up killing only a few leaving the rest to damage your structure.
We recommend you take urgent action by calling reputable pest management services.
Termites are dangerous to have around and any delay in having them professionally exterminated will only worsen the problem. Such delays are seen in the use of eucalyptus for treatment.
Eucalyptus repels a variety of bugs and can be applied for a variety of pest issues. However, eucalyptus isn’t a complete solution or standalone remedy for all bug issues as seen in the case of termites.