Does Lavender Repel Mice?

Can lavender repel mice? Here is what you should know.

Plant-based treatments for pest problems have become popular with homeowners. The reasons are obvious; these treatments are completely natural and harmless. Plus, they’re environmentally friendly.

An almost endless list of plants has been proven to repel pests.

A few of the most popular include basil, lavender, marigolds, mint, chrysanthemum, nasturtium, and garlic.

Others include Mexican marigold, rosemary, petunia, venus flytrap, fennel, hyssop, catnip, borage, chives, and lemongrass.

Our focus is on lavender plants for pests. Do these repel mice?

About Lavender

Lavender is considered a wonder plant as it has lots of uses including pest control. Its other uses include serving as a stress reliever, helping to soothe bug bites, for treatment against fungal infections, as well as preventing hair loss.

Other benefits include its wound-healing properties, for easing headaches, and also giving a natural glow to the skin. Lavender can be used in different forms.

By growing it around your home, it offers you some of the above benefits. Dried lavender plants also have numerous benefits.

The use of its essential oils tends to be the most popular. While some people swear by its efficacy as a rodent repellent, others argue otherwise. So, which is true? Does lavender truly repel mice?

Read on for details on this and more.

Will Lavender Repel Mice?

There are no clear proofs to supporting claims of lavender serving as mice repellent.

However, recommendations supporting its mice repellent effect are quite rife. Like many essential oils, lavender gives off pleasant scents that are detested by rodents and many other insect pests.

According to such claims, the scent released overwhelms mice, causing them to relocate. The truth is, almost all of these claims are comprised of anecdotal evidence.

While these may have some element of truth, other users say otherwise.

Using Lavender For Mice Control

Although lavender seems to work for some pest issues, there’s no guarantee it will work for others like mice.

Several reasons may be given for such including its formulation, its concentration as well as the frequency of application.

• Formulation

The formulation could affect the efficacy of lavender on mice.

By itself, it may prove highly effective or otherwise. At the same time, making a combo of lavender oil with other essential oils could either lower its potency or make it more potent.

• Concentration

Concentration plays a role in determining whether or not mice will be repelled by the lavender essential oil. You’ll need to consider how it repels these rodents.

Mice possess an excellent sense of smell. As such, they can trace or pick up scents from a distance.

By applying lavender at full strength using cotton balls, your home is permeated by its scent. This becomes overpowering for mice and other rodents as they can’t stand its scent.

Of course, they’ll have to seek more favorable areas.

• Frequency of Application

The frequency of lavender oil application for mice problems matters. When applied, such a smell slowly wanes out.

A repeat application must be done at the right time to ensure that the scent remains. When lavender scent wanes out, your surroundings become more conducive to mice.

New lavender-soaked cotton balls will need to be replaced every few days to maintain this repellent effect.

Lavender Treatments May Fail

You mustn’t totally rely on lavender treatments for your mice issues.

These might be effective to some degree but fail to resolve the problem. Rodents may still go about their activity with little care about their treatments.

You should use a reliable and proven technique for repelling these rodents. Professional pest control tends to solve the most difficult mice problems.

Professional Mice Control

Licensed and reputable pest management companies provide a variety of solutions for dealing with mice problems. You get to make inputs as to the method used for mice extermination.

Speaking of available options, the trap option may be available as well as the repellent method.

Most times, these rodents are killed to discourage their return. Asides from the actual treatment, preventive measures may be taken to trace and seal up all entry points.

You Have a Responsibility

Every homeowner has a role to play in keeping mice as far off as possible. These include being more proactive by putting in preventive measures for mice control. Exclude existing mice before sealing up your home.

What more? You’ll need to remove outdoor access while also cleaning up your yard.

Get rid of outdoor food sources and have a wall built. Hygiene is paramount and helps limit mice’s presence. Another action to take includes growing mint plants around your home.

These serve as mice repellents.

• Be More Proactive

Being proactive involves going on the offensive even before mice infestation breaks out. All under-listed go a long way in helping you achieve that.

• Exclusion Techniques should be Deployed

Do you have traps? You might want to use these to catch these rodents.

If you only wish to have them repelled, consider using humane traps. These are catch and release traps that only work with the right type of bait.

Peanut butter works almost all the time.

• Seal Up your Home

With mice excluded from your home, what remains is to have all possible entry points sealed up.

These could include cracks, tiny spaces, and holes in your foundation.

• Remove Outdoor Access

Overhanging trees are exploited by mice to get into your home. You might want to have these pruned back to make your roof area out of bounds to these mice.

• Clean up your yard

Mice love clutter as it presents them with ample hiding spots. By eliminating all clutter and debris, you’re making your home surroundings less inviting to these rodents.

• Get Rid of Outdoor Food Sources

Do you have fruit trees around? These could serve as incentives for mice’s presence. You may have to install a rodent guard on your tree to prevent these pests from climbing up.

Also, frequently clear any fruits lying on the ground.

• Maintain Hygiene

Hygiene is of utmost importance for mice prevention.

The cleaner your home is, the less inviting it is to these rodents. Your kitchen, dining area, and pantry should be cleaned regularly.

In our discussion so far, we’ve seen that lavender indeed has a repellent effect on mice. However, it won’t completely solve your mice issues as it has its many limitations.