This article focuses on how to dilute cedar essential oil for pest control.
How is it mixed? Does it have to be mixed?
Essential oils are well known for their many benefits. Such benefits are derived for both health and pest control.
One of those we’ll be discussing is cedar oil. Also known as cedarwood oil, like most essential oils, it’s derived from plants. The berries, leaves, barks, and needles of the cedar trees serve as sources of this oil.
Health benefits derived from this plant include serving as a diuretic, antiseptic, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory remedy. Cedar oil serves as an antispasmodic medication.
Does Cedar Oil Have to Be Mixed Before Using On Pests?
Most essential oils come in a concentrated form. Now, using such oils in their pure form will certainly give you desired results especially when it’s against pest issues.
However, you’ll need a sufficient volume of this mixture to cover a wider area. The bottle or pack may not be enough for that.
So, won’t diluting this oil reduce its pest repellent properties?
This is a valid concern because the strength is reduced. Cedar oil will serve just as fine when diluted as when used in its concentrated form.
You’ll get the same results when diluted to a certain degree as when used in its pure form.
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Mixing Has to Be Done in a Certain Way
Mixing has to be done in a definite way to avoid over dilution.
When properly done, your cedar oil mixture will be potent enough to rid your surroundings of targeted pests. When wrongly done or mixed, little to no impact is felt.
The guidelines on mixing cedar oil provided below should be of immense help.
Pest Problems That Cedar Oil Can Handle
Cedar oil will repel or kill a variety of pests ranging from fleas, ticks, bed bugs, slugs, and moths.
Others include certain ant species, carpet beetles, termites, and roaches. When cedar oil doesn’t kill a pest, it inhibits its development.
The most important part is that this treatment will resolve a wide range of pest issues.
What to Mix With Cedar Oil
When using cedar oil for pest control, water is mostly used for such mixing.
This effectively serves the desired purpose. However, one area needs to be made clear; whether all mixture volumes are the same for all pest issues.
The following section should adequately answer this question.
Are Mixture Volumes the Same for all Pest Issues?
This is a good question to ask because you want your cedar oil mixture to have sufficient strength to eliminate your particular pest problem.
There are percentages when it comes to making a strong mixture.
When dealing with pests such as silverfish, fleas, flies, and gnats, you’ll need to make a mixture containing about 98.7 percent water and 1.3 percent cedar oil.
The mixture requirements are quite different for pests like firebrats.
For firebrat treatments, you’ll need more cedar oil consisting of about 3.1 percent of the mixture. Water should make up about 96.9 percent.
For other pests like fruit flies, spiders, moths, and beetles, some adjustments in the mixture need to be made. You’ll need about 5.5 percent cedar oil combined with 94.5 percent water to get the job done.
Are you faced with an ant problem? For fire ants, you’ll need to make a cedar oil mixture containing about 6 percent cedar oil with 94 percent water.
For crickets and grasshopper issues, a cedar oil mixture containing 8.3 percent cedar oil to 91.7 percent water will suffice.
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Easy Volume Conversions
If you have a hard time keeping up with volume calculations or percentages as discussed above, you’ll need to use a more rudimentary method of calculation.
Cedar oil to water volume can be better calculated by using ounces.
So, a volume of 1.3 percent cedar oil and 98.7 percent water will now be 0.13 oz cedar oil and 9.81 oz water. For a 3.1 percent cedar oil and 96.9 percent water mixture, it will be 0.31 oz cedar oil and 9.61 oz water.
This makes the calculation or conversions less confusing.
For such conversions, you may want to get a digital scale for ease of measurement and accuracy. This goes a long way in making the right mixture for your pest treatments.
Water and Oils Do Not Mix, Right?
It’s common knowledge that water and oils do not mix.
This is because each has its unique bonding properties. That’s as far as we’ll go in explaining why the two don’t mix. So, how is it possible to mix cedar oil and water for pest control?
To have a homogenous mixture of cedar oil and water, you’ll need to introduce a bonding agent; alcohol. For this purpose, we recommend you use vodka.
This serves to distribute the oil within the water, thus creating a homogenous mixture. You can use other alcohol types if you don’t have access to vodka.
What’s Needed to Make Cedar Oil Mixture for Pest Control
So far, we’ve dwelled on mixture volumes for cedar oil and water.
The next logical question to ask is what else will be needed. Also, what part or volume of alcohol will have to be added? The things needed are basic; a spray bottle, some alcohol (preferably vodka), water, and your cedar oil.
Making your mixture is simple and easy. All you have to do is fill your empty spray bottle with water. Of course, such a spray bottle will have to be cleaned first if it’s dirty.
Based on the calculations or volumes above, the water volume will depend on the pest type you wish to deal with.
Now, add your desired volume of cedar oil. This too depends on the pest type and volume supplied above. To this solution, add about 2 ounces of vodka to the bottle to serve as a binding agent.
Shake the bottle and spray as desired.
How Cedar Oil Works
Have you ever wondered how cedar oil acts on pests? Well, it isn’t difficult to figure out.
Whenever you apply your mixture to these pests, it acts in several ways. It dissolves their exoskeletons; it emulsifies fat on their bodies and also suffocates.
More importantly, it messes with their body chemistry.
Different cedar oil mixtures work for different pests. We’ve mentioned a number of these mixtures and how you can go about applying such treatments.
All you have to do is carry out treatments accordingly.