What Essential Oils Do Horse Flies Not Like?

Essential Oils Add 5 to 10 drops of eucalyptus or tea tree oil to the basic spray recipe for an effective repellent that also keeps other flies away. Add a few drops of citronella oil to repel mosquitoes as well, using citronella essential oil rather than a scented torch oil.

What essential oil repels horse flies?

Natural Fly Control: Unleashing the Power of Botanicals & Essential Oils for Horses

• Citronella.
• Clove (aka clovestem)
• Thyme.
• Peppermint.
• Cornmint (aka wild mint, field mint, Japanese mint)
• Rosemary.
• Geraniol.
• Lemongrass.

What scent keeps horseflies away?

Burn Candles & Torches. If you’re having a backyard barbecue or other outdoor gathering, you can help stop horse flies from attacking your guests by burning citronella candles and lighting torches. The smoke and scent released from the citronella oil can help keep horse flies away.

What smells do horseflies hate?

Smells We Like, They Don’t
Look for other ingredients in sprays — or make your own with natural oils — that are believed to be offensive to horse flies. These include peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender, clove, rosemary, basil, tea tree, lemongrass, catnip and cedar.

What smells are horse flies attracted to?

Horse flies are attracted to the smells of blood, manure and sweat.

How do you prevent horse flies from biting you?

How to Prevent Getting Bitten by a Horsefly

1. Wear long sleeves, long pants, and closed-toed shoes when you’re outside.
2. Wear light colors (horseflies are drawn to darker colors)
3. Don’t wear any perfume (scents attract these critters)
4. Avoid walking through long grass.
5. Apply insect repellent before you head out.

Does tea tree oil keep flies off horses?

Tea Tree Oil Fly Spray
Tea tree oil is a natural fly repellent. It can make a good fly spray for horses when mixed with lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, citronella, lemongrass, and even vinegar.

Does lavender oil repel flies?

Lavender is a good natural choice for keeping bugs at bay. Not only does the herb smell amazing but it also repels flies, beetles and even fleas. This is due to the lavender oil.

Does Pine Sol keep horseflies away?

Like many fly sprays, Pine Sol contains a stinky plant pine oil – pine. Flies hate it. Don’t use Pine Sol straight from the bottle, though. To make your Pine Sol fly repellant mix ⅓ water, ⅓ vinegar, and ⅓ Original Scent Pine Sol.

What time of day are horse flies most active?

These pests can detect humans by movement, color, or carbon dioxide output. They do not feed indoors, but sometimes enter homes on accident through open windows and doors. These flies are only active during the day and are usually more abundant in the summer and around pools, lakes or other bodies of water.

Is there a natural repellent for horse flies?

Many essential oils repel horse flies and are safe to spray on your horse, such as lavender, lemon, citronella, sage, bergamot, cedarwood, lemon eucalyptus, lemongrass, peppermint, geranium, sweet orange, and rosemary.

What attracts big horse flies?

What Attracts Horse Flies? Female Horse flies detect humans and animals by colors, and movements, they are attracted to shiny objects, warmth, sweat, and exhaled carbon dioxide.

What month do horse flies go away?

Deer flies and horse flies can be active from May until September. The adult females are daytime blood feeders that are most abundant near swamps and marshes, along pond and stream banks, and at the edge of wooded areas. Adults are extremely strong fliers that are attracted to dark moving objects and to carbon dioxide.

Why do horse flies bite my legs?

Why Do Horse Flies Bite? Female horse flies bite because they feed on blood aggressively. A horse fly bite can be painful, since they use sharp cutting mouthparts to lacerate the skin in order to pool-feed blood with a spongelike tongue.

Are horse flies attracted to certain people?

It is well known that horseflies prefer to attack dark mammals for a blood meal [23,26,27,36]. Consequently, humans with dark brown skin are likely to be particularly attractive to host-seeking horseflies.

Why do horse flies circle your head?

Unfortunately, insect repellent doesn’t seem to deter these flies much, Dill said. He believes one reason is because deer flies and horse flies often aim for people’s heads, where they wiggle under hair to find skin. And usually, people don’t thoroughly spray their scalp.

What is the most effective fly repellent for horses?

Here are our top picks for the best fly spray for your horse this summer.

• NAF Off DEET Power Performance Fly Repellent.
• Leovet Power Phaser Fly Spray.
• Carr & Day & Martin Flygard Extra Strength Insect Repellent.
• Naf Off Citronella Spray.

Does coconut oil repel horse flies?

DEET was only 50 percent effective against stable flies, while the coconut oil compound was more than 95 percent effective.

Does peppermint oil repel flies?

Peppermint Oil
In fact, peppermint keeps most pests away, including aphids, beetles, caterpillars, fleas, flies, lice, mice and moths.

How do you make fly repellent with essential oils?

How to Make Your Own Natural Fly Repellent

1. 4 oz of distilled water.
2. 2-3 oz of witch hazel.
3. 1-2 oz each of hydrosols (floral water), such as lavender or peppermint.
4. The combined total of 40-50 drops of essential oils (your choice of lavender, thyme, tea tree, citronella, rosemary, mint, patchouli, lemongrass, or eucalyptus)

How do you use lavender oil to repel flies?

To repel flies, take a sponge and a small mason jar and add 20 to 30 drops of lavender oil. Top the entire thing with a lid and leave it for about 24 hours. Remove the lid and place the jar where you see flies. You will see your pest problem fly away.