# Natural Insect Repellent



## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

2 plants

Eupatorium capillifolium (dog fennel) is a common pasture weed in the south. Usda lists it as growing west to Texas and north to PA. I personally know a few people who use it as an insect repellent, by rubbing exposed skin with the hair like leaves. I always liked the way it smells but keep it bush hogged from my pastures.

According to the NIH - "Natural plant extracts often contain compounds that are useful in pest management applications."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20922999

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Callicarpa Americana - American Beauty Berry. Grows wild on tree lines, fences, edges of fields, can be a nuisance on a farm. People make jelly from the berries. I use it as an insect repellant. I tear up a few leaves and rub them on exposed skin. It works well.

American beautyberry has been used as a folk remedy to prevent mosquito bites.[4][5] Four chemicals isolated from Callicarpa have been shown to act as insect repellents: borneol,[6] callicarpenal, intermedeol, and spathulenol.[7] The use of callicarpenal has been patented by the United States Department of Agriculture Agriculture Research Service as a mosquito repellent.[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callicarpa

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Over the summer several folks in another forum, including me, experimented with making a liquid spay insect repellant. One person succeeded and recently posted his results.

1. Collect the leaves of Callicarpa americana from plants with strong smelling leaves. (plants vary somewhat) Enough to fill a 5 quart pot, somewhat packed. Add enough water to cover the leaves.

2. Simmer at a slow bubble, for several hours, add a little water if needed to keep the water level above the leaves. Strain out the plant material. Pour the liquid in a storage container. Label it in some manner.

3. Fill a secondary container 80% full with the liquid or stock. Fill the remainder of the container with the oil of your choice. (He used grape seed.) Close, store and label.

4. When needed, fill an old spray bottle. SHAKE before spraying.
use liberally... every 2-3 hours. It was effective against mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers. Some what effective against "no-see-ums". It didn't affect fleas at all.

The shelf life of the stock (without oil) lasted 8 weeks without getting a sour smell or cloudy.

Mosquito season is over here but I plan to add a little dog fennel to the beauty berry leaves as a test next summer.

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Pics 1 & 2, taken today, dog fennel in bloom, smelled great.

Pic 3, beauty berry that came up this summer.

Pics 4, beauty berry, sometimes a small bush, sometimes 8ft tall. Split photo.

Pic 5, beauty berry in bloom last spring.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Nice. I know that Eupatorium is related to Boneset and White Snake Root, but this is a new one for me. Also the Beauty Berry is unfamiliar. Nice post.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Just thought of something, I wonder if a little Glycerine added would preserve the stock better than oil. (sorry about the poor spelling, brain isn't working today)


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

The stock or base, without oil, has been shelf stable for 8 weeks now.

The oil starts going rancid quickly where he lives (fl).

I haven't thought about Glycerine. I'll have to post about it in the other forum, see if someone tried it.

Also, these plants are so common down here shelf life wasn't a real concern, just a curiosity. Beauty berry leafs out in early spring, dog fennel in mid summer, both last well into fall.


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