Natural Tick Repellent Recipe (2024)

Tea tree oil is most commonly known in the U.S. for uses like skin irritations but it can also be used to ward off fleas and ticks. Here is an effectivenatural tick repellentrecipe for humans while outside in areas that harbor ticks and fleas. Make sure to find out the many othertea tree oil uses for insects and pests.

Lately I’ve been finding teeny tiny ticks on the dog – and I almost wouldn’t have seen it but for the fact that I’ve been hyper-vigilant about checking for ticks. It looked like a piece of dirt!! But those teeny tiny ticks still bite and they still transmitlyme disease. If you do find any tick bites, see this post onHow to Remove a Tick.

Last week I made this homemade tick repellent recipe using tea tree oil and a few other essential oils and low and behold – NO MORE TICKS!

Tick Prevention While Hiking

Ticks don’t necessarily appear just because you’ve let your grass grow or you are hiking through tall grass areas. They tend to need humid conditions to survive. Vince D’Amico, a fellow USDA Forest Service research entomologist says, “While there’s no doubt that blacklegged ticks lurk in people’s yards, a lawn is probably too dry for them.” He goes on to explain that “This species needs near 100% humidity for at least part of the day,” and that a tick population does well in leaf litter where moisture gets hidden in between the debris.

When hiking in humid, wooded areas, it is best to use natural repellents with tea tree oil, rose geranium oil, and some cedar oil during the summer months. The blackleggedtick(ordeer tick) spreads lyme diseasein the northeastern states, with less than 1% to more than 50% of thetickscarrying it.

{ Read More: How to Keep Yourself Safe from Lyme Disease }

9 Different Kinds of Ticks

Here is quite a long list of ticks around the country that you may encounter.

American Dog Tick
The American dog tick has a dark brown body that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever. They are located east of the Rocky Mountains, throughout the East and Gulf Coast, along the Pacific Coast, into Canada and parts of Alaska.

Blacklegged Deer Tick
This tick is most easily identified by its reddish-orange body, black shield and dark black legs and they are known to carry lyme disease. This seems to be the most common tick in the United States. These ticks do not only surface during the warm months but in any weather that is above freezing. They are located anywhere animals might be but usually they transfer to humans that are in contact with grass, brush, leaves, logs or pets that have been roaming the outdoors.

Brown Dog Tick
The brown dog tick is a reddish brown with a narrow shape in comparison to other ticks that can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted feverto humans. They can also transmit several diseases specific to dogs.

Groundhog Tick
The groundhog tick, also known as woodchuck tick, has a light brown or blond color. They normally attack wild animals but can bite humans and domestic pets as well.

Lone Star Tick
This tick is reddish-brown in color with the adult female having a white dot or “lone star” on her back. These ticks are very common in the south but can be located in the east as well and are notoriously aggressive biters.

Pacific Coast Tick
The Pacific Coast tick has a mottled brownish-black color and can transmit a host of diseases to humans unknowingly as their bite is often mistaken for a spider or other insect bite. The Pacific Coast ticks are the most common tick found throughout California.

Rocky Mountain Wood Tick
These ticks are reddish-brown and look very similar to American dog ticks and contain a neurotoxin that can occasionally cause tick paralysis in humans and pets. The toxin takes anywhere from 24-72 hours to dissipate after tick removal. In the U.S., their geographical distribution is generally restricted to higher elevations above 4,000 feet as they seem to prefer colder weather.

Soft Ticks
Soft ticks do not have a hard shell and are shaped like a large raisin and bite people as they sleep in rustic mountain cabins that have been previously infested with rodents in Colorado, Arizona, and the Lake Tahoe area in California.

Western Blacklegged Tick
These ticks have a reddish body with a black shield and black legs and can transmit lyme disease. They are most prevalent in California but can also be found in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

What are the Best Ways to Prevent Tick Bites?

1. Use an effective tick repellent with natural ingredients like tea tree oil
2. Wear light-colored protective clothing.
3. Tuck pant legs into socks so a tickis less likely to come in contact with your skin
4. Avoid tick-infested areas like off-trail areas, wet leaves and rocks, logs and wood piles
5. Check yourself, your children, and your pets daily forticksand carefully remove anyticks.
6. Shower after going inside or at the very least change your clothing.

What is Tea Tree Oil?

Tea tree oil is derived from the leaves of the tree using steam distillation or a similar process. Natural insect repellents especially for ticks can be made for both animals and humans using tea tree oil as an active ingredient. If you are not into DIY or don’t have time, scroll down to the bottom to find a ready-made mixture you can apply easily to repel ticks naturally and effectively without using toxic chemicals!

In small concentrations (.1% to 1%), tea tree oil is tolerated and safe for cats and dogs.

Geranium Essential Oil

Geranium essential oil is safe to use around kids and this study showed it as very effective in repelling ticks.

This study from the National Institutes for Health found that geranium oil works comparably to DEET in repelling ticks. Never use geranium on dogs.

Cedarwood Essential Oil

According to this study in Environmental Entomology, cedarwood oil repels fire ants and actually kills ticks! It is so toxic to ticks but safe for kids!

Homemade Tick Repellent Recipe

Never apply tea tree oil directly to the skin as it could cause an allergic reaction, particularly if the oil is highly concentrated. Mix the oil in some carrier oil like sweet almond oil to dilute it a bit.

For best results, use a glass bottle. Oils such as tea tree oil react with plastic and may cause dangerous chemicals to leech into your repellent. Before each use, shake the bottle vigorously to thoroughly mix the oils. When applying to pets, rub the repellent under their fur so that it reaches their skin. Here is a great wasp repellent spray to keep the flying insects away.

You can also use a plastic spray bottle that is labeled as safe for oils, like this one.

Ingredients
2 ounces liquid oil such as jojoba oil (which is non-greasy), olive or almond oil.
15 drops geranium essential oil
15 drops tea tree oil
15 drops cedarwood oil

Directions

• Mix oil and essential oils together into spray bottle. Store in a cool, dark area when not in use. Should last 2-3 months.
• Spray directly on skin before going outdoors.

Note
If you prefer, you could add peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, or camphor oil or lemongrass.

Natural Tick Repellent with Neem

I’ve used this before on my dogs and it is an effective natural tick repellent when used on a regular basis. The apple cider vinegar helps to repel the ticks while also making their fur soft. The neem oil is a natural insecticide that is safe for dogs when diluted. It is also a great spray for humans as well!

Add the following ingredients into a spray bottle.

• 2 cups of water.
• 4 tablespoons ofapple cider vinegar.
• 2 tablespoons of organic neem oil.

Spray lightly on your dog’s coat each time they go outside. Do not saturate.

Bug Off Tick Spray Recipe

Don’t have time or patience to make the Natural Tick Repellent Tea Tree Oil Recipe? Don’t have all the essential oils on hand? No worries, you can getBug Off!essential oil blend to help keep mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and other insects away.

This gentle blend features Citronella, Cedarwood, Lavender, Peppermint, Eucalyptus radiata, Eucalyptus citriodora, Thyme, and Lemongrass. You can also trydiffusingit on your patio in the evening, or mixing it with a carrier oil in aroller bottleand applying it to ankles, wrists, and back of the neck.

Ingredients
75 drops Bug Off!
4 ounces Distilled Water

Add all ingredients to a 4 ounce, fine mist spray bottle. Shake well before every use. You can apply to areas where you might be bit. (If the spray is for your pet, use 10-15 drops) You can also use a light carrier oil or witch hazel instead of water if you are spraying on the skin.

I love Rocky Mountain Oils because of their quality 100% pure essential oils that require no minimum purchase and always gives FREE shipping! Plus they always have specials going on!

Rocky Mountain Oils’ essential oils are verified by a third-party, independent lab. GC/MS tests verify purity and quality of the oils sold so you can look at the bottom of the bottle to find your individual batch code and then input that number into our website to pull up the GC/MS test results.

Rocky Mountain Products can be returned for any reason, even if opened, for up to 90 days. RMO also pays for our customers’ return shipping expenses to make our ordering process completely risk-free.

RMO includes three different icons for recommended use on each bottle for easy reference: Diffuse, Topical Application and Household. So you can look at the bottle and know in what way it’s intended for use.

Buy the Summer Pest Control Bundle Now!

The Summer Home Remedies for Pest Control Bundle includes:

• Four EASY natural insect repellent recipes: wasp, tick, mosquito and spider
• Two insect bite treatment guides
• Two label formats for all the recipes (round and rectangle)

BUY IT HERE!

If your pest problem persists, then you might be dealing with a severe pest infestation. Consult with a professional before the infestation gets any worse, which can also affect your family’s health.

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