Essential Oil Bug Repellents: Repel Roaches, Ants, Gnats, Spiders, Etc.

Essential oils are effective for repelling, even killing, many bugs and flying pests. In this guide, you’ll learn about the best essential oil bug repellents and how to use them.

Table of Contents

Guide to Essential Oil Bug Repellents

Here are all the guides we’ve created so far. Have a suggestion or experience to share? Please post it in the comment section below.

Some of the following guides focus just on essential oils. Others include essential oils as part of an effective strategy to get rid of bugs.

How to Use: Each headline leads to a full article with research about using essential oils for specific bugs and insects.

17 Smells that Flies Hate: Scents to Get Rid of Flies

There are tons of flies that might invade your home and yard. These insects can fly around your head and make outdoor living impossible. You also risk them leaving behind maggots and feces. What smell do flies hate? Flies hate the smell of basil, rosemary, catnip, mint, and lavender plants. Flies are also repelled by the scent of apple cider ...
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Does Peppermint Oil Repel Roaches? How to Mix, Apply, Toxicity

When you spot a roach hanging around your house, you may want to turn and run for the hills. Though it can take some time to get rid of roaches, there are natural methods that are effective and easy to use. Using peppermint oil for roaches is one of the best ways to kill and repel common varieties of cockroaches ...

11 Essential Oils for Cockroaches: Repelling Guide for Homeowners

Cockroaches are just one of the pests that you can bring home. They can hide inside dry goods you buy at the grocery store or furniture that you buy brand new or second-hand. Essential oils for cockroaches include oils that repel roaches and others that kill them. Check out some of the best essential oils to keep roaches out of ...

Tiny Black Bugs at Home? 9 Biting Types (How to Get Rid of Them)

No one likes tiny black bugs in their home, but before you grab a broom or a bottle of bug spray, it pays to know what you're fighting. Different species have different eradication methods. Let's talk about small, black pests and what they could be. There are many tiny black bugs that could invade your home and yard. These include ...
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12 Gnat Repellent Essential Oils: Peppermint Oil, DIY Recipe

To get relief from gnats, you should consider essential oils. Essential oils are known to be a natural insect repellent. This guide teaches you about the best gnat repellent essential oils. And how to use them with a DIY recipe. The best gnat repellent essential oils include peppermint, geranium, citronella, lemongrass, and garlic. Essential oils can be an alternative to ...
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17 Essential Oils to Repel Wasps: Science-Based (Recipe)

If you are struggling to repel wasps from your home or garden, you know that this is no easy task. Driving wasps away is especially difficult if you want to do so in a natural manner. Fortunately, certain essential oils can help to repel wasps. The best essential oils to repel wasps include peppermint, clove, sage, ylang ylang, wintergreen, citronella, ...
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10 Essential Oils to Repel Spiders (+Peppermint Recipe)

If you're having trouble with too many spiders, you can use essential oils. Essential oils are well known as effective bug repellents. But they don't work the same on all spiders. And some essential oils don't work at all. Here are the best essential oils for spiders. The best essential oils for spiders include peppermint, chestnut, thyme, clove, and tea ...
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7 Essential Oils For Ants: Naturally Repel & Kill (Mint, Clove, Lemongrass…)

So you have some ants in your kitchen? Most ants aren’t harmful, but they are annoying. Using essential oil to repel ants is a natural and expensive method. Here's what essential oils repel ants. The best essential oils for ants include cinnamon, lemongrass, clove, peppermint, thyme, patchouli, and cedarwood. Some of these repel ants, others will kill them. Essential oils ...
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Science Behind Essential Oils for Bug Repellent

While essential oils have been claimed to do many (unproven) things, there is sound science in using essential oils to repel and kill bugs and other insects.

Here are a few references to scientific studies.

American and German cockroaches had knockdown (KT50) values of ≈7.4 and 9.2 h, respectively, when fumigated with 50 µl of 100% mint oil; 100% of both species were killed after 24 h.
Mint oil-based formulations could provide another integrated pest management tool for cockroach management, especially in situations in which conventional insecticides would be inappropriate.
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama (view study in pdf, via archive.org)

Here’s a 2018 study, Essential Oils as Repellents against Arthropods, published in the National Library of Medicine, that addresses how essential oils work to discourage arthropods from landing or biting.

Many essential oils are toxic to animals (and humans). They are so toxic, that you must use caution when using them around your pets, according to the Pet Poison Helpline.

Learn more about the specific application in each article.

Bug Skills

Interested to learn more about bugs and managing them around your home?

Check out these related guides: Bug Identifier | Bug Facts | Bite & Sting Treatment | Cockroach Guide

Your Turn

Have a suggestion or experience to share when using essential oil as an insect repellent? Please post it in the comment section below.

About the Author
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Bryan Haines

Bryan Haines is a co-founder and writer at The Buginator. And is working to make it the best resource for taking back the outdoors from biting, stinging pests.

He also blogs about travel at Storyteller.Travel and photography at Storyteller Tech. Bryan is a partner at Storyteller Media, a publishing company he runs with his wife, Dena.