Foraging Series - Natural Bug Dope Update

Tomorrow will be a week since I simmered that pot of Beautyberry and Wax Myrtle leaves in olive oil.

The concoction had hardly cooled off before I applied it and went down into our mosquito infested bottom.

I was really hopeful about this infusion considering how well the fresh leaves work at repelling mosquitoes and all that I’ve read about the elements in Beautyberry effectively repelling ticks.

The infusion worked like a champ in that first experiment.

Saturday … four days after the initial effectiveness experiment … was again experiment day to determine how long an application is good for.

I applied the infusion mid-morning and went about my business, most of which was either inside or close to the porch. Toward late afternoon I took a stroll down into the mosquito infested bottom. In less than a minute I had mosquitoes doing their blood sucking.

I figured maybe the hours had worn away its effectiveness so I reapplied a light amount equal to what I had used in the first experiment. The light application did not faze the mosquitoes. I made a heavy application. The heavy application was no deterrent against the diving blood suckers.

The “normal” Non-DEET repellent that I use is Repel. It does a good job where mosquitoes are concerned and the label insists that an application lasts for six hours. The primary ingredient is thirty percent Lemon Eucalyptus. I find their six hour claim to be pretty accurate. My problem with it is that I think the stuff stinks. It’s so strong smelling that it offends my nose and it causes a little hot sting that lasts for quite a while after application. 

DO NOT, whatever you do, get Repel on your lips and lick your lips! You will taste Lemon Eucalyptus for days afterward. Experience. Not theory.

So let’s see what I can do with the three ounces left in that spray bottle that I carry around.

It’s kind of funny how this curiosity thing works. Even way down here at the layman level. One thing will always lead to another thing. It’s like an itch that you just have to scratch even when you know it will make the itch worse.

I poured the three ounces of Repel into the three quarters of a pint of olive oil that I infused with the Beautyberry and Wax Myrtle, shook it up good, applied it, then wore the diluted Repel down into the bottom.

Mosquitoes, in its diluted state, would not land. I’m not sure yet if it will still go the six-hour claim. What I do know is that it doesn’t offend my nose. Diluted, the way it is in the olive oil mix, I notice no hot sting.

I’m not done experimenting with Beautyberry. The experiment, however, will be a little more complicated than heating a little olive oil and keeping the leaves stirred.