We're on a huge economy drive at home at the moment, and I've decided that the ponies can join in wherever practical as well, so I'm thinking fly repellant could be a good start.

Does anybody know any good recipes and if it is actually any cheaper to make your own rather than buy?

Hi Spritz

An old yard mate of mine made her own:

Citreonella essential oil - tea tree oil- water and a small amount of fairy liquid, ( what part the fairy played i have no idea) but the spray worked wonderfully.

I have found citreonella a bit hard to get hold of but i am sure it's out there to be found...!!

Claire

hey ive just made my own this morning and tried it out, its working ok but theres not that many flies yet to really tell

It is:

chop up some garlic
mix it in with a bucket(or however much you want) of water
then add citronella oil and vinegar.

i got citronella oil from boots (its in with the homeopathic essential oils stuff. it was about 4 quid for a tiny bottle but you only need a few drops, its very stinky.

the sqirt of fairy liquid is to break up the oil (citronella) other wise it will just sit in bubbles on the top of the water

The Waitrose pharmacy in Lymington stock it just for horse owners. We add a few drops to vinegar.

I haven't had a fly in the car since!

Steve

.

Boots stock citronella, lavender, teatree and several other oils. So do most herbal-type shops. I make my own fly repellent and it works out at about £5 a litre. Not cheap but cheaper than bought ones and it works.

Thanks for that. I will get some citronella and tea tree oil tomorrow and start mixing. £5 a litre sounds good to me!!

I just chucked very strong tea, a quarter of a bottle of proper shop brought fly repellant, some vinegar, lemon juice and washing up liquid and have been using that. Dont know if it works or not, just makes me feel better



My Cinquicento is soooo sexy, i wonder how long till i crash it.

i might give it a go

Kate

500ml of white vinegar
300ml of tea
200ml of water
50 drops of lavender oil
50 drops of tea tree or eucalyptus oil
Squirt of washing up liquid

Hi there new member here. I use strong black tea,cider vinegar,citronella oil,benzl benzoate which binds together and provides the anti-itch ingredient,dash of washing up liquid.I also bung drop of tea tree oil in too for good measure

well i have just made my first batch
half and half strong black tea and cider viniger
60 drops tea tree oil and 60 drops of citronella oil
sqirt of fairy liquid
lets hope it works now, smells alright
thanks for sharing your receipes

Kate

We use water with citronella, tee tree, lavander & lemongrass oils with a bit of washing up liquid.

Appears to be helping the ponies in this horrible fly friendly weather!


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

Caliko Miniature & Shetland Stud - My little horrors darlings.

bump

rosemary, sage and wormwood made into a 'tea' with 1 litre water.

rosemary, sage and wormwood heated gently with a mug of vodka

some plain white vinegar

a few drops of eucalyptus, citronella and tea tree.

a teaspoon of washing up liquid to emulsify the oils (i dont think it does that very well though)

seems to be the only fly repellant that works for mine.

Hi

There is some wood you can buy from the health food shop which is for head lice - the natives use it - cant remember the same of it - just texting a friend to see if she can remember the name - as it will also keep flies off the natural way

Shirley

dont forget the neem oil thats a must and very important

one of mine are allergic to neem oil so therefor its not a 'must' for mine.

Hi, do these recipies work with out Teatree oil in them as my horse and a very bad reation to a show shine product that had tea tree oil in it.????

my receipe would probably have an effect without teatree as the wormwood is a strong insect repellant as is the rosemary and eucalyptus

I've been trying out the dettol mixture fly repellent on my lot lately and it seems to work as the citronella one I was making was a bit stingy for my shetlands sweet itch.  seems to work quite well and he isnt itching quite so much.

1 part dettol to 4 parts water and you can add tea tree oil or citronella to it if you want or leave as the dettol solution.

"never lies especially where animals r concerned "

I just use a fly rug! I find that a cheapish one pays for its self in less than 1 summer.