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Meals alfresco are one of the greatest parts of summer….except for the mosquitos. That's why we searched high and low for the best mosquito repellent for your yard, so you can eat and entertain outside in peace. Nothing ruins a summer evening on the patio like an obscene amount of mosquito bites dotting your legs. Bug spray is okay when you’re on a hike or in the deep woods, but who wants to be doused in the stuff when you’re just trying to enjoy good food and wine with friends? Aerosol insect repellent is smelly and it doesn’t always offer long-lasting protection anyway.
Lucky Epi staffers with outdoor space love to share knowledge in meetings about combating these blood-suckers, and we’re combining their intel about insect repellents, plus a lot of research and testing, in this guide to the best way to keep the pests out of your yard this outdoor dining season. We’ve found that there are actually some decent solutions, so long as you manage your expectations. We gave a variety of mosquito-repelling products a try—candles, coils, shields, and more. But we actually found that combining a few methods and products was the way to go. Read on for our guide to the best mosquito repellents for your yard.
- Use a fan to create air circulation: Vornado Senior Pedestal Standing Fan, $270 on Amazon
- Make smoke with citronella coils: Fredericks & Mae Citronella Incense Hanging Coil, $48 (set of 5) at Bloomist
- Use repellent spray with more natural ingredients: Murphy's Naturals Lemon Eucalyptus Oil Insect Repellent Spray, $17 on Amazon
- Throw in some candles: Murphy’s Naturals Mosquito Repellent Candle, $25 (2-pack) at Amazon
- Sprinkle mosquito beater granules: Bonide Mosquito Beater Granules, $13 (1.5 pounds) on Amazon
- Safety considerations
- Why we recommend using a fan
- Citronella coils
- Candles
- Granules
- How we tested
- The takeaway
But first, a note about health and safety
In a previous iteration of this review, we recommended the Thermacell, a device that comes in models that look like lanterns or smart speakers. These electronic devices distribute repellent into the air via a cartridge, and in previous testing we found them to be the best possible solution for repelling bugs. While it holds true that this is the most effective mosquito repellent, we don’t feel comfortable recommending products that use chemicals that are potentially harmful to the guests at your backyard barbecue, the animals in your yard, and the environment more broadly.
Many consumers concerned about safety know to look out for DEET (or the chemical N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) as an active ingredient. Studies show that ingesting DEET products topically or via food contamination can have harmful effects to humans and the environment. The human health symptoms are usually mild, and associated with exposure to larger quantities than you’d likely encounter using insect repellents. The level of DEET needed to cause environmental harm is also very high, which is why DEET is still approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But many understandably choose to err on the side of caution.
The Thermacell is actually DEET free, but its formula contains another bug-deterring chemical called metofluthrin. Metofluthrin is part of a category of pesticides called pyrethroids, which are relatively new to the market. Pyrethroids are recommended by the World Health Organization for combating Zika virus and malaria. The EPA has also declared metofluthrin and other pyrethroids “practically non-toxic” to mammals in the current forms they come in on the market—they have also approved the Thermacell as a safe insect repelling device.
However, studies have shown that metofluthrin is harmful to rats, rabbits, and dogs (in very high concentrations it can cause liver damage, vomiting, tremors, and in a few cases, death). Metofluthrin is also deemed “highly to very highly toxic” to aquatic life and insects. While the current form it takes in commercial bug repellents doesn’t make it a risk for high concentrations in water that would affect marine life, it is a risk to the non-mosquito insects that it doesn’t target—most notably, endangered beneficial bug species like bees. The Thermacell formula also contains petroleum distillate, which can cause symptoms like throat and nose irritation, nausea, headache, and loss of balance in humans when inhaled.
For those reasons, we really don’t recommend using this product, especially for our purposes, which were to find the best repellent to use during a dinner outside. But it is a bit complicated to make a decision, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using one of their approved methods (all of which are EPA-registered and approved) to protect against mosquito-related diseases, and notes that many natural options (notably citronella) are not approved. The CDC recommends the following methods: DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, Para-menthane-diol (PMD), 2-undecanone, and oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE). If you’d like to read about the Thermacell, you can skip down to read our testing observations.
1. Use a fan
Senior writer Emily Farris, who is also very prone to bug bites, has found that simply placing a fan in her yard is the most effective (assuredly non-toxic) way to prevent mosquitos from eating her alive. You’d think that this might be because the wind makes flying difficult for the mosquitos, but a 2003 study actually found that wind is effective mainly because it dilutes mosquito attractants. Whatever the reason, a fan is a dead-simple, inexpensive method that works—and that has the added benefit of cooling you and your guests off when you’re throwing an outdoor party. Here are a few great fan options for the outdoors, including some stylish options, since this will be out with your other cute backyard decor items:
2. Light a Fredericks & Mae hanging citronella coil
The American Mosquito Control Association writes that citronella has just a mild repelling effect on mosquitoes and other biting insects. Still, Epicurious contributor Andrew Spena uses these citronella incense coils from Fredericks & Mae to repel bugs in his Brooklyn backyard and finds them effective, along with frankincense essential oils (some people swear by lemon eucalyptus oil or lemongrass oil, as well). They're so chic that, even if they only minimally repel the bugs, they'll make your yard look festive and smell lovely. Plus, they're an environmentally-friendly and healthful option. Maybe double up on them—plus a few of the Murphy's candles featured below—since the real repelling effect actually comes mostly from the act of producing smoke in the burning process. Combining these methods with the fan option above is a great move: Position the smoke-creating options around the outside of your dining area, and the fan near the table (facing away from the coils and toward your guests, to prevent diluting the mosquito-repelling smoke) for a double-pronged attack.
3. Use Murphy's Naturals mosquito repellent candles and spray
Again, if the environment and the substances you breathe are your top priority, then this is a great option. It contains no DEET or petroleum-based substances and is instead made with citronella, lemongrass, rosemary, peppermint, and cedarwood. The downfall is the candle is small, so you’d likely need more than one on any given dinner table, but the scent is pleasant, and it keeps bugs at bay. The company also makes tea candles with the same repellent which may be a nice add to an al fresco dinner party. It’s also a simple product: just light the candle and you're ready to go. And since oil of lemon eucalyptus is one of the only natural options for mosquito prevention approved by the CDC, we recommend spraying yourself with Murphy’s oil. We’re all about layering products to get the most out of their combined power.
4. Sprinkle mosquito beater granules
After several years of experience with a particularly buggy backyard, digital director Maggie Hoffman swears by the layered approach of a powerful fan plus a sprinkling of Bonide Mosquito Beater Granules on the perimeter of her outdoor space as well as under her outdoor dining table. She usually scatters the granules in two rounds, an hour or two before guests arrive. This fragrant dust is soaked in citronella oil, garlic, geranium oil, cedarwood oil, and lemongrass oil, and it does appear to cut down on the mosquito hoards.
Another highly-effective option: Thermacell lanterns and pods
This electronic, battery-operated method, which distributes an odor-free repellent like an essential oil diffuser, was the best overall product we tried for actually repelling mosquitos. After a bit of a learning curve for set-up, this device was really easy to use. Simply insert a cartridge into the machine and press a button to turn it on. There’s a heating element that vaporizes the repellent and distributes it into the air. The top is hot to touch (there are adequate warnings about this) but there is no strong smell or wafting smoke—which was not the case with many of the products I tried. It does a good job of ridding the yard of mosquitos and also repels gnats as an added bonus. The repellent pad turns from blue to white once the repellent has run out so it’s easy to see when it needs to be replaced, which you’ll definitely want to do for hours of protection on a long night outside. You’ll want to put this one on the patio for at least 15 minutes before you use it for maximum efficacy. And depending on which item in the product line you go for, Thermacells are relatively visually appealing; the simple lantern design blends into any backyard décor, and the lantern portion operates separately from the repelling feature, meaning you can just use these as lights as well.
The main downfall? In addition to our safety concerns listed above, it takes a lot of stuff to run this thing. The repellent pads only last for four hours. The butane tanks last closer to eight (although the packaging says 12). Depending on the product it also requires batteries, or charging via USB. Buying all of these replacement parts and refills gets expensive quickly and if you don’t have all of the right refills ready to go when it’s time for use, you’re out of luck. Plus, it’s easy to forget to turn it off (the light has a separate switch, so we switched that off, but not the mosquito stuff), which will drain it that much faster. Some of the newer models connect to your phone via bluetooth, which is helpful when you’re in bed and forgot to turn your machine off.
Thermacell also offers a travel-sized option, which has a rechargeable battery (charged by USB). It has no fuel cartridge so it’s easy to throw in a bag and bring it with you anywhere. It covers a smaller area for repelling bugs, but certainly does the trick.
How we tested
It’s hard to pick a nearly identical buggy day to test all of these so we made sure to test each contraption twice on different days. We also evaluated how easy they were to set up—for instance some needed to be put out in advance, others required cartridges or fuel tanks, others had to be positioned certain ways. We also varied where we located the repellent from directly on my table to more of a distance (within the range it claimed) and finally evaluated whether or not it was a nuisance while we were dining.
The takeaway
We were looking for the holy grail of bug repellers, but to be honest, unfortunately it seems there really is no perfect solution out there to keep mosquitoes away. Many of these products claim to cover a wide range of territory, when in reality they only truly cover their immediate surroundings. For any average-sized deck or patio, you’d likely need to double up to get the coverage you were looking for with any of these products, even the winning Thermacell lantern.
Another unfortunate reality is that the products that seem to work the best overall are not always the best for the environment (or inhaling—especially with young kids and pets). None of these products contained DEET, but many contained other synthetic pesticides and petroleum-based substances. Changing cartridges, charging the devices, or adding batteries can also be daunting if you aren’t an advanced planner. And some of the products out there have very strong odors that would ruin a meal in an instant. For the overall most effective repeller, choose the Thermacell lantern, or one of the brand’s many other effective machines. But if you want our advice? Stick with the festive citronella candles, oil of lemon eucalyptus, and citronella coils. Even if they're only moderately effective, at least you know they're safe—and your backyard looks and smells chic.
