A quick video showing a recipe for 5 gallons of horse fly & tick repellent spray.
There's plenty video's on YouTube showing good recipes for horse fly spray, but most are only showing how to make the fly spray in small batches, i.e. a 32oz spray bottle.
In this video we make a whole 5 gallon bucket full!
I usually make two of these batches for a total of 10 gallons at the beginning of the warm season, and it almost lasts through the summer (with three horses). Store the bucket[s] in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.
At the end of the video there's a cost break-down (spoiler: it works out to costing about $2.00 per spray-bottle-refill)
Recipe used in this video is:
- 32 oz Aloe juice (100% Aloe juice drink)
- 16 oz White Vinegar
- 16 oz Neem oil
- 4 oz Eucalyptus oil
- 4 oz Citronella
- 4 oz Dish-washing Liquid
- 8 oz Mineral oil
+ enough clean water to make up 5 gallons (~19 liters) of spray
This particular recipe is quite Neem Oil heavy, and some might object to the strong smell. There's plenty of alternatives to this exact recipe, such as reducing the Neem Oil quantity, and adding instead other ingredients like lemon oil, lavender oil, and/or peppermint oil. The high concentration of Neem Oil in this recipe is to repel ticks effectively.
I will likely make future batches with more aloe juice, as it's so cheap in this neck of the woods.
The 4 fl oz dish soap used in this recipe isn't to emulsify ALL of the oils. It would take much too much soap to achieve that. Mixing before spraying is still necessary, despite the dish soap, as the end product will still separate.
Of course, this isn't exclusively for horses. Other pets can benefit from this fly repellent also, and we use it on ourselves too.
And as with any and all of these concoctions, you need to make sure your horse/pet isn't allergic to any of its ingredients!!
