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Thread: Yarrow as a bug repellent

  1. #1

    Default Yarrow as a bug repellent

    I have heard so much in books and online about the effects of using Yarrow as a bug repellent. Hearing so many great things about it's effectiveness from well respected folks like Ray Mears and others, I decided to try this plant out and see just how well it performed. I've tried it several times in the past and it did not work, but, being quite stubborn, I wanted to give it a real good chance to work. All the sources I've found on the subject say to simply crush the leaves between your hands and rub it on your skin as you might any other bug repellent.

    So, with renewed hopes of using a plant to effectively prevent bug bites in the field, I tried it a couple more times with varied results. Here's the video of those results.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IscrE-N_h4

    After getting home from the above video and examining my bug bites I felt the field Yarrow didn't perform very well. But, I only applied it once or twice and thought that might not be a good enough test. Also, the field Yarrow is much weaker in smell and juice than the domesticated Yarrow I have growing in my yard. So, this next video is a follow up to the first, I apply domesticated yarrow in multiple attempts to keep the deer flies and mosquitos at bay. Here it is!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqTwEnDTU5g

    Again, after getting home and examining my bug bites, I reflected back to the time frames and number of applications of the Yarrow used in the above field test. I tested this plant for about 45 minutes with at least 8 different applications in that time frame, approximately every 5 minutes on average, but no more than 10 minutes between apps, some apps were re-applied after just 2 or 3 minutes. I went through about 6-8 plants worth of Yarrow leaves in that time, an entire cargo pocket stuffed clean full. The domestic Yarrow is much bigger and juicier than the field yarrow, so, I would have had to gather at least 15 field Yarrow plants to equal the amount of plant material that was applied in this test.

    After taking a long hot shower with plenty of soap and shampoo I still smelled strongly of Yarrow for about 8 hours, until I went to bed. When I awoke I swore I could still smell the Yarrow. I do believe that I was thoroughly saturated with Yarrow for the above test, my skin was green in spots from it's continuous re-application, even after the shower and repeated scrubbing with a shower brush and soap.

    I hope you find these field tests of Yarrow as a bug repellent informative and would strongly advise anyone to personally ensure through safe methods that any survival, wilderness, primitive skill is proven by yourself before relying on it in a situation. I would also advise against rubbing or using any plant until you yourself have proven it to be safe.

    There are many skills, methods, tools, and such that are talked about in books, on TV, and on the internet in forums, websites, and blogs. Many well respected websites, professional or otherwise, present claims of plant uses, tool uses, product uses, etc. I can tell you without a bit of doubt in my mind that most of these claims and things spoke of and written of are done so without having tested the information that is being presented. Many experienced survivalists, minimalists, high techies, and low techies make claims of products and methods working, primitive or otherwise, most of these claims are not well proven. Many of the claims are made with profit in mind, many are made simply out of wanting folks to like something as much as the presenter does, many are made simply to fill up space on a web page and attract visits through search engines, and many are simply half-baked notions and have no ground to stand on whatsoever. Most things claimed, metaphorically speaking, are castles built on sand, some of those castles are quite impressive, some not so much.

    As time permits I will be testing many of these claims so that I know whether or not I can rely on them. Simply storing this information off onto a thumb drive, bookshelf or notebook is not good enough for me. The line of thinking that says I can simply draw upon this untested information in time of need is not acceptable in my book, it doesn't float, hold water, or even deserve the right to occupy space in my mind.

    My castle may be a rusty tin roofed shack made of scrap wood, but it is built on solid rock, not sand, the roof doesn't leak, it keeps the bugs out in the summer time, and the warmth in in the wintertime, and most importantly, it's all mine.


  2. #2
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    ...would strongly advise anyone to personally ensure through safe methods that any survival, wilderness, primitive skill is proven by yourself before relying on it in a situation...
    The line of thinking that says I can simply draw upon this untested information in time of need is not acceptable
    Can I get an AMEN!

    I have not heard anything in the way of yarrow being an insect repellent. I'll be checking into this, tho I haven't spotted any around here.

    While on the subject of repellents, I tried Basil about two weeks ago. crushed a leaf and rubbed it around my face, then stuck another leaf under the edge of my hat. Seemed to work good for the gnats, and doesn't smell like poison.

  3. #3

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    If I were to hazard a guess, I would suggest the claims you mention stem from Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, being a member of the Asteraceae family. The Chrysanthemum genus of this same family is the natural source of pyrethrum, which is a highly effective insecticide.

    In my almost 40 years of survival experience I have only heard one passing reference to the effecacy of Achillea millefolium as an insect repellent. I therefore decided to do research into the subject. I found a single reference in one of my botanical books listing the chemical constituents of this plant. It listed only trace amounts of pyrethrum. I would therefore infer it would not adequately repel insects.

    There are a couple of plants which I regularly use as a field insect repellent; these are Oxeye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare, and Fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus. Both are members of the Asteraceae family, but they are more closely related to the Chrysanthemum genus than is Achillea millefolium. As a matter of fact, the Leucanthemum genus is synonymous with the Chrysanthemum genus. While Oxeye daisy is the better of the two in terms of its effecacy as an insect repellent, both function quite well.

    To make use of either, you can simply crush the leaves and flowers between your fingers, and rub the mash into your skin. You will experience the same green staining you did with the Achillea millefolium, but I believe you will be much happier with the results. I developed and use a highly effective spray insect repellent using Oxeye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare and Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis. Put 1-1/2 cups each of chopped Oxeye daisy, and Jewelweed into a blender. Next add 3 cups of apple cider vinegar, and blend for a few minutes until you have a thick green soup. (You can also omit the Jewelweed, and use 3 cups of Oxeye daisy). Transfer this mixture into a quart mason jar. Now seal the jar, and place it in a dark cupboard for about 3 weeks. Make sure you shake the mixture at least once a day for the first week. After the three weeks have expired, strain the contents of the jar through a coffee filter, or cheesecloth. The resulting vinegar will keep for at least a year. To use this vinegar, fill a pump spray bottle approximately 1/2 to 3/4 full with the vinegar, then add up to 10 drops of sage oil, or lavendar oil (depending upon the size of the bottle), and fill the bottle the rest of the way with clear water. This spray is quite effective. If you choose to use the Jewelweed, it will even help to remove the itch from existing insect bites and stings. You may have to experiment with the strength of the spray, as I have heard of some people who have shown sensitivity to one or more of the ingredients I have suggested. My family uses this recipe at 1/2 strength with excellent results. One of the best things about this recipe is that it is all natural, and non toxic. You can safely spray it directly onto any part of the body. I would caution against getting it into your eyes, as it can burn slightly.

    On a side note, I have also gathered and added these plants to my fires to act as an area wide repellent. I have found this to be especially effective at night. Perhaps this can be attributed to the thermal inversion effects of the night time atmosphere limiting the dispersion of the smoke.

    As you have suggested, do not take my word for it's effecacy, but rather as you did with the Achillea millefolium, experiment for yourself. I know you will not be disappointed.
    Last edited by aldankirk; 08-06-2011 at 11:08 AM.
    Happy Foraging

    Kirk

    Livingafield.com - Information Concerning Edible And Medicinal Uses For Common Great Lakes Area Plants, As Well As Information On Numerous Aspects Of Outdoor Living And Survival.

  4. #4

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    I believe you are right Kirk, as to the origins of Yarrow being assumed effective as a bug repellent.

    I mentioned somewhere that it was in my research of Pineapple weed that I first ran across the suggestion that Yarrow, a related species, might be effective to repel bugs. My research suggests that pyrethrin or pyrethrum is actually toxic to humans, but at a much lower level than to bugs. I'm a bit leary about simply combining species of plants together or mixing them with other chemicals/ compounds as it is entirely possible to make something that in fact would be toxic, or possibly would increase the toxicity of the original material.

    Folks should definitely research this stuff before willy nilly applying it or relying on it. My best suggestion is to wear long sleeved clothing that covers the skin and only apply repellents to exposed areas and around the ankles and cuffs of clothing. That is by far my best defense, but it can make for an uncomfortably hot experience. Personally, I would rather be hot then expose myself to bug bites or potentially toxic compounds, manmade or otherwise.

  5. #5
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    Thanks for taking one for the team.

    Having info on your flash drive doesn't do much good if the quality of information is poor. And when it comes to herbs, there is a lot of poor quality information or misinformation and not much in the way of comprehensive evidence based info. And some things vary a lot by person or region.

    I ran across this journal article which compared DEET with some natural products (mostly citronella based) and listed complete protection times:
    http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...articleResults
    Look at table 1. Interestingly, the winner (other than DEET) was a product whose active ingredient was believed to be 2% soybean oil. 95 minute average complete protection (range 16 to 195 minutes). Regular soybean cooking oil would probably be useless as it has been heavily refined. Also notice the wide ranges of protection times. A citronella product might work 5 minutes on one person and 30 on another. This is one reason you need multiple test subjects. It is a contest between the repellant effect and your bug magnetism. The other "natural" products tested only worked for 3-20 minutes on average. It also notes that impregnated wristbands are useless as repellent generally only works up to 4 cm from the site of application. This is mportant to consider with regard to thoroughness of application. Also, swarming, landing, and biting are different. If the range is 4cm, swarming is not a good indication of protection.

    Here is a study that found a catnip extract 10 times more effective than DEET. That dosn't mean you get bitten 10 times less often. They mean it took 10 times less to get similar repulsion. But they didn't give complete protection times. If you have to reapply more often you might not really be using less. And you probably care a lot less about how much you use than how long you get complete protection. And it wasn't done on humans, just in a glass tube. So they were testing repellency in the absence of attraction. They did control for things like how hungry the mosquitos were, variet of mosquitos, etc. I found it when trying to track down oft mentioned but rarely cited claims that tincture of yarrow was 10 times more effective than DEET.
    http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/new...es/catnip.html

    It pays to read the actual papers and to know how to actually read a paper. "How to read a Paper: the Basics of Evidence based Medicine".
    http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Paper...2684241&sr=8-1
    http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/readers...-read-a-paper/
    it does refer to a free collection of systematic review papers. http://www.cochrane.org/
    Things that attract insects:
    http://emedicine.medscape.com/articl...view#aw2aab6b4
    Note that a 10C temperature rise halves the protection time. Indicates that a soybean/geraneum.coconout oil product ws not labeled for use against ticks. PMD: An extract derived by distilling oil of lemon eucalyptis; it is the only naturally derived repellent considered effective by CDC against mosquitos carrying west nile virus. it needs to be concentrated, plain oil isn't strong enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-Menthane-3,8-diol

    Here is one to keep an eye on: nootkatone is a CDC developed citrus extract that works as a repellant and insecticide. It can supposedly control 97% of ticks for 42 days and can kill bugs in 15 seconds but appears to be non-toxic to humans.
    http://www.npr.org/2011/04/18/135468...-of-grapefruit


    CDC recommendations:
    http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/west...entupdates.htm

    PMD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-Menthane-3,8-diol
    Icariden: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icaridin
    Note the variability with mosquito species and concentration. Mentioned that 7% was inneffective against one variety of disease caarrying mosquito while worked for 2.5 hours against another important variety. 15% worked on both, one for an hour and the other for 4.8 hours. The product Natrapel 8 hour uses 20% and claims 8 hours.

    Regarding your test:
    -- If you are a particularly good mosquito magnet, some other people might find it effective for as much as 10 times longer. Or it could be other differences in body chemistry, other than mosquito magnetism, interacting with the repellent.
    - It could be inefdective against the mosquito species in the area tested but still be usefull against other varieties, particularly if your concentration was low.
    - it might be more or less effective against ticks.
    - Crushing the leaves may result in a low concentration of active ingredient compared to some other method of application such as an essential oil or tincture. Where herbal based repellents were considered to be very effective, highly concentrated extracts were used.
    -you have shown that there is at least some basis for claims but that in practice it may also prove to be very ineffective.
    - this is not one of the few herbal repellents currently recognized by the CDC as having practical effectiveness against disease carring insects and those require more elaborate preparation. there may be others that are useful, though.
    - some varieties of yarrow might work better or worse.
    Being careful not to overgeneralize, though, boots in the field reports such as this can be useful. in this case, it serves as a sanity check.

    A couple of my ancestors succesfully built the first transcontinental railroad across costa rica starting in 1871. In the first 20 miles, at least 4000 people died: yellow fever, malaria, and dysentary. The local indians would not go there. This was between the first and second attempts to build the panama canal, which had similar problems, and was an alternative to the canal. The eventual success of the sanitation efforts in Costa Rica against these diseases helped make the second attempt at the Panama canal successful. Malaria still kills 781,000 people a year and yellow fever 30,000. You would think it would be easier to find good documentation on what works and what doesn't.

    Note that time of day can be a factor in making comparisons.

    Abstract of a paper that compares some plants as tick repellents.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16360943
    yarrow reportedly didn't do very well but oils of citronella, lily of the valley, and cloves had some effectiveness.

    Another comparision paper abstract hints that adding vanillin can increase protection time:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19729299
    As does this one:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16896651

  6. #6

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    That's a nice writeup whitis, and it is hard not to generalize, especially in an unscripted video. I'm sure I did some generalizing. A good point made by your post is that we should consider all the variables that go into these tests, whether we do them or otherwise, and try to eliminate those variables as much as possible.

    This test would have been much more effective if it were performed on 30 different individuals with controls and in a blind study. but, i've yet to find 30 people that will let me rub Yarrow on them, actually I've only been able to find one so far, me.

    I'll have to go back and look through those links you provided as time permits, thanks for posting.

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