Smells Mosquitoes Hate: 6 Scents That Actually Repel (Ontario)

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Want to try the scent route? A concentrated citronella oil and a Thermacell zone device are the two most effective picks:

Why Certain Smells Bother Mosquitoes

A female mosquito finds you by following a plume of cues: the carbon dioxide you exhale, the lactic acid and ammonia in your sweat, your body heat, and even the specific bacteria on your skin. Strong aromatic plant oils work by masking those signals. When the air around you is thick with citronella or lemongrass, the mosquito’s sensors have a harder time locking onto the human-scent trail, so fewer of them land.

That is the honest mechanism — and it explains the honest limitation. Masking only works while the scent is strong and the air is still. The moment the oil evaporates or a breeze scatters the plume, your CO₂ and sweat cues come right back through, and the mosquitoes follow them. This is why a citronella candle protects only the small cone of scented air immediately around it, and why the numbers in the table above are measured in minutes, not hours.

The Six Scents, Ranked by How Much They Actually Help

Oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) is the clear standout and the only one that competes with conventional repellents. Its refined active, PMD, is sold in PCP-registered repellents and delivers roughly 2–5 hours of protection at a 30% concentration — comparable to a lower-strength DEET product. Note it is a true skin repellent, not just a scent, and Health Canada advises against use on children under three.

Citronella and lemongrass are close botanical cousins and behave alike: a real but short deterrent effect, best delivered as diffused patio scent. Several candles spaced closely together beat a single candle, because you are trying to flood a whole seating area with scent rather than one spot.

Because the protected area is a cone of scented air rather than a field, a patio usually needs three or four candles spaced around the seating area rather than one lone candle on the table. Check citronella candle sets on Amazon.ca →

Peppermint gives a brisk, brief masking effect when freshly crushed or diffused, but it evaporates quickly. Lavender is the weakest of the group — lovely to have on the patio, but you should not count on it to keep mosquitoes off. And garlic, despite generations of folklore, has repeatedly failed in controlled testing: eating it does nothing measurable, and rubbing it on skin mostly just irritates you.

Scents Mosquitoes LOVE — What to Avoid

It is just as useful to know what draws mosquitoes in. They are attracted to carbon dioxide, the lactic acid and ammonia in sweat, body heat, and — importantly — floral and fruity fragrances. A sweet perfume, a scented lotion, or a fragranced body spray can make you noticeably more appealing to a hungry mosquito. On summer evenings in the GTA, skip the perfume, choose unscented sunscreen, and wear light-coloured, loose clothing, since mosquitoes also home in on dark fabric and heat.

The clothing half of that advice is the easiest to act on tonight. A loose, light-coloured long-sleeve shirt and an unscented sunscreen give a hunting mosquito far less to lock onto than a dark T-shirt and a fragranced lotion do. Check unscented sunscreens on Amazon.ca →

One odour source is easy to forget because it is out of sight: foot and ankle bacteria. In a well-known 1996 experiment, malaria mosquitoes were drawn to Limburger cheese and to smelly feet at almost the same rate, which is part of why bites cluster around ankles.

The Honest Truth: Scents Are the Weakest Layer

If you take one thing from this guide, make it this: smells reduce mosquito pressure, but they are far weaker than a registered repellent or a treated yard. The Aedes and Culex mosquitoes common in Ontario are persistent, and a determined female will push through a fading scent plume to reach the CO₂ and warmth of a host. Scents are a pleasant, low-effort complement — never the main defence when mosquito pressure is high.

Here is how the layers stack up, weakest to strongest:

1. Scented candles and oils (citronella, lemongrass, peppermint) — mild, minutes-long, small area.
2. Repellent plants around the patio — a light background effect (more on which ones in our mosquito-repellent plants guide).
3. A Thermacell-style device — creates a genuine repellent zone about 4.5 m across when there is little wind.
4. Registered skin repellent — DEET, picaridin/icaridin, or OLE for hours of on-body protection.
5. Standing-water control — dump anything holding water so mosquitoes cannot breed in the first place.
6. Professional barrier spray — treats the vegetation where mosquitoes rest, targeting the yard population there, and is re-applied on a schedule.

Layer four is the one most readers skip, because they arrived here looking for a scent instead. A registered skin repellent is the only thing on this list that walks off the patio with you, and in Canada that means a product with a PCP registration number on the label — DEET or icaridin (picaridin) for the conventional actives. Read the label for the concentration, how often to reapply, and which products are appropriate for children. Check DEET and picaridin repellents on Amazon.ca →

Layer five is the only one on the list that shrinks next week’s mosquito numbers rather than tonight’s. Anything you cannot simply tip out — a rain barrel, an ornamental pond, a clogged eavestrough, a low spot that stays wet for days — can be treated with a Bti briquette instead, which treats the water itself where larvae are developing. Check Bti mosquito dunks on Amazon.ca →

And the cheapest improvement to a patio has no scent at all. Mosquitoes cruise at roughly 1–2 km/h, so an outdoor fan aimed across the seating area makes the approach hard work and scatters the carbon-dioxide plume they follow to find you. There is an irony worth noting: the same moving air that tears a citronella plume apart in minutes is working for you here rather than against you. Check outdoor patio fans on Amazon.ca →

For the full rundown of DIY methods that genuinely help — and which ones are myths — see our natural mosquito repellent guide for Ontario. And if you want the strongest layer without the daily hassle of candles and reapplication, that is exactly what professional barrier spray is for.

Related Reading

• Natural Mosquito Repellent — What Works in Ontario
• Mosquito-Repellent Plants for Ontario Yards
• BuzzSkito Professional Mosquito Control Service
• Get a Free Yard Assessment

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