Our mosquitos right now are horrible. HORRIBLE! Our daughter currently has about 20 bites (not an exaggeration!) and my husband & I have quite a few as well. I really dislike the aerosol bug sprays- they make all of us (including the dog) cough. I have started making my own bug spray, and while it works well, it’s still not 100% effective. We love to sit on the porch but the mosquitos are really ruining that right now.
I didn’t want to buy the citronella torches and I had a really hard time finding the refillable tabletop torches. So out of desperation, I made my own.
I bought replacement torch wicks and some mason jar inserts, the tealight inserts to be exact. I used a regular mouth pint mason jar as my vessel. Then I drilled a 3/8″ hole into the middle of the tea light insert for the wick to pass through. Fill the mason jar with your choice of citronella oil. I cut each wick in half and then assembled the jar, the insert/wick and band. Next time though I will cut the wicks longer, they were a tad too short! This works for now.
It was pretty windy so the flame looks a little bigger than it actually was! I used the top of a cocktail shaker to snuff out the flame when I was done. Any metal cup/shot glass/measure cup should do the trick as well!
The best part, beside keeping mosquitos at bay while we enjoy our porch, is that these only cost about $2.75 each to make!
