I call them no se ums! They are particularly bad, or were last time I was there, in the Corpus Christi area, especially on the beach area.
Tally HO

Oh, I really do not like them and they find me everywhere
You have to spray with Off or your choice just like you would for skeeters

I use a homemade bug repellent that works very well, isn't sticky, and doesn't stink. I know that mosquitoes also come out in the morning when I'm out watering and puttering around the garden. If I do get bit, I use Tea Tree Oil on the spots/welts and it takes away the itch and the sting in about 5 mins. You can get Tea Tree Oil in the supplements/vitamins section of the pharmacy.

Vanilla home remedy for personal use:
8 oz water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange oil
Mix together in a spray bottle. Spray on liberally.

Yikes, that sounds like a lot of orange oil! I'm skeert of orange oil after having gotten too much of it on me...

BTW, I was in the garden the other day and I felt something giving me a pretty stout bite on the arm. Looked down and it was a baby grasshopper!!!! Have you ever been bitten by a grasshopper? sheesh.

How does that work against chiggars Stephanie? Those are eating me and I've put out sulphur but I guess it can't penetrate the tall weedy areas.

Marti, you can put sulphur on yourself - your ankles and your socks. Also, if you periodically take your hands and thoroughly rub all of your skin - up to the chigger favorite parts - you will rub them off. That's usually what I do. I read that somewhere and it works. Then take a shower when you come in, just to be sure you get them all. I think it takes them like 2 hours to dig in.

Stephanieftx, thanks for your recipe! Add some clove oil to that and it works too.

I usually have on jeans when I am outside, and try to come in after a couple of hours and take a shower. I keep a spray bottle with about 1/8 cup bleach and the rest water, spray it from toes to chest and then shower. But if I spend all day or all morning outside, it's too late. I did sulphur the yard and have a sock with sulphur dust to hit against my ankles. The problem is, I never INTEND to go into chiggar areas, in fact I never intend to start doing anything in the yard in the morning. I go out to feed the fish or drink some tea on the deck, or I pull a weed here or there, or decide to check the vegetable garden, and the next thing I know, it's 10:30 and I've been out there all morning.

Hey!!! I am usually posting on the Garden Junk Forum because I am a compulsive crafter.

I bought pure vanilla and mixed it 50/50 with water because that was the recipe I was given. I sprayed it on and the black flies were all over me and I got a mosquito bite. Could orange oil make that big of difference? And now clove??? Help I am mosquito food on a platter!!!!! Does this really work or will I be loosing more money???? Gardener972- how much clove oil?

Susie (scratching)

Susie

Sounds like I am not the only one scratching myself into oblivion. My husband has gotten chiggers and he just dances up and down with itching. It would be funny if it weren't so horrid. Thanks for recipes.........I will try them since most sprays give me some breathing problems.

Bleach in your bath water, or diluted and sprayed all over will wipe out chiggers if you do it immediately after being out in the grass. This is absolutely the only thing I've found that definitely works to keep them from embedding and making those terrible (!!!) itchy bumps. I would rather have both fire ant and mosquito bites any day than chiggers. Hope everyone's itching stops soon!! Debby

I'm a bug magnet too and have constant problems with chiggers, skeeters and no-see-ums. I have fewer problems if I remember to apply rubbing alcohol to my arms and legs before I go out. That repels the chiggers and it also slows down the skeeters. I like to use the sulpher on socks and shoes to keep chiggers from swarming on my feet. But the best repellent I've found for chiggers is rubbing alcohol. I took down the vanilla perfume recipe though and will try it too. Be nice to smell better than a hospital gurney... Cheryl

I also forgot to mention that I found a spray thats intended for use on poison ivy rash on children that takes the itch out of chigger bites. I bought it for my poison ivy and squirted some on the chigger bites just to see if it would work and it did. Halleluja! I can't remember the name of the stuff, but I got it at the Brookshires grocery store right next to all the cortisone creams and other gooey things for rashes. Don't know what's in it and don't care either, when the itching stops, I'm a happy girl. Cheryl

My elderly neighbor some years ago told me to rub Listerine over arms and legs and its a good repellent for bugs. Then she said to touch the itchy spots with a dab of vicks vapor rub. It does work but not as fast as I would like. After the itch stops then shower. She was in a group of weekend campers and had lots of suggestions for these things. She has since passed. I miss her alot. She gave me so many of my plants.
Russ