Entrepreneur Cooks Up Garlic Mosquito Spray
Jason Salim was searching for an earth-friendly way to make money last year when he discovered the power of garlic.
Now the 24-year-old Norton, Mass., entrepreneur is using the legendary vampire repellant to ward off another kind of bloodsucker.
His heady concoction of garlic extract and soybean oil can rid a field of pesky mosquitoes for weeks.
“I can’t believe no one’s thought of it,” says Salim, who owns Mosquito Foggers.
Using garlic to kill mosquitoes is hardly a novel concept.
The pungent bulb contains chemicals long known to destroy the soft-bodied insects and may overwhelm their sense of smell.
Organic gardeners often treat their properties and small ponds with garlic extract, along with other natural bug deterrents.
But few entrepreneurs have tapped into the sales potential of the odiferous plant as an alternative to harmful chemicals.
And fewer have tried to market it to homeowners.
A self-described “spiritual and holistic” guy who eats organic and tries to “go green,” Salim was turned on to garlic during last year’s Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus scare.
He saw state and local governments attacking mosquitoes with pesticides and thought, “There must be a better way.”
“I believe in anything that benefits someone without damaging the earth,” he says.
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