I am looking for plants that are good at repelling mosquitos in the tropics.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Try citronella, which is a type of geranium. This is what they use in mosquito-repelling oils and lamps. The best thing is prevention, find out where they are breeding and get rid of the water!
Marigolds! Save the seeds and replant next year, also... they'll come up in mixed vibrant colors of the sunset, which you can enjoy without being bitten by mosquitos. We plant in a long planter just in front of the porch. Not a fragrant flower, but beautiful and a good mosquito repellant, for sure.
PS: I'm in the Northern part of the country... I just re-read your message about Tropics, which I'm clueless about. Maybe something else would work better in your climate. Marigolds are hardy and can withstand lower temperatures right into the fall here. Sorry, but I'm sure someone can give you better advice for where you live unless the Marigolds grow well there, too.
I know this is going to sound weird, but it works! One day sitting on the patio at one of my favorite El Salvadoran restaurants, I noticed gallon size baggies of what appeared to be water hanging in the trees. I asked the waiter what they were there for and he said they kept the mosquitoes away. He did not know how, but he said that was what they did at home (in El Salvador). Sure enough, I, whom my family refers to as their mosquito repellent, did not have a single bite! I hung bags in my back yard and had my first (nearly) bite free summer!
Mosquito Repellent Plants IS A MYTH !!!!
read the article
www.ipm.iastate.edu/
i am glad someone posted this thinking of gardening this year and we get TONS of mosquitos and black flies and Horse flies here in Hudson, maine it is awful..
So this year between the lamp lites for them the bug lights, we are gonna see about doing the plant things as well.. thanks all.
Where could I purchase these plants?
I think skeeters can be pretty bad in the tropics, and there are some herbal remedies that work.
For some strange reason my wife is a bug magnet and we are probably allergic, so we really try to avoid getting stung. After, we are stung, we use Sting Eze.
After decades of experience I'm convinced that Deet only effective repellent in some form, but since is a neuro toxin we made sure we wash it off with soap and water after coming inside, and its a real pain. Its worse for kids.
Avon's Skin So Soft label that says it can be left on, but it does not work for some anyway and when the bugs are really bad. I'm not sure its that safe.
Repel's Lemon Eucalyptus extract has worked for me but also has all kinds of warnings on the label.
So for those times when we need safer, herbal approach, like for sleeping, we use plain lime oil. Limes are all over the topics and fairly cheap.
Some people put lime slices in a bowel by the night stand, but we just us the oil and extracts. Limes are
I understand that these work like campoflage, so that the misquitoes cannot not find you, rather than as a a repellant.
We also found a lemon grass or citronella extract in Bonaire made in Holland that was called bug oil and really works. So the plants should work also, especially lemon grass, which is used in Asian cooking.
Both have been used for years in Asia so should safe. And Natrapel makes a citronella extract in a convenient stick applicator, that works well for me and I like the way is smells.
Maybe I associate its smell with something that keeps the bugs from biting, but either way it works for me.
I sell Avon and have used their new spray:
Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus Picaridin. It is Deet free and has worked great for me and my family. The skeeters love us! I tried it out for the first time while mowing the yard (a good test) worked great. Check w/ your local Avon consultant or I sell it through my online Avon Store and it can be delivered to your home via mail.
www.youravon.com/scox
This web site is great. Thank you to all who have put their ideas and suggestions forward. We just bought a house that have fish ponds and we are having terrible trouble with mozzies. i shall definitely try some mozzie repellent plants you have suggested. Thanks.
There are no plants that just sit there and smell ENOUGH too repell insects. it is a myth. You have to damage the leaves of the plants to release there smell. Sometimes, right after a rain, they smell, but on normal days, they have no significant factor.
Now you can have them sitting around and then when you are outside, pick a clump of what ever and rub it on you and that could work. The best solution, if you don't want to stink yourself, is to have a tiki torch with citronella oil in it.
To Darryl Touchet
Yes there is a plant that you can set out and yes it will keep the mosquitoes away up to 10 feet. I planted one of these plants in 2000 beside my back porch steps. I can be cutting grass or working in the yard and the mosquitoes are bad and bite like crazy. They wont leave you alone. I sit down on my back steps beside this plant and NEVER GET BIT nor see a mosquito around.
I have not heard anyone on this site mention the plant.
I found the info out from a herb doctor.
I sold one of these plants to a postal worker several years ago and every time I see her, she says she really appreciates the plant.
When I planted the plant it was about 2 feet high, now it has grown to about 12 feet high.
I do not know what it does to repel mosquitoes, but it sure does.
Rosemary bushes worked and I didn't realize it till I threw away three dead bushes. Within minutes of putting them in a trash bag, I sat down for a cup of tea on my back patio and suddenly was swarmed by mosquito's, and covered in bites. then I pulled the dead and backened bushes out of the trash, and set them back on the patio. The Rosemary smell is very powerful from the bushes and insantly my troubles were over! Once again I was enjoying drinking my tea - bite free! Amazingly I see no reference to the Rosemary as a strong repellent on this site - but it certainly is.
Person who posted "Mosquito Repellent Plants IS A MYTH should read the article they posted. Clarify your misinformation while posting plz. Many plants work, when the leaves are crushed.
I found a mosquito repellent but its not a plant its a spray.Here it is use a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer to spray the area with a mixture of 1 cup each of lemon-scented ammonia and lemon-sented dish soap.Spray three times a week early in the morning or late in the evening . this will keep the little buggers away i did try this an it did work.
To JW in Georgia (Guest Post) posted back in 5/29/08
You did not mention what the name of this tree/bush is. Do you know what it's called or can you post a link to a picture of it somewhere? We would really like to know it's name or at least see a photo, please. Or if anybody else knows what plant this person was referring to, please tell us?
Pyrethrum has been EPA registered for more than 3 decades and is the model from which scientists have derived numerous synthetic insecticides. Pyrethrum is extracted from...chrysanthemums! Myth busted!
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I am looking for ideas on any bushes/trees/flowers that are good at repelling mosquitos.
Hardiness Zone: 8a
Sarah from Chattanooga, TN
I have an Herb Garden by my patio which is convenient for cooking and the Catnip, Mint, Basil, Sage and Bay are all said to be repellants. They're great for cooking and they keep my patio bug free.
In my flower beds I have geraniums and marigolds which line the yard. They're also potted on the front porch. Variety and abundance works.
This does it for most summer nights on the patio and in the yard. When we do big parties I do light the yard at dusk with a bunch of Citronella Tiki Torches.
Our friends have called to tell us they were bit crossing the street to their cars to go home! (03/15/2007)
By Ali from Thornton, CO
Try Marigolds. They are widely known for repelling mosquitos. Also, if you want to sit outside and don't want to get bit, try fabric softener sheets. Rub it on you and then put it on the table you are sitting at. Works great! We used this idea in the mountains of Colorado at 8400 ft. (03/15/2007)
By Susan
WormWood is a repellent and beautiful too. Marigolds i have heard about, but they never worked for me. (03/19/2007)
By Heather
Mosquitoes are spreading the 'West Nile' virus, we all know. Anyone outside hates being attacked by mosquitoes. Some plants repel mosquitoes. Such as: Horsemint, Marigolds, Ageratum, Mosquito Plants, Catnip (which is 10 times more effective than Deet).
Just planting these plants isn't enough, some of these leaves have to be crushed for the scent to be released. (Rosemary and Catnip-crush a few times & rub on your skin & clothing.) Don't rub the ageratum on your skin. Mosquito Plants are also called: Hummingbird Mint, Bubblegum Mint, Giant Hyssop or Giant Hummingbird Mint.
By T.H.
I can also tell you that our experience with citronella or mosquito plants has been quite positive. Last year, I had my large plant outside of my kitchen door. There had been a hornet's nest on the porch. The plant had been flowering at the time and within a day, we noted dead hornets near the plant. The hornets would come to the plant's flowers, and drop dead. This is a far better solution to this problem than synthetic pesticides. Seeing my husband and I have problems with chemicals, this has been a welcome finding. (06/29/2005)
By Lois Ann from New York
