Pakistan Gardening Forum

I have been doing some research about mosquito repelling plants. There is a huge list of plants known for this but after a very exhausting research i have narrowed down my research to 2 most effective plants.

1: "Cymbopogon nardus" or commonly called "Citronella Grass"
2: "Nepeta cataria" or commonly known as "Catnip"

Citronella Grass is the most effective but is not very pleasant or attractive to look at, and requires open ground or large pot to grow effectively.
Catnip is 2nd most effective and can be potted in small pots, that can be placed indoors when mature. But it is known to attract cats which can destroy the plant.

I am from lahore and looking for seeds or plants of above mentioned species, and would like some help of experts on this forum in this regard. Moreover i would highly appreciate if someone tells me the Desi/Urdu names of these plants as it would help me to look for them in local nurseries.

Regards
Kashif

Citronella Grass or the Lemon grass is a common plant here and it looks beautiful in ground or in a large pot.. I will check its mosquito repellent property tonight, I have two large clumps of it... we use it as green tea..

Glad to know that you have it... Can u post some pictures of it if possible... Also if i visit my local nursery (Wapda Town Area) how would i ask for it... I hope lemon grass would work...
Also where do you suggest i should go an buy it from.
Thanks in advance

Also i have a question about what is commonly know as "dog flower". should i create a new topic or as it here??

InshaAllah I will post its pictures soon.. here in Karachi it is know as Green tea or Lemon Grass..

Dog flower is Snapdragon or Antirrhinum

komikool wrote:I have been doing some research about mosquito repelling plants. There is a huge list of plants known for this but after a very exhausting research i have narrowed down my research to 2 most effective plants.

1: "Cymbopogon nardus" or commonly called "Citronella Grass"
2: "Nepeta cataria" or commonly known as "Catnip"

Kashif

ASA Kashif,

You will not regret having lemon grass. It is a very low cost plant and makes an excellent aromatic tea. It is quite common so most nurserymen can recognize it if you describe it well. I never heard of an Urdu equivalent for lemon grass.

Coming to the chemistry, it is the oil from this grass which is effective as a mosquito repellent. This implies that one has to apply the extracted oil like "Mospel". I am afraid that the leaves do not release the oil in the atmosphere in enough quantities to actually repel the mosquitoes from an open area. Until and unless you crush the lemon grass leaves, the leaves are pretty much odorless!

Regards,

Farooq

This sharing information is useful for me, I plan to buy some seeds.

what about citronella geraniums?

fa113nang311 wrote:what about citronella geraniums?

As I explained earlier - no plant can act as a "mosquito coil" in open air. The reason is chemically simple. In order to repel mosquitoes you need a high concentration of mosquito repellent volatile oils from the plants- like lemon grass etc. Plants don't emit volatile oils in huge quantities. If you happen to go to Murree in a warm season, you can smell the special forest air of conifers- that's what we probably need ...thousands of trees that release a pleasant smell in enough quantities to be perceptible. Just for the interest, God had had made our nose so sensitive that at times, what a human nose can sense an aroma of e.g. coffee aroma, a million dollar machine can not capture its signal. So if a nose is detecting something that does not imply that the concentration in air is high to be effective.

So in short, it is futile to look for plants that can replace "mosquito coils" - we might need thousands of plants to achieve the desired concentration of mosquito repellent oils in air to be effective at all. So far we have been unlucky in this regard to discover a plant that emits enough "smell" to repel mosquitoes in open air :-(

Regards,
Farooq

Butea monosperma

Extracts from wiki
Use as a pesticide

This plant kills Mosquitoes. They are attracted by the smell and color of the flower. Eggs that are laid into the liquid within the flower will never hatch. Any mosquito that touches the fluid can never escape from it.

Would some of these plants work as effective anti mosquito plants by the very virtue that Mosquitos would prefer not to to seek refuge or rest amongst them?.

Another example I can think of is lavender (spikedlavender oil is an effective mosquito repellant too) as well as our native dhrek or the neem trees

Regards
If zeal