Hello Hello! Can anyone suggest me which plants (and trees) are known to be mosquito repellant??? I read about Catambra tree (a new innest from Europe made with Catalpas), has anyone ever heard of it before? Ciao ciao!!!
Re: Mosquitos Repellent Plants/Trees? Citronella grass (grows 6 feet tall) - tropical catnip (this is suppose to be the best?) rosemary marigolds mosquito plants (that's what they are called - not sure if they work? bit of contraversy on these) Cheers, S.
Re: Mosquitos Repellent Plants/Trees? I was talking to a gardener in Borneo who reckoned just growing citronella did nothing to keep mozzies away. In fact he thought they were breeding in it, as a lot of water collected inside the clumps. It's the oil inside the citronella plant that repels mozzies, but it's only released if you cut or crush the plant.
Re: Mosquitos Repellent Plants/Trees? You could look at it another way and encourage mosquito predators - dragonflies for example - cattails and bulrushes in a pond can encourage dragonflies - apparently they can eat alot of mosquitos!
Re: Mosquitos Repellent Plants/Trees? The latest craze locally is bat boxes to encourage predation. Don't know about efficacy... it seems bats are pretty picky about the house and the location itself (both for heat management and forage opportunity). I have read that garlic oil is effective for killing larvae in ponds. Gambusa spp. fish eat larvae. Screened porches would be a must if I lived in any buggier a place. The most effective topical mosquito repellant we have used is 'Lemon Eucalyptus' (Eucalyptus citriodora). No silver bullet.