Despite what many believe, mosquitoes are not after your blood. They can smell you from 100 feet away! The deodorants, lotions, perfumes and smelly shampoos confuse the mosquito into thinking you are a flower, and they believe your blood to be flower nectar.
There are some easy solutions to remedy this nuisance. Plant herbs and flowers that give off a scent. These plants release a smell into the air that mosquitoes cannot stand to be around. Truly any herb that is pungent, or gives off a distinct smell will deter mosquitoes from coming around it. These herbs and flowers can be made into a tea or natural repellent, and then sprayed around the yard before a person has a party or BBQ. Another method of creating a all-natural repellent is to crush the leaves of the herbs or flowers to bring out the oils from the plant and put them in a quantity of alcohol or vodka. Once the oils have infused with the alcohol begin spraying it outside as one would do with a regular store bought repellent.
Here is a list of some flowers and herbs that repel mosquitoes and flying insects.
- Geraniums
- Hibiscus
- Mosquito Plant
- Catnip
- Rosemary
- Citronella Grass
- Lemon Grass
- Basil
- Lavender
- Peppermint
As well, a study Thailand in 2001 found that several essential oils including citronella, turmeric and basil repelled three different species of mosquito (both day-biting and night-biting) for eight hours – making them as effective as conventional repellents made with the insecticide DEET.
Summer is just around the corner. It is not too late to begin growing some herbs and flowers that can serve mulitple purposes. All of your guests will be thanking you for your thoughtfulness and forethought of keeping the nagging mosquitoes away during their visit!
This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on April 26th, 2010
“Despite what many believe, mosquitoes are not after your blood. They can smell you from 100 feet away! The deodorants, lotions, perfumes and smelly shampoos confuse the mosquito into thinking you are a flower, and they believe your blood to be flower nectar.” Actually this is not entirely correct, while some fragrant bodycare products may confuse mosquitoes into thinking you are a plant this is not the sole reason that they feed on animals. Female mosquitoes actually require the blood of animals and the nectar of plants in order to be able to reproduce. If it is not you they are feeding on it will be the other warm blooded creatures in your area. So don’t fool yourself into thinkng they are not after your blood and it is just an accident that they found you, inserted a serated saw like needle into your dermis and extracted your blood, then secreted a dose of hystemein inducing saliva into you to cause the wound to swell and keep it from bleeding. this is not an accident at all that little bastard meant to do it and deserves death.
Helix,
Good points! Thanks for informing us more on this subject.