Which mosquito-repellent plants are the most effective? Recommended indoor potted plants for mosquito repellent

Summer is here and the weather is getting hotter and hotter. Everyone likes to wear shorter clothes to cool down, and at this time mosquito and insect bites are hard to avoid. So what plants should you keep at your office desk or at home to effectively repel mosquitoes and insects? Let's take a look together below.

Basil

Basil, the spice everyone knows well, can be grown indoors and has a very good mosquito-repellent effect. The planting method is also fairly simple: choose a breathable, loose soil, water by the see-dry-see-wet rule without letting water accumulate, and for fertiliser you can choose a dedicated organic fertiliser, applied about once every 10-20 days.

Mint

Mint, also known as Yindan grass, has a great many varieties and can be used for cooking, for brewing tea and also to repel mosquitoes and insects. It is moderately difficult to grow, likes light but cannot take blazing sun, and any soil will do as long as it is not too acidic or too alkaline. Its growing temperature is 25-30°C, and it is watered by the see-dry-see-wet rule without letting water accumulate. For fertilising, you can choose a balanced nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertiliser, about once every half month.

Rosemary

Its distinctive scent can repel mosquitoes, and its sap can be applied to soothe the itching of mosquito bites. For growing and care, the main thing is to give it sunlight: it likes light but should not be in blazing sun, and it needs to receive at least 6 hours of sunlight. Its growing temperature is 15-25°C, and it is watered by the see-dry-see-wet rule without letting water accumulate. It has low fertiliser needs; giving a small amount of balanced nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertiliser 2 or 3 times a year is enough.

Geranium

It comes in all kinds of flower colours and also has a very good mosquito-repellent effect. Its growing temperature is 10-25°C, and above 30°C it automatically enters a dormant state. For watering, it is best to keep it on the dry side rather than wet, watering once every 5-7 days during the growing period. For fertilising, do not fertilise while it is flowering in summer; during the flower-bud stage, apply a dilute cake fertiliser solution once every two weeks.

It is itself a common ingredient in insect repellents, its flowers can be brewed as tea and eaten, and its branches and leaves can be cut off and buried in the soil to kill root-knot nematodes. In its flowering period in November it blooms with small yellow flowers all over. It likes full sun and cannot tolerate frost; below 0 degrees it will wither, and the following year it will send out new branches again. It is very easy to care for.

The plants above have fairly effective mosquito-repellent effects, but note that their effectiveness is very much related to their quantity and the concentration of their scent, and they can only play a supplementary role in repelling mosquitoes. If you want to achieve an ideal mosquito-repellent effect, you still need to thoroughly clean up and adopt traditional methods such as mosquito nets and insecticides.