What Are Mosquito-Repellent Plants? A Roundup of Common Varieties and Clever Mosquito-Repelling Tips

Summer is here, the weather is hot, and a mosquito invasion is annoying. After being bitten, not only do you get itchy bumps, but there is also a risk of catching diseases. So, what are the common mosquito-repellent plants? Plus clever mosquito-repelling tips!

1. What are the common mosquito-repellent plants?

1. Night-blooming jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum)

The reason night-blooming jessamine blooms at night is that its strong nighttime fragrance attracts countless insects for pollination. Facts have proven that night-blooming jessamine can be used to repel mosquitoes, and the effect is quite good. As long as you look carefully, you can buy this flower at many flower markets. It usually opens at night, and when it blooms it gives off a special fragrance; mosquitoes flee when they smell it.

2. Lavender

The plant has strong growth vigor, tolerates pruning, and has beautiful leaf shapes and flower colors along with a strong fragrance. If there are mosquitoes at home in summer, you can grow a few lavender plants. They not only repel mosquitoes and insects, but the flowers they produce are also very beautiful. They can be placed in the bedroom or living room and also serve a decorative purpose.

3. Geranium

The scent of geranium is sweet and strong, a bit like rose and a bit like mint. This scent makes mosquitoes and flies flee when they smell it.

4. Orange jessamine (Murraya paniculata)

Orange jessamine is a small evergreen shrub that prefers a warm, humid climate, is drought-tolerant but not cold-tolerant, and after flowering can produce red berries, adding beauty to a humble room. Smell its leaves and you will notice a strong sweet fragrance; its mosquito-repelling effect is very good.

2. Clever mosquito-repelling tips

1. Place a few opened boxes of essential balm or cooling oil in the room, or smear some mint on the wall.

2. Fill an empty liquor bottle with sugar water or beer and place it in a dark place. When mosquitoes smell it, they will crawl into the bottle and eventually be stuck to death by the sugar water or beer.

3. Apply mosquito-killing window screen coating to the screen window to form a protective film. After mosquitoes and flies come into contact with it for 30 seconds, they will die within two hours to several days. Mosquito-killing window screen coating makes use of mosquitoes' phototaxis and the principle of slow drug release.

4. Mosquito eggs cannot survive in an alkaline environment, so you can put alkaline substances such as laundry detergent and soap into a small basin, dissolve them with water, and place the basin in a corner. Generally, effects can be seen in about three days, and mosquitoes will be greatly reduced. In about ten days, many mosquitoes will appear in the basin.

5. Indoors, use some wood shavings, preferably fragrant wood shavings, put them in an iron can, place a few pieces of red-hot charcoal on the shavings, then put some dried orange peel on top. After burning, it will give off a very strong odor, and mosquitoes will “retreat three miles” when they smell it.

5. Use mosquito coils and mosquito repellent liquid. But be sure to remember to ventilate, because such substances are still harmful to the human body.

In addition to the four common mosquito-repellent plants introduced above, there are many more. Different regions use different mosquito-repellent plants, but they are mainly plants distributed locally that are rich in components such as eucalyptol, linalool, myrcene, eugenol, pinene and thymol.