apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

if only it were true....i'm surrounded by fresh basil plants on my terrace - because we eat so much of it -- and i get eaten alive by mosquitos. maybe it works for some, unfortunately not in the least bit for me.

wow... maybe that's why i've had good luck this summer. we're growing a ton outside...

apparently it also repels fruit flies...the aroma that we like is a deterrent to them (same as most pungent smells like citrus, which you're not supposed to get near plants...weird)

not really true. i have the bites to prove it

A lot of these plants that people claim repel mosquitoes would need to be broken and their oils rubbed on your skin to do any good. All it does is confused mosquitoes anyway, it doesnt repel them. Theyre attracted to the CO2 you give off breathing.

Simply growing citronella grass around your house wont do anything.

I'll be real honest with you...nothing wards off skeeters for long. If you live somewhere that doesn't have many of them this may work...but I live in skeeterville....we used to have trucks that sprayed nightly in the summer to try and kill them or ward them off. Nothing works. We keep a small fan running pointed upwards at our doorway outside to keep them from swarming around the door and getting in. It helps. They haven't really ever seemed to bother me...I think my blood must be bad.

Who's this, "Rachael Ray", you speak of?

SpinsLPs- consider yourself lucky that you don't know who Rachel Ray is. Ugghhhhh.

People around here try to ward off fruit flies by hanging plastic baggies on their patios filled with water. Its stupid and doesn't work.

Basil? I have about 8 plants on my balcony and it doesn't do anything for mosquitoes. What is supposed to help is catnip. I just bought some seeds, but haven't planted them yet. But in some forms (as an oil?) it's supposed to be 10 times more effective than DEET.

I grow 5 basil plants in front of my doorway yet I manage to rack up about 3-5 mosquito bites everyday while fumbling to unlock the door.

I'm telling you people...buy a small fan, put it outside aimed up at your door and no skeeters. it pushes them and every other bug hovering around your door out of the way.

basil definitely doesn't ward off fruit flies. they're always hovering around my face in the kitchen. and it seems to have attracted some inchworms & caterpillars that have nearly devoured every leaf! goddamned juicy caterpillars.

I also have beaucoup basil in my yard and I still get chomped on by skeeters. I'm in Richmond, VA and it's just a way of life to have to spray oneself with bug spray if you're going to be outside for more than 5 minutes.

Essential oil of catnip is the only "natural" solution I have found that actually works. Iowa State University did a study on it a few years ago and it's more than 10 times effective as DEET.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm

I have used it for years and it's amazing. It only takes like 2 drops and costs next to nothing relative to how long it lasts.

I read the article above and all I could think about is how my cats would be rubbing against me ALL THE TIME! I am a magnet for mosquitos! And my kiddies love catnip! A dermatologist I went to business school with said to take a B Vitamin, I forgot which one so I take a B Complex, to make your blood smell repellant to mosquitos. When I forget, I get attacked, when I take my vitamins, they stay away.... whaddo I know?

so if you douse yourself with catnip oil, wont that create ANOTHER problem?

I've never attracted a single cat with catnip essential oil. And actually my s/o tried to the other night because he wanted to pet a cat that was wandering around in our backyard :)

Yes it is true, mosquitoes don't like cats, catnip, or kitty litter. To repel mosquitoes while camping or any other outdoor activity, I get the cheapest cheap kitty litter and spread it (throwing like sowing seeds) in the grass. No mosquitoes for a couple of days or until it rains. I learned this from some burly biker dudes who didn't like mosquitoes either.

I live in Florida where the mosquito is recognized as the second State Bird to locals.

I picked some organic rosemary from our garden and rubbed it on me and my daughter instead of store-bought repellents. Needless to say, we sat there happily enjoying the fireworks show while the rest of our family kept swatting mosquitoes away.

We have basil in the garden, but I figured smelling like rosemary was better than walking around smelling like an Italian restaurant. :)

I'm working on creating a homemade organic, all-natural spray for us...but even with all the rain this summer, mosquitoes have been oddly scarce. While I'm not complaining, it's hard to test without the lil buggers around.

Fruit flies on the otherhand...ugh. Before I had the compost bin, I had to use a large jar in the fridge for veggie/food cuttings to keep them safe from fruit flies until trash was ready to hit the curb in the morning. The best way to battle fruit flies is to remove the temptation that brings them in. I'd much rather avoid their presence than having hundreds of fruit fly carcasses in soda bottle trap.

I take B vitamins and generally don't get bit as much as other people do. I wonder if there really is a correlation.

It's B5, Pantothenic Acid. I'm glad it's helping people. I think every remedy is dependent on the individual's own base chemistry. I remember I really loaded up on the B5 before an Alaskan summer trip where they have gargantuan mosquitos. Didn't really keep me bite-free, but perhaps I wasn't totally devoured.

The catnip oil is very intriguing! Thanks for the links!

Also, I was told, that an old remedy against bedbugs (that's right, I'm going there) is oil of basil and lavender. I was told by an Indian man that his mother used that back in the old country and by a Phillipina woman. She used the mashed up leaves of a similarly-smelling tree indigenous to the islands to wash down the floors, under the bed, etc.

So I keep some basil and lavender around the house, too. What the hell.

All I can say is that I always have pots of basil in my house at summer, and mosquitos just don't seem to be bothered...