ome Keeping Mosquitoes away – Naturally! Keeping your home free from mosquitoes is a huge task and we often resort to harmful chemicals to do so... Heres how we can replace these chemicals with natural products.. You can swat them, poison them, fumigate them; but have you still managed to keep mosquitoes at bay? While a mosquito net is one of the most eco-friendly & natural ways to avoid mosquitoes, it can only be useful at night ☹ And spraying chemicals or using chemical diffusers like All Out or coils are harmful for anyone with respiratory issues – especially children. While we all know that keeping our surroundings clean, preventing water logging and wearing light clothes may work to an extent, there are also more things you may not know… did you know, for example, that mosquitoes love perfumes and certain fragrances, so if you want to avoid mosquitoes for an evening out, apply perfume with caution ;-) natural mosquito repellants On a more serious note, here are some ways in which you can reduce or even eliminate mosquitoes naturally and safely! Citronella & Lemon Grass Even if you don’t have a garden, get some Citronella or lemon grass in a couple of small pots and place them around the entrances to your house, or the frequently open windows. It’s excellent for controlling mosquitoes. It grows up to 2 m tall and even blooms pretty lavender coloured flowers annually. If you can’t grow it, you could use Citronella or lemon grass oil in diffusers or put a few drops of the oil on a cotton ball and put it where you feel mosquitoes are frequent – like window sills or doors. Citronella is also commonly used in the repellent patches available nowadays. You can also use the oil directly on skin as a personal insect and mosquito repellant – be sure to do a patch test or if your skin is sensitive – mix with a little almond or baby oil! natural mosquito patches Neem Neem is one of the strongest mosquito repellant plants. Even a single neem plant/tree can bring down the number of mosquitoes in the vicinity. Burn neem leaves, or adds neem oil to diffuser lamps (you may need to add a citronella or additional oil to enjoy the aroma ;-). To keep mosquitoes away, you can rub neem oil on skin. Lavender Lavender repels mosquitoes, and if you live in the cooler parts, you’re lucky enough to grow this! Lavender plants are easy to grow & need less care – just keep a couple of lavender pots around the house! Otherwise, make a chemical free mosquito solution by mixing lavender essential oil in water and putting it in a spray bottle. Apply directly to the skin. Basil Basil is one of the herbs which has a beautiful aroma even without crushing it – and it repels mosquitoes to boot! So you can control mosquitoes by simply growing basil in pots! And for a gorgeous scented feel, crush a couple of basil leaves and rub them on your skin. There are several varieties of basil that work well against mosquitoes, but cinnamon basil, lemon basil and Peruvian basil work best. Garlic The pungent smell of garlic also helps keeps the mosquitoes away… rub a garlic clove over your skin – you may not like it, but neither will the bugs! Even planting some garlic in your garden will keep the mosquito population low. Plants like Marigold, Ageratum, Catnip, Rosemary Flowers like Marigolds have peculiar odor that many insects – including mosquitoes dislike. When grown in a kitchen garden, Marigolds also repel aphids and other insects. To control mosquitoes, grow marigolds plants in pots or in your garden. Ageratum, catnip & rosemary also have similar properties. Coconut Fibres Burn dried coconut fibres (the brown husk) to drive away mosquitoes! While these may be too strong to use indoors, these are perfect for outdoors when you are getting ready for an evening in your garden! Simply cut the coconut fibre into small pieces and put in an earthen diya or any container in which you can burn it. The smoke is not harmful, toxic free and soon the area around will be mosquito free! Camphor or Kapur Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent substance extracted from the wood of the Camphor Laurel tree. Apart from medicinal uses, it is also a strong mosquito repellent. While burning camphor in the evenings is a great way to evict mosquitoes, it’s quite smoky, and some people don’t like the smell. So here are three ways to use it, which have a mild aroma but are still very effective: 1. Keep a few pieces of camphor on any warm surface – on a diffuser with a tea light underneath it/ in a commercial mosquito repellant machine which uses mats (like Good night etc) or even on a bulb in a lamp! Do this twice daily for best results. 2. Simply leave a few pieces of camphor in mosquito prone areas of the house – especially in the kitchen & bathrooms. They will evaporate and buzz the mosquitoes away! If you have very small children you need to be careful that the camphor is placed out of reach from them. 3. Take a saucer or small wide bowl with a little bit of water, and add a few pieces of camphor to it. Keep this in your room (or a couple of the bowls around your house) the camphor will gradually dissolve in the water and while this mix evaporates, the mosquitoes will vanish too! Do start this off with some warm water for a faster action. Lots of natural oil sprays, patches, rubs etc are available and are usually made of one or a few of the above. Since mosquitoes are making so merry in this season, and will be back with a vengeance in the monsoons, you may need to combine a few of these methods. But we hope these methods will help you keep your family away from the fumes and other toxic effects of harmful chemical repellants & of course, the mosquitoes!! ** Picture Courtesy for the Moslock mosquito patches: Sonia Arora Do send us your feedback/queries to us at info@eSvasa or visit our facebook page facebook/eSvasaIndia
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:39:38 +0000
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