Does Citronella Work? What You Should Know About Citronella Plants

• Thomas Nelson
• April 5, 2020
• Nature, Sustainable Living
• 0 Comments

As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, people are often wondering how they can provide themselves with the best kind of pest repellent. Especially when it comes to mosquitoes, everyone wants to make sure they have something that’s not going to agitate their skin on top of having to deal with annoying bugs trying to eat you all day and night. Citronella is considered to be one of the best natural ingredients that a person can use in making mosquito repellent. But do citronella plants work?

What are citronella plants?

Citronella is a type of pungent lemon grass. Citronella oil can be extracted from different types of lemongrass and in order for a person to be considered “safe” from insect bites, they would need to reapply the citronella oil at least every hour. The reason being is that citronella oil isn’t as potent as people tend to believe.

In fact, even though citronella is considered an approved repellent in the US, Europe has claimed there is no use for the oil at all so they have banned it as being a part of insecticides. That said, it doesn’t necessarily mean that citronella has no effect at all. Even though many remain skeptical on this matter, it doesn’t mean a person can’t practice their craft and find out for themselves.

Does citronella work?

To be contrary to this popular belief, citronella is only useful if you are able to get enough of the oil from the plant to provide you enough coverage to ward off these unwanted insects. In most cases, citronella is actually a somewhat difficult thing to obtain if you are not sure what you are looking for when you extract the oil from the plant.

This is why it is important for people to educate themselves in botany to be able to recognize a citronella plant so that they may be able to extract the oil and create a homemade repellent via spray or other methods. Some people also just take the leaves of the plant to crush up then rub all over their clothes and or exposed areas of skin that might be bitten. It is also important that people are able to recognize the right plant so they don’t accidentally plant something that smells like citronella but happens to be one of the plants that mosquitoes actually like to congregate on or accidentally rub the wrong plant oil onto your skin that may trigger some kind of allergic reaction.

Do citronella candles repel mosquitoes?

There are some products that may contain citronella but do not actually work in warding off mosquitoes. A particular popular product that most people love to buy in the summer time for their porch is a citronella candle.

The reason as to why citronella candles do not work is because the candles only contain a very small amount of citronella oil that is not really effective in a public gathering. However, it also isn’t to say it’s a bad thing to have citronella candles. Studies have shown citronella candles to reduce bug bites by half over a 10 minute period compared to having no candles or just a regular candle. 

Why you should grow citronella anyway

A lot of people differ when it comes to natural remedies such as citronella, most usually end up buying the named brand product in their local grocery store.

If you’re one of the people that wants to experiment with citronella this summer, you can usually find the plant at your local nursery or online for seeds and other box stores that may be in your area.

Again, it’s important to do your research before you go rubbing plants all over your body so be sure that you know what you’re supposed to be looking at when you do go to pick up your own citronella plant. 

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