Do lemon grass plants repel mosquitoes simply by their aroma? Or is it
necessary to crush the herbs/grass blades and rub on your skin in order to
repel them?

Thanks.

On Apr 2, 12:45 am, "volume" wrote:
Do lemon grass plants repel mosquitoes simply by their aroma? Or is it
necessary to crush the herbs/grass blades and rub on your skin in order to
repel them?

Thanks.

I have several large clumps of lemon grass near the house. They do
not have any noticable effect on mosquitos. As for rubbing it on to
your skin I have nver tried it. Why don't you try it and report
back? You should be able to test this quite easily if there are
planty of mossies about at your place.

David

Lemon grass ( and lemon thyme) contain citronella oil. Citronella oil repels mosquito. Plants release significant amounts of their repellent oils only when their leaves are crushed. I read the best way to use the citronella oil containing plants would be to rub crushed leaves on your skin. Be sure to "test" yourself for any allergy to these leaves by repeatedly rubbing a small amount of material on your inner forearm for a day or so. If there is no irritating skin reaction, it is safe to use the plants.
Hope it helps...

Forgot to add that the plant will not repel mosquitoes just growing in a pot or in the garden..

If you want to get the the lemon grass to repel mosqitos cut the top the lemon grass that should cause it to expel the citronella "smell" and therefore causing the mosquitos to disperse away from the area.