Bug repellent was.....Malaria prevention?

[Guest guest]

herbal remedies , " crazy_r_17 "

<crazy_r_17> wrote:

> Hello,

> I just joined this group, and was reading your message. Do you

>know where I could get some Lemon Catnip? We have four horses and 3

>dogs (just to name two species...) and we need some

>fly/mosquito/tick spray ideas! I have read about catnip being 10x

>stronger than DEET.

> I would like to use it, and I was going to use YLEO oils, but

>decided against it after I saw how much the catnip oil is! (I'm on a

>very limited budget:(

> Anyways, I would like to make a spray, and I think we have catnip

> somewhere in the garden of weeds...lol

> How would you go about making a strong spray, and which is better,

> Lemon Catnip, or plain Catnip? (that lemon sounds really really

> good...I have never heard of lemon catnip before)

>

> Anyways, thanks so much for any input or advice!

 

*******

I bought my start of the Lemon Catmint from a certified organic herb

grower, that I found had a booth at a local event. (near the

arts/crafts/flowers booths) I have also found organic herb growers

at our local farm market that do offer it as transplants too. Its

the lemon scented variety that has the white flower spikes.

A " google search " for Nepeta Cataria Citriodora should give you

pics/info on it. Or, you may be able to find it from companies that

offer organic herb seeds too.

 

The research showing that catnip was 10 times more effective than

DEET (by Iowa State Univ) was done with catnip oil (Nepeta Cataria).

I do grow some of the regular catnip too (which has purple flower

spikes), but that does not smell as good (to me) as the lemon scented

variety. I grow the regular catmint mostly as ornamental, mainly for

attracting bees and hummingbirds to the gardens, as they love it, and

its very pretty.

 

I just use the plants themselves for a bug repellent (cut some off,

and rub it in my palms, and spread the scent over my exposed skin),

but I know of people that make their own spray from the plants, by

extracting the plant oils with a pure (grain) alcohol/vodka, and/or

using the catnip oil from the HFS to make up their spray.

 

As with all mints tho, the catmints can be invasive and spread

everywhere. I gave my sister one of my baby lemon catmint plants

last year, and she did not remove the flower/seed heads as I

suggested, and when we prepared her flower beds this spring, we

must've pulled up several hundred lemon babies.......

 

The mints will also cross-pollinate, and the seeds/babies may not be

true to the mother plant if that happens. So, if you grow several

different mint types, you don't want to plant them next to each

other. Plant them in different locations to help keep them true.

 

Lemon Balm (also of the mint family) and Lemongrass are 2 other

plants that I've used as bug repellents too. They are both heavily

lemon scented also (but each of these 3 lemon scented plants smell a

bit different " lemon-y " from each other, if you smell them one at a

time). I used these plants just like the Lemon Catmint, but since I

use Lemon Balm and Lemongrass for other stuff too, I use the lemon

catmint as my main bug repellent plant. (so if you have either of

those growing already, making your own alcohol spray with those might

work too)

 

If you do grow Lemongrass tho, and live in a northern climate, it

must be brought indoors, and then set back out in spring, as it won't

survive the low temps and snow of winter.

 

Hope this helps.....

Jan / Michigan