Friends in Plants

Why not grow and make your own repellent. Plant a few stalks of lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) anywhere in your garden or in pots in your verandah. Within a few months they will become clumps. You can use the stalks as herbs in your salad. It grows quickly. It keeps the mosquitoes away. It contains something similar to citronella oil but is far more effective. What are the awful choices that victims of mosquitoes have to face? Either being tortured by being bitten millions of times, or never venturing out in the evenings, covering yourself from head to toe and still being bitten right through a T-shirt or socks, getting malaria or dengue. Two children a day die in India from being bitten. And as global warming increases, mosquitoes will increase their spread and ferocity.

The other choice is to use the chemical repellents on the market – all of which have poison clearly marked on them, and die of something else. The repellent sprays mostly use diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), a chemical that can cause rashes, swelling, eye irritation, brain swelling in children, anaphylactic shock, low blood pressure and even death. You can rub that dreadful chemical cream all over you and stink. Then you can use insecticide incense coils and keep the mosquitoes away. The point is that they stink just as much and are also poisonous.

Subscribe…

Related posts:

Akashavani plans Kannada programme on medicinal plants SMPB, AMMOI carve out strategy to resolve issues in medicinal plants sector in Kerala Two medicinal plants of HP in 156 ‘declining herbs’ list Plants or Animals Medicinal Plants are never a Priority for the Agriculture Department