Citronella Plant Care

What is a Citronella Plant?

Citronella plant (Pelargonium citronellum) is a natural mosquito repellent. These mosquito repelling plants can make your outdoor living experience much better without exposing yourself to harsh chemicals like deet! This pretty plant keeps mosquitoes away and looks nice on your patio or deck in a pot. It has a lovely citrusy aroma and is even deer resistant. This plant can be treated as a patio plant or an annual in cooler areas. It is an evergreen in tropical growing zones 9, 10, and 11. The Mosquito plant can also repel insects indoors as a houseplant. Citronella Plant Care and using the Citronella Plant to repel mosquitoes is very easy. Keep reading and keep mosquitoes away with the Citronella plant!

Uses of the Citronella Plant

The Citronella plant is one of the best mosquito repellents I have ever encountered. Living in the south I have tried countless products and even concocted a few of my own out of essential oils. I really love these plants because you have a pretty plant to decorate your outdoor living space and they actually work! They do repel mosquitoes well. I find that they work best if you have several plants staggered around the area you are spending time. I like to sort of “fluff them up” when I go outside to get the oils in the leaves flowing a bit. This definitely increases the effectiveness.

My favorite way to use the Citronella plant is by removing a leaf or 2 and rubbing them on my skin. For this method you really only need one plant as these plants do tend to grow fast. This works very well for my family. We tend to have sensitive skin and this causes no side effects for us. For those with sensitive skin test a small area first just to be sure you won’t have a reaction.

Citronella Plant Care

Citronella Plant Care takes minimal effort. These mosquito repelling plants are extremely low maintenance. Just water them deeply when the soil dries. They do well in full or part sun. Indoor Mosquito plants should be kept near a sunny window, preferably a south or west facing window. When indoors allow the soil to dry before watering thoroughly. This keeps Citronella Plants much healthier than watering a little bit every day. These plants do grow at a pretty fast rate so increase the pot size when the soil becomes unable to hold water. This means the roots have filled the container. Use Organic Planting Mix to repot your Citronella plant. I would recommend repotting a quart size plant into a gallon container and a 1 gallon plant into a 2 or 3 gallon pot.

Winter Citronella Plant Care

These bug repelling plants do not tolerate low temperatures or frost. But they can be kept indoors as a houseplant once temperatures drop. This extends the life of your plants and saves you money. If you have a sunny spot and think you’ll enjoy having these plants indoors I recommend bringing them indoors. Since these plants grow so fast and do tend to get woody as they age I would trim the plant back to about 6 inches or so sometime before moving them back outside. If they are pretty overgrown when you are ready to move them inside go ahead and trim them back. If you are happy with the size and shape of your plants just hold off and prune them back in spring before you move them back outside. They will quickly flush with new growth.

Now you know all about Citronella Plant Care! Order your very own Citronella Plant today from our online plant nursery!

My Cart

Citronella Plant Care

What is a Citronella Plant?

Uses of the Citronella Plant

Citronella Plant Care

Winter Citronella Plant Care