Catnip Oil - Mosquito Repellent

May 25, 2006

He Holly,

> For those with experience using catnip oil in mosquito

> repellent formulas, could you share what % of catnip

> oil you find to be the most effective?

If its Canadian .. 80% + Nepetalactone .. 5 or 6% is sufficient.

If its American .. I don't know but calculate the % of Nep. as it will

be roughly half that of the Canadian.

> I plan to mix it with FCO and a few other EO's.

Good .. Fractionated Coconut it the best choice .. for many reasons.

It is stainless .. it washes out easily .. it has no odor .. and it

NEVER goes rancid .. has a shelf life of something like forty-leven

zillion years. Nobody can disprove this cause nobody has lived long

enough to see a bottle of it go bad. ;-)

Catnip can be spruced up with a bit of Lemon Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus

citriodora) .. there is proof now that Lemon Eucalyptus is also a fairly

effective agent against Skeeters .. so its a good choice. Also Lemon

Tea Tree (Leptospermum petersonii), Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia),

Atlas Cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica), Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) or

Geranium, Bourbon (Pelargonium graveolens) can be used if someone wants

to mask the odor. Wouldn't take but a tad of any of them. And remember

that the Catnip is effective at a 5% or 6% dilution .. though I'll admit

to using around 7% - 8% in my own mixtures for myself.

> Thanks very much.

Welcome fer'shur .. y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

> Holly

PS: Anyone writing to me after the next 5 minutes will not receive a

reply until tomorrow .. I'm heading out the door now for Istanbul.

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