Homemade Effective Mosquito Repellent

Dengue is a virus infection illness that is transmitted through infected Aedes mosquitoes. This disease is commonly found in tropical countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia. Dengue could be severe and fatal to some people. Preventive measures like destroying their breeding ground (clearing out stagnant water), wearing long sleeves when going out during Aedes mosquitoes' active time (7-8am; 5-7pm) or using mosquitoes repellent to get rid of them are some of the important ways.

We could buy the mosquito repellent from the drug store. However, most commercial mosquito repellents are not safe for babies/toddlers and are quite oily upon application. Some even irritate our eyes when accidentally rubbed on them. A few years back, I found a video tutorial on DIY mosquito repellent from Taiwan. There are people who said the remedy is effective and thus I tried. It turns out quite effective as no bites from mosquitoes upon application every time I use it.

We first need Coleus amboinicus or known as Mexican mint or lemon leaves or pokok bangun-bangun or sedingin or pokok ubat batuk or 左手香. This plant is found in wild and planted in the neighbourhood. You can ask from your neighbour for a stalk to grow at your garden. The plant is easily cultivated and does not need much care.

Ethnobotanical Uses

Food (Herb and Spice : The leaves are used to add flavor to meat and bean dishes, especially in Caribbean cuisine. The flavor is described as being a combination of thyme and oregano. ) Medicinal (In Taiwan, the plant is used in traditional medicine to treat inflammation or swelling. A study by Chang et al. (2007) indicates that it has potential to treat rheumatoid arthritis. In Indonesia, Philippines and India, the plant is used as a treatment for coughing. Indonesian women that have given birth sometimes drink soups made with the leaves to promote lactation. ) [Others]: Volatile oils extracted from the plant have antifungal properties that could potentially protect stored foods from fungal contamination (Murthy et al. 2009). The essential oils are toxic to some insects. (source from here)

The plant itself is highly aromatic which most of the insects don't like. This is due to the presence of volatile essential oil in the leaves. The first step is wash and dry the leaves thoroughly and select only the healthy one (without spot). You can dry under the sun or with oven.

I use approximately 200g dried leaves , a bottle of rice wine and salt to start with.

Material:

Coleus amboinicus leaves

rice wine

salt

clean and dried container

Steps:

1. Make sure the container and leaves are thoroughly dried  as the whole thing will spoiled (moldy) with moisture inside. 
2. Put a layer of leaves at the bottom of container, sprinkled with some salt on top. Do it repeatedly until the container is filled.
3. Add in the rice wine until it covers the leaves. Close the lid.
4. After half a month, put upside down a few times and shake it to ensure all things mixed well (so that the essential oil in the leaves could be extracted).
5. The mosquito repellent is ready to use after a month. Filter off the leaves and keep the brownish liquid in a clean bottle.

Use the rice wine as it is gentle on skin and not irritating especially if plan to spray on toddler.

This is how it looks like in step 3.

This was second round I made with a bigger container. The leaves turned brownish as well. The filtered leaves are still aromatic and you can put it at your door entrance or window to get rid of the mosquitoes.

Tadah, this is the final product. Homemade mosquitoes repellent spray. This empty bottle you can purchase in Eco shop for RM2 (3-4 bottles). I will usually spray it before hiking to avoid mosquitoes bites. It is indeed effective after I tested for 2 years.