[Connie Sutherland]

My daughter sent me the name of a new "all natural" mosquito repellent which her friends are using on their dogs and their kids(!):

http://www.parsleyhollow.com/

I'm all for lessening toxic chemical exposure, but I was leery of trusting an "all-natural" formula for mosquito repelling, especially this time of year.

However, when I started researching the ingredients, BIG SURPRISE! The big ag schools agree with this small company's contention that their pimary ingredient is 10 times as effective as DEET.

According to Iowa State's Ag College:
QUOTE: Peterson said it took about a tenth as much nepetalactone to have the same repellency as DEET. "In other words, nepetalactone is about 10 times more effective than DEET," he said. END QUOTE from
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news/2001releases/catnip.html

So I am ordering some. Looks like an idea whose time has come.

 

[Anne Schmaltz]

Mosquitos and fleas and ticks- oh my?

Parsley Hollow claims this product is also effective for fleas and ticks. Has anyone observed this to be true also?

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Re: Mosquitos and fleas and ticks- oh my?

Parsley Hollow claims this product is also effective for fleas and ticks. Has anyone observed this to be true also?

I don't know. The ag school research I read didn't apply to fleas -- just mosquitos.

When I googled nepetalactone, I found some claims about its use against fleas, but no authoritative studies yet. I saw believable DIY sites that say a homemade flea collar infused with nepetalactone works at repelling the fleas in the collar region but not on the rest of the dog.

This, of course, is applied all over.

So I just don't know. I plan to use this Parsley Hollow stuff on me and the dogs, but not to discontinue Frontline until I read something the extends the proof beyond mosquitos.

Still -- a safe, non-toxic, and *effective* (more effective than DEET by 10 times) mosquito repellent is a biggie.

 

[Lynn Cheffins]

I see that the nepetalactone stuff is derived from catnip - I have loads of the stuff growing around here. I have always just dried it to make catnip for toys and to sell but I wonder if I could add it to the dogs bedding(l use pine shavings in the summer) to help repel mosquitoes - which are just awful this year?