The citronella plant is a hybrid that combines the Formosan citronella grass with the African geranium . It develop and is care for like a geranium but has the lemon scent of the citronella . You may chance this plant in garden centers and nursery under the name mosquito works because it repels mosquitoes like citronella candle . The citronella plant is a warm weather condition industrial plant grow mostly in containers so it can be leave behind outdoors in the summertime and wintered indoors . It can be get in the earth in gardening zone 9b through 11 .
Step 1
Bring the citronella plant life indoors when the temperature starts to dunk into the low sixty ( Fahrenheit ) at night . If the plant is in the soil , carefully dig it up and place it in a flower pot along with the dirt it ’s mature in . Make indisputable the pot has drain hole .
Step 2
Place a dry out leaf and pine needle compost on top of the soil in the slew . Citronella require a lot of atomic number 7 to keep them green .
Step 3
Place the industrial plant near a windowpane where it will get six to eight hours of sun each twenty-four hours . If you do n’t have an area that will give the plant enough light , string up grow illumination about a foot over the plants and turn them on until the plant get 8 hour of light per day . For example , if you get three 60 minutes of sun through a window , provide the lights on for another five hour .
Step 4
Keep the citronella aside from heater vents and drafty areas . Do n’t place them near an external door that will opened frequently . The idealistic ceaseless temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees F.
Step 5
Water when the top of the soil take off to dry out out . Citronella is more or less drouth resistant and would rather be a slight dry than have too much pee .
Step 6
Cut stems back by 4 inches with sharp pruning shears and remove the bottom leave-taking from the stems . Place them in a mixture of damp Baroness Dudevant and peat moss in a separate container . Keep them moist and in indirect luminousness until they bulge out to grow roots . They will be ready to direct outdoors in the spring with the mother plant life .
Warning
Citronella plants are poisonous to animals . Store the plant in a heated garage or greenhouse during the winter if you have home favorite .
