Citronella candles only deter mosquitoes for a few feet. That’s not enough distance to protect a patio, let alone a yard.
If you bought citronella candles, you might expect the mosquitoes to go away. So it’s often disappointing when they don’t.
Citronella oil does have real repellent properties, to be clear. In lab conditions, the compound has been found to interfere with mosquitoes’ ability to detect CO2 and body odor. And these are the signals they use to find hosts. The trouble is translating that from the lab to the real world.
Candles release citronella vapor. But it doesn’t go far before it disperses. The zone of reduced mosquito activity around a single candle is often measured in inches, not feet.
Studies on citronella candles have found that they reduce bites by a modest percentage compared to having no candle at all, but they fall far short of what most people expect when they buy one.
The deeper issue is that candles don't address the source of the problem. The mosquitoes biting you at dinner aren't flying in from far away. They've been resting in the shrubs, under the deck, and along the fence line all day, waiting for dusk. A candle on the table doesn't reduce that population. It simply annoys them for a few minutes.
If you’re looking for effective actions you can take on your own to control mosquitoes, check out this video on the 7 T's of mosquito control. That can give you some actionable advice you can follow right away to make the problem a little better.
If you’re a homeowner in Nassau or Queens and you’re tired of dealing with mosquitoes, then Mosquito Squad of Nassau - Queens can help. Barrier treatments can be applied to the places where mosquitoes live, which can reduce the population on your property by up to 90% for up to 21 days at a time.
