Suzie-Q wrote: ....
An occasional spraying of Malathion if you get a real outbreak is quite effective and breaks down within a few days...
Swallows are also effective if one has them...
But, best is the water-hunting, but--you can do so, but unless all your neighbors are as zealous as you, you'll still get an infestation after a rain and a week or so dry spell...
Last summer, my backyard was a mosquito rock concert. From July through late September it was almost impossible to use my yard, late day or night.
There's no standing water. I'm told that it's because of all my tomato plants, which attract male mosquitos, which attract the biting females. Whatever, I'm growing even more tomatoes this year and I'd like to be able to go outside without being an insect feast and also without dousing myself in Deet.
I'm looking for something to kill the little buggers. I'm told that conventional bug zappers don't work well with mosquitos. Some neighbors have built bat houses but I'm also told that mosquitos aren't a favorite dish for bats either.
Any reasonable ideas?
Steve Manes Brooklyn, NY
-> Last summer, my backyard was a mosquito rock concert. From July
-> through late September it was almost impossible to use my yard, late
-> day or night.
->
-> There's no standing water. I'm told that it's because of all my
-> tomato plants, which attract male mosquitos, which attract the biting
-> females. Whatever, I'm growing even more tomatoes this year and I'd
-> like to be able to go outside without being an insect feast and also
-> without dousing myself in Deet.
->
-> I'm looking for something to kill the little buggers. I'm told that
-> conventional bug zappers don't work well with mosquitos. Some
-> neighbors have built bat houses but I'm also told that mosquitos
-> aren't a favorite dish for bats either.
->
-> Any reasonable ideas?
Since you're growing tomatoes the foggers are out of the question (garden foggers in a spray can - Raid, etc.). I've had success with them, though, in keeping the little buggers away for a few hours.
You could try the mosquito coils (Off!, I think, makes them). You burn them and they sort of smolder for a few hours, keeping the mosquitoes away. There are also those new lantern-type things that are supposed to be mosquito repellants. There's a candle inside and you put this little thing in the lantern above the candle so that it heats up and repels mosquitoes. Again, I think Off! makes it.
As far as killing them, you'd have to use something that would likely make your tomatoes inedible, and it probably wouldn't be effective for long.
Best thing is to remove all standing water after a rain so they have no place to breed. Take a good walk around your property and look painstakingly for standing water.
Hummingbirds eat mosquitoes, so put up some feeders and attract them
That's my uneducated advice! I hope it helps.
The gadgets which use propane to produce CO2 work but vary in quality. Check Consumer Reports from last year at the library.
On Tue 05 Apr 2005 05:25:54p, Steve Manes wrote in alt.home.repair:
Try this or similar units...
Hi, How about fogger? Tony
One that works is called " The amazing handheld bug zapper" It is like a small tennis raquet that puts out enough voltage to fry horse flys. They often explode-pop loudly in a white flash. Good nightime entertainment, even inside easier than swatting them. They cost apx 12$
Those are the biggest gimmick's going!
I know quite a few people who dumped the $250+ (for the larger model) and ended up with larger propane bills and no difference in mosquitoes.
Bats do a great job on mosquitoes, but they're not an instantaneous solution - it can take months or years for bats to move in to a bat house.
There's a lot of info on bat houses here:
Bat houses are very inexpensive, average $50, much cheaper if you make it yourself.
You need to mount the bat house facing south, at least 15 feet above ground.
You can mount it directly on your house or another structure, erect a pole, or use a tree. However, the house must be visible from the south at all times. If tree branches or other structures obstruct the house, bats are unlikely to ever find it.
That's about all there is to it.
Note that bats are no more likely to have rabies or get into your house than squirrels. In fact, the best way to think of them is as flying squirrels that eat mosquities :)
-- Jennifer
even adopting the bat house, but rather the relative warmth of the house. The conservation organizations say south or southeast to take advantage of morning(east) and winter(south) sun, and the bat babies need it warm. Why morning sun would be more important than afternoon sun, I do not know :)
-- Jennifer
I just realized I should probably shouldn't have been such a regional chauvinist, sorry :)
In the north america, south-facing houses are recommended. I know next to nothing about bats outside of NA.
-- Jennifer
Being still a new home owner, I can still remember each summer.
1st summer, very dry, and the local creek had very many stagnet pools of water. My son, then under 1 yearold was like veal to these blood suckers. He was immediatly pounced on, spray my yard no luck. Oh we have hundreds of bats from a local cave, still tough hanging outside. 2nd summer, lots of rain. The fast moving water lowered the mosquitos, but then we had 'black flies' Larger, and more agresseive than the mosquitos. It sucked. Bats were fat, bugs sucked use dry, and sprays did nothing. 3rd summer, rain off and on. Got a Mosquito Magnet. Life was good. A neighbor commented one night how there must have been a weird summer, she didn't remember one mosquito bite all summer, and she was able to work in her garden again(lots of tomatoe plants). So, the contraption worked for my yard, as well as my neighbors.This summer, gunna clean it up, give it a fresh tank, and let the machine do the work. :)
I have to say, imho, I recommend getting a mosquito magnet. I got the defende modelr, since my hard is under 1/4 acre.
hth,
tom @
Yes, these machines are lots of money, so I did more research, and found I personally didn't like the colemans. Felt it was like a high priced flypaper. I went with the mosquito magnet, I'm very happy. We were able to retake our yard without spraying pesticides, or repelleants.
later,
tom
JerseyMike wrote: ....
As soon as springtime gets here in earnest and I put ours up, they stay on continuously until taken down in the fall after the first killing frost. Besides the nighttime critters it then works on various daylight beasties (mostly moths, etc.) as well. I'll use some of the attractant on occasion if there's a particular infestation but it's normally not needed and somewhat expensive for continous usage.
Jennifer wrote: ....
....
I have no clue where this piece of the recipe came from but I can attest that bats found the eave vent on my house which definitely didn't not face nor was it even visible from the south...of course, the house was in "the South" if that counts... :)
Methinks this is legend, not fact.
Magnet - that's the one they bought! Didn't work one bit for them. They were trying to keep a relatively small area clear - about 1/4 acre. The unit was rated for up to 2x that.
I got to witness one of them first hand. The unit was slowly humming away and we were getting bitten alive. Colossal waste of money, IMHO.
Despite appearances (that I'm using news.indidual.net which is in Germany),
On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 20:25:54 -0400, Steve Manes wrote (with possible editing):
I have two "Mosquito Magnets". They are made by American Biophysics, I think of Rhode Island. They are ridiculously expensive, but they work extremely well - not only for mosquitoes, but black flies as well.
I have had them now for at least 5 years. I have had to replace the generators which seem to quit after about 3 years, but the company has offered reduced cost units even when they are out of warranty.
They require changing 8lb propane cylinders every 3 weeks, and the mosquito attractant and the collection bag at the same time, so they're not cheap to maintain either, but they have been extremely effective for us up in northern NH. (I don't bother changing the bag except for once a season which saves a little bit) Nothing else worked and I've been living up here and dealing with the problem for over 30 years. For what it's worth, we grow tomatoes as well.
I'd suggest (also) that you check Consumer Reports or other sites for comparisons as somebody must make one now that is less expensive and still works. We bought a Mosquito Magnet the first year it was offered, and quickly bought another the following year, once we saw how effective it was.
i use a 1 acre bug zapper and live on a 1/4 acre lot and have it on a timer away from the house on the rear fence. it comes on from dusk to about midnight and comes back on about 4am and goes off around dawn every day, rain or shine and i've noticed a difference. i find hundreds weekly of those little bloodsuckers lying dead and ants love eating them too. they say there is a scent you can add to attract them but they just flock to it,especially when it's pitch dark in the middleof the night.
mike..........
We tried two different ones down here in central Texas and neither of them worked..The first one was the Mosquito Magnet mentioned above..Sucker was expensive and caught maybe a dozen skeeters in two weeks. Took it back, refund, then tried a different brand from Costco..Worked similar but had a built in timer which would turn it on in the morning and evening..It was worse yet..We took that one back too..Did some checking around and it appears different types of skeeters these things work better with..Down here in Austin we have the damn Asian tiger, and they are not attracted as much to C02 but more to lactic acid or something like that..The girl at Costco said they had gotten a ton back..But I do hear they work better on the skeeters up further north..The more "traditional" american variety I guess..Wish it had worked..Sure would have been better than a bath in deet... John
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