Insect/fly zappers

Has anyone had any good results from pest zappers? If so, which ones?

I am already overrun with flys and in the winter field mice take over my garage.

Thanks

Reply to
Freckles
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Supposedly, they don't work on mosquitoes. Why not take out the cars and spray or bomb the garage? Don't store any kind of grain (or food) in the garage including bird seed. Set mouse traps.

Reply to
Phisherman

CO2 generator mosquito traps work the best. Tin Cats, made by Victor, work the best for mice.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Get one of the Handheld Bug Zappers, its a small tennis racket powered by batteries that will kill a Horse Fly or Bumblebee, they are about

10$ and work, Mice, use poison, Flies are from dead animals, maybe you should clean up a bit.
Reply to
ransley

Maybe, maybe not. A town near us has been overrun with flied from some local farms. People a mile away have literally thousands of flies in their house and it has nothing to do with their own housekeeping. When flies make headline news, you know it is a heavy infestation.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I didn't see Ransley's post- and forget what the OP said about flies-- but here's a paper on Buckwheat flies [Cluster Flies] -- They are attracted to a warm spot- not looking for food. Cleanliness is a good idea-- but it won't solve all your insect problems [and conversely insect problems don't mean the area is dirty]

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

They're all almost 100% BS. Attracting insects to kill them seems to make sense to some people, and I guess it would be if you could not attract them through the area you'd like protected.

"Sonic" repellents are complete BS, without exception.

The most effective technique for both is "exclusion", with mice, also capture, physically kill, and/or poison. Easier said than done, I know, but that's all the homeowner has to choose from.

For the flies, you can spray too. Tempo 20 WP(tm) is a general use indoor/outdoor pesticide often sold at feed stores in 7gm packets, but you can probably find the 420gm tubs it sounds like you need online. Shop around, some places charge way too much.

I wouldn't recommend Tempo SC(tm) "Super Concentrate" liquid; WP is "Wettable Powder" (talc-like dust) and will remain on the surface where it's easier for insects to contact. The dust is "coated" at various thicknesses and when mixed with water that coating breaks down gradually, so it offers "persistence".

There was a study back in the 90s that found that WP -*could*- remain effective for up to 3 years when applied to raw wood and protected from UV light.

The sun will break WP down in 24-48 hours, so you need to kinda hide it. Also keep in mind it will leave a pale dust coating on whatever you apply it to.

"Following the directions" spray the living shit out of exterior walls, ceilings, around door, windows, cracks, crevices, between gutters and gutter boards, foliage around the house including the underside of leaves.

Inside, apply to windowsills and/or the bottom of the sash the so when the little bastards are trying to find their way out they come in contact, and keep a vacuum handy.

Pesticides that are persistent generally do not offer instant kill "knockdown", so ensure you don't hit a hornet nest. It will kill them, eventually, but at first it's just going to piss them off, a lot. It will kill any fly or other such pest within hours, if not sooner. Spiders, when hit wet, will last about 15-60 seconds or less.

Do not use a surfactant with WP, it smothers the dust and reduces the effectiveness.

According to the directions you can apply it to anything "where prolonged contact with human skin will not occur", or words to that effect. I interpreted that to mean doorknobs were OK.

It does react with some metals, specifics are in the application instructions.

If you want to go crazy, and you think it's worth it, invest in a Birchmeier backpack sprayer. They're the Cadillac, and completely repairable.

Tempo is, according to Bayer and the EPA, extremely safe for mammals, approved for use in schools and nursing homes, and in restaurants "in operation" for crack and crevice applications.

At "full-strength" there's a .20 (hence the "20") concentration of Cyflutherin, the active ingredient. Do not be misled by the crap you can buy at home improvement stores that contain Cyflutherin, there are many compositions of chemicals of the same name that are essentially and effectively different. -----

- gpsman

Reply to
gpsman

We get small black flies every fall. They are looking for a place to sleep for the winter. If you are not careful about keeping the doors closed you will have dozens of them hanging around.

A few years ago we had bad infestation. My neighbor had finished framing in his place. It was basically closed off to the rain but he hadn't installed the soffits. We are in cottage country, this was a summer project for him. He locked the place up for the winter. When he came back in the spring there were millions of dead flies inside. He took out garbage bags full of them.

Believe me it was not a pretty sight. Mother nature has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Every now and then she pulls one out and give us a few lumps with it. Flies, inch worms, rabbits, mice. One year it was black bears. I get a kick out of those people that get anal about mice or voles in their yard. I'd love to see the look on their faces if they were to walk around a corner into a full grown bear.

LdB

Reply to
L D'Bonnie

I have paid enough attention to those and homebrewed a few. I also have paid some attention to what insects are attracted to non-zapping lights for that matter.

My experience is that they do only a little against houseflies, greenbottle/bluebottle flies (similar to houseflies) and mosquitoes. Those insects are not much attracted to light - visible or UV.

Zappers with UV lights attract more of the following:

  • Moths
  • Flying beetles
  • Leafhoppers
  • Lacewings - which are beneficial since they eat garden pests
  • Crane flies - largely harmless

Other than lacewings, these insects mostly eat plants (or their larvae do) or suck sap out of plants. This is harmful to plants, but usually only minimally.

Ridding your neighborhood of these is probably not a good idea - doing so reduces the food supply for natural enemies of flying insects, such as bats and some birds, and then the insect-eaters move elsewhere and the mosquito population increases. I have been there and done that.

I have heard better things though still somewhat mixed news about mosquito zappers that emit heat and CO2 to attract mosquitoes.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

Reply to
Don Klipstein

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