Controlling Mosquitos

taeric

So, my wife and I just moved into a brand new home with a fairly sizeable yard that we are both looking forward to using. So far, things have been good on my part. I did get stung by a yellow jacket, though I believe I can chalk that up to being an idiot and mowing the yard with shorts and flip flops on.

My wife, on the other hand, is absolutely destroyed by the mosquitos. To the effect that if we are outside for 5 minutes she is bitten over 15 times. Easy. I could be out there all day and not get bitten that much.


So.... I started looking at different things to control this. It seems the only thing, other than tons of pesticide, that might work is if I attract dragon flies to the area. Has anyone tried this? Any other advice?

Grid System

Use insect repellant whenever you're going to be outside for while.

Citronella coils or candles also work, to a degree.

It's also worth noting that there are times when and places where mosquitos tend to be worse. From later in the evening to early afternoon, you'll find that mosquitos bite more. They tend to prefer lawn and green areas to pavement.

Make sure you don't have any standing water on your property. That is where they breed.

And for god's sake don't ever mow the lawn with flip-flops on unless you have a vendetta against your toes.

Thanatos

Grid System wrote: »

Use insect repellant whenever you're going to be outside for while.

Citronella coils or candles also work, to a degree.

It's also worth noting that there are times when and places where mosquitos tend to be worse. From later in the evening to early afternoon, you'll find that mosquitos bite more. They tend to prefer lawn and green areas to pavement.

Make sure you don't have any standing water on your property. That is where they breed.

And for god's sake don't ever mow the lawn with flip-flops on unless you have a vendetta against your toes.

Standing water is the biggie.

And there's nothing wrong with mowing the lawn in flip-flops if you're not a total retard, and you have a lawnmower that's been made in the last ten years.

taeric

The retarded part was I wasn't watching for yellow jackets. I grew up highly allergic to grass, so I didn't do much yard work. Still, I should have known better. (Amusingly, I have one of those rotary mowers right now.)


Back to the topic. Even when she is coated in deet, she gets bit more than I do without. And, evidently, the mosquito type we have only requires about an ounce of water for reproduction, and bites at all times of the day. Something like Asian Tiger, I believe.

My biggest fear is even if I can attract a predator, they won't have a big enough effect.

Deathwing

My biggest fear is even if I can attract a predator, they won't have a big enough effect.

Bats will also eat sizable numbers of mosquitoes and other bugs, though I have no idea offhand what the possibility of attracting some in your area would be.

RUNN1NGMAN

If you don't mind spending some money, a Mosquito Magnet supposedly works wonders.

http://www.mosquitomagnet.com/

taeric

We have bats. Doesn't seem to make a difference. (wikipedia notes that bats and purple martins are not good at controlling them.)

We almost got one of those magnet things. I am curious if they work. Hate to drop 400 on something just to see.

RUNN1NGMAN

taeric wrote: »

We have bats. Doesn't seem to make a difference. (wikipedia notes that bats and purple martins are not good at controlling them.)

We almost got one of those magnet things. I am curious if they work. Hate to drop 400 on something just to see.

From what I've read on them in newspapers and magazines, they do work.

But I've also read that the type of mosquito you say you have is a beast that will laugh at the mosquito magnet and then turn it against you.

taeric

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

taeric wrote: »

We have bats. Doesn't seem to make a difference. (wikipedia notes that bats and purple martins are not good at controlling them.)

We almost got one of those magnet things. I am curious if they work. Hate to drop 400 on something just to see.

From what I've read on them in newspapers and magazines, they do work.

But I've also read that the type of mosquito you say you have is a beast that will laugh at the mosquito magnet and then turn it against you.

As much as it sucks for us, that is absolutely hilarious.

I just don't get why they don't go after me at all. As I said, I'll be in a t-shirt and shorts working up a heavy sweat (for me, at least) and if Rachel comes out to talk to me for 5 minutes, she will have about 20 bites to my 2.

Gnome-Interruptus

May want to get your wife some unscented soaps and other things. If the bugs are primarily biting her that may be a possible source.

Also, are you a smoker and she is a non? I know nicotine is used as a pesticide and I know I got biten less often when I smoked. Not that I advocate taking it up to stop getting bitten.

While they only need an ounce of standing water to reproduce, not many can in such a small amount, nor would they be able to find it very easily.

Mosquitos tend to be drawn to heat and carbon dioxide I believe, so body heat and your skin breathing really attracts them.

codetrap

Thanatos wrote: »

Grid System wrote: »

And there's nothing wrong with mowing the lawn in flip-flops if you're not a total retard, and you have a lawnmower that's been made in the last ten years.

I disagree with this. The number one cause of the approximately 80,000 lawn mower related accidents is debris being propelled from the lawnmower at high speed. I don't know about you, but I keep my grass long so it survives the summers on less water, so it's not too hard to miss some small debris such as rocks or bits of wood that the kids or the dog drop into the grass during my pre-mow inspection. To me, it's just basic common sense to wear adequate protection while working with power tools.

As to the mosquitoes, what I did in our yard was break out the raid fogger, and spray it into the grass on a calm day. That seems to have done the trick pretty well. I also set up a perimeter of citronella candles around our deck that we can fire up for ambiance, as well as repellent.

taeric

Unfortunatley, the kind we have are experts at the one ounce of water problem.


And I'm not sure I'm concerned with that sort of problem from my lawn mower. It turns out I was wrong calling it a rotary one. Looks like I screwed the terms rotary and reel.

mimizu

dragonflies, bats, swallows, and swifts. Dragonflies eat the adluts and the larva.

Everywhereasign

Standing water and long grass are big ones. Check your neighbours yards too and politely ask them dump the standing water. Even though these particular ones only need a small amount of water to reproduce, the more water, the more of them you'll see.

I've yet to find anything that works as well as high concentrations of DEET. Check the repellent you're using for the concentration, some like to walk the bottles slowly past a pool of DEET and call it a day, others you need to watch sensitive skin because of the high content.

We had a similar problem at the cottage. Cleaning the yard really well and getting rid of the standing water reduced the problem greatly. It didn't get rid of it, but made it manageable.

Given that you aren't bothered by them and she's bitten so many times, I would look to clothing or perfume choices.

Dman

yeah soap, shampoo, deodorant, perfume, hand/face creams and so on can potentially all attract bugs. Also, I could probably be bitten 5 times and not really notice or complain much if I'm busy, mowing the lawn for example.
My girlfriend gets a huge itching red welt from a single mosquito bite.

If we lather on ridiculously concentrated DEET on her exposed skin they somehow manage to enter or bite through her clothing. We simply avoid areas where we know there will be mosquitoes unless there is a stiff breeze to keep them at bay.

I lived by a lake for one summer and we had lots of bats at night, and not very many insects annoying us during the day, so I am thinking predators can make a difference, but how to attract them is another story.

I would search your property and your neighbors for standing water and try to get rid of it. Could there be water pooling in the eves of your roves?

taeric

My biggest guess for where they come from, is that we have a TON of leaves that trap water. It is bad enough that I have a hard time trying to get rid of the ones that were here when we moved in. (I didn't even touch the back of our yard, but I still filled about 11 bags of leaves.)

Now, I'm all for giving it the good try and getting rid of the leaves. Unfortunately, the view of the lady we bought the house from, and all of the neighbors, is to simply blow all of the leaves to the backs of their yards. Am I wrong in suspecting this?

As for attracting, we have about a half acre back yard. I can check nearby if we have dragonflies and basically scoop some soil to place in a pond back here. That just runs the risk of if I fail. That is, if I don't get dragonflies, I will be making a huge target for the mosquitos.

Everywhereasign

The leaves are probably a big part of the problem. During the warmest parts of the day, those guys need a cool place to hunker down. They are most likely hiding in that pile (and the ones around you) If you don't want to bag the leaves you could always offer to split the rental cost of a leaf mulcher with your neighbours a couple times a season. The mulch is good for the garden and won't trap water, or give the mosquitoes a place to hide.

meeker

Most large cities subsidize mosquito killing companies.

Call your city or just try

http://tuxedomosquitocontro.reachlocal.com/coupon/?scid=656885&cid=217716&tc=08073021021528465&kw=215328:834&dynamic_proxy=1&primary_serv=tuxedomosquitocontro.reachlocal.net&se_refer=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fsearch%253Fq%253Datlanta%252Bmosquito%252Bcontrol%2526ie%253Dutf-8%2526oe%253Dutf-8%2526aq%253Dt%2526rls%253Dorg.mozilla%253Aen-US%253Aofficial%2526client%253Dfirefox-a