Mosquito hell
 

Anyone have good first-hand input on mosquito control and abatement?

The mosquitoes around my house are driving me nuts! It's like I live on the mosquito coast. I can't venture outside without getting attacked, and yet I can't find any standing water where they'd be breeding. Let me point out that my "yard" is about two acres of woods, and a bit of grass. 1/2 the perimeter of my property is surrounded by a ditch. The ditch is dry unless it's just rained. Personally, I suspect 99% of the mosquitoes are coming from the dense, damp woods.

How do I control them so I can venture outside again?

check for old tires, small rotten areas in old tree trunks, small teacup sized "ponds" under debris in that ditch , etc.

yup they can fly some distance - BUT they can also breed in a thimble full of water - not one of 'em but a swarm can breed there.

the problem with UV "killers" etc. is that they kill the predatory insects that eat the mosquitos.

you might try importing predators like spiders (I know) and put small minnow and tadploes into the ditch and any other body of water around. Frogs/tadpoles are good b/c the eat skeets as tadpoles and as adults, plus they can move when the pond dries up (ephemeral water sources).

Good Luck!

DDT works

Flamethrower.

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I've got a one acre spring fed pond (not mine) about 30 yds from my back deck and don't have much of a problem (usually). One the other hand, my buddy's deck is a mosquito haven, and we both suspect his wife's potted plants, etc. (standing water). What's that Avon product that's supposed to work and how the hell can a single guy with "redneck pride" get some :)?

Get a couple of those Mosquito magnet things, that use propane. I have a Coleman one, but thats because I was impatient.

I have heard the nicer ones work even better.

Check your rain gutters, if you have them. If there's any standing water in them - they are a breeding ground.

Natural methods include bat houses - can't beat them.

Good luck, Gordo

Move to the west coast.:cool:

One reason to love California - no bugs. Not like back east or the midwest anyway. It's a total non-issue.

Have someone ship you a dead bird infected with W. Nile and your town will spray like crazy.

Freebie and no work for you.

DDT and other broad spectrum chemicals, and perhaps that propane magnet thing referred to are exactly what I warned against before. Once again: killing off the predators on mosquitos merely makes the problem worse.

There is a specific "spray" that can be sued. It is actually a mix of bacterial particles. I'm not sure if an individual can use it or if a commercial pesticide technician is needed. It targets only mosquitos - the bacteria feed on the larvae, so they die before they hatch and come after you. Not sure if it might provoke allergies or how spendy it is. You might start talking to your county or town pest control people and ask them about it.

for personal defense i hear that thermacell works fantastic. walmart sells them now.

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Eat lots of vitamin B type foods. Or Vitamin B tablets and they won't go near you.

I have heard that bat houses are the way to go. I once read that a single bat can eat up to 10,000 mosquitos a night!

Good luck.

Try this www.skeeterdefeater.com

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My company makes these - they actually work very well (or so I'm told to say...)

I have a 'Mosquito Deleto'...a propane powered system as someone else mentioned.

Works great in a circle of about 50ft, wind dependent.

All the other preventative suggestions are right on the money.

We also have the county come out and spray the farm once a month during the summer...don't know if SC has that service.

The mosquito is the state bird of Minnesota. We even had some native folk songs dedicated to them that I sang as a child, the only one I remember was:

"There's a skeeter on my peter, shake it off, shake it off..." :)

Close, It's "whack it off."