Jeez, its 90 degrees here with full sun and I'm pushing the mower with one hand and slapping skeeters with the other. Well, I would be, but I came in to cool off and get some water. They're always bad around here in the summer, but they seem especially populous and very hungry this year. As much as I'd like to mow in shorts, not only due to the heat, but also just to get some sun on my lily white legs, I can't because of the mosquitos. We've got lots of woods around the neighborhood and most houses have large flower beds that I'm sure are all breeding grounds. My wife is going green and dragging me with her. All natural and organic foods whenever possible. I don't mind that one bit, organics taste better, but she's also trying to switch over to cleaners and other household chemicals that are made with natural products instead of harsh chemicals, this includes bug spray, repellent, etc. That means the only stuff I've found that works at all and that I can spray around the house on the flower beds and in the wooded areas is no longer an option if I want to remain in a harmonius relationship with my wife. The natural/environmentally friendly skeeter repellent she's bought does no good, or irritates my skin so bad I don't want to use it. Help me before I shrivel up to nothing because this scurge has sucked me dry!!
Mosquitos!!! Aghhhh! What do YOU do about them?
- Thread starter Oddball
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RobertBrown
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I use deet....spray it on your shirt and hat in small quantites, not on your skin. Keep it in your garage where your wife doesn't see it. If she smells it, tell her it's gas.
Deet is very effective and 100% natural, made from the leaves and roots of the tropical "Existingnot" plant native to the Amazon region of Antartica
.Now if she finds the deet, blame it on me, the guy from LMF, for telling you it's a natural product, so safe you could eat it, be sure and shrug your shoulders when you say Robertbrown.
JDgreen
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Modify the exhaust on your mower so it goes straight back and gasses the little f------s.....:laughing:
While I applaud going green in many instances, sometimes there is no substitute for the old solutions. I never use repellents myself, because after pushing a mower in 90 degree heat, after ten minutes, I stink so bad no self respecting bug will come near me except flies.
Seems like the Today Show did a story some time ago about how these environmentally friendly products just don't work. I didn't see it, but my wife did. Lucky for me she's not entirely on board with this green movement.
I think the mosquito population is worse this year due to all that rain we had in the spring. We here in Western Kentucky received 43 inches of rain by the first of May....our average annual rainfall is 42 inches! All that rain created lots of wet areas, for instance my small pond has just now returned to its normal level. Mosquitos need still, undisturbed pools of water to reproduce. You can't do anything about your neighbors property, just make sure that you don't have any standing water on your property.
I think the mosquito population is worse this year due to all that rain we had in the spring. We here in Western Kentucky received 43 inches of rain by the first of May....our average annual rainfall is 42 inches! All that rain created lots of wet areas, for instance my small pond has just now returned to its normal level. Mosquitos need still, undisturbed pools of water to reproduce. You can't do anything about your neighbors property, just make sure that you don't have any standing water on your property.
Sprinkler Buddy
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Build a Bat House. The bats have been doing a # on them around here. If you have dense woods or vegetation on your property, thinning it will also help.
RobertBrown and JD, while you're tongue in cheek suggestions did give me a moment of pleasure, they just really aren't that helpful.:wink:
Mullins, I'd thought of thinning out some of the wooded area on our property, but honestly I'd only be gaining maybe 20 feet here and there and there'd still be thick woods or overgrown yards surrounding the property. The wooded areas in our backyard help hide the unsightly back yards that back up to ours. I honestly thought that the extra cold winter we had this year would have killed off a lot of them, but apparently it only killed the weak ones allowing the strong to survive and flourish. About 20-25 years ago we had an influx of the Asian Tiger Mosquito (I think that's the correct name). These things are twice as big as our normal mosquitos and a lot more aggressive, not to mention their bite itches a lot worse. They said on the news recently that the Tiger Mosquitos are especially bad here this year and there have been more cases of mosquito born illnesses than usual, fortunately not West Nile, but others.
Sprinkler Buddy, I believe it would take about half the Carlsbad Caverns bat popluation to keep our mosquitos under control. And some of these things are big enough to give a bat a good fight. We actually do have a bat house that I need to put up. We've got a good bat poplation around here already.
Mullins, I'd thought of thinning out some of the wooded area on our property, but honestly I'd only be gaining maybe 20 feet here and there and there'd still be thick woods or overgrown yards surrounding the property. The wooded areas in our backyard help hide the unsightly back yards that back up to ours. I honestly thought that the extra cold winter we had this year would have killed off a lot of them, but apparently it only killed the weak ones allowing the strong to survive and flourish. About 20-25 years ago we had an influx of the Asian Tiger Mosquito (I think that's the correct name). These things are twice as big as our normal mosquitos and a lot more aggressive, not to mention their bite itches a lot worse. They said on the news recently that the Tiger Mosquitos are especially bad here this year and there have been more cases of mosquito born illnesses than usual, fortunately not West Nile, but others.
Sprinkler Buddy, I believe it would take about half the Carlsbad Caverns bat popluation to keep our mosquitos under control. And some of these things are big enough to give a bat a good fight. We actually do have a bat house that I need to put up. We've got a good bat poplation around here already.
JDgreen
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You insult Robert Brown, he made a very good, practical suggestion. And to boast that you have skeeters big enough to give a bat a good fight is just plain silly. You are supposed to contribute HONEST Posts and Threads, not gross exaggerations.
:laughing: touche
The bats are a very good idea. We have several that live in an old tobacco barn here at the house. Between them and the martins, they do a pretty good job. However, we have more mosquitos than they can eat.
We have a lot mosquitos too, I use most of the spray products already mentioned when I can find them.
Seems like every time I need them I can't find any, but when I need a snow shovel they're all over the
place.:laughing:
I just wanted to mention a product my friend uses called Skin So Soft, my wife says Avon sells it. I've
never used it but my friend says it works very good, maybe some readers have used it and can tell you
about it. I do a lot of work outside and when it gets real bad I start up my diesel pick-up and they clear
out pretty quick. They also make foggers that take a diesel type fuel that you use to fog the yard but
sooner or later they always come back after the fog clears out. Good luck...cubby
Seems like every time I need them I can't find any, but when I need a snow shovel they're all over the
place.:laughing:
I just wanted to mention a product my friend uses called Skin So Soft, my wife says Avon sells it. I've
never used it but my friend says it works very good, maybe some readers have used it and can tell you
about it. I do a lot of work outside and when it gets real bad I start up my diesel pick-up and they clear
out pretty quick. They also make foggers that take a diesel type fuel that you use to fog the yard but
sooner or later they always come back after the fog clears out. Good luck...cubby