Mosquito control

KurtV said:
andysutt said:
I have nothing to offer... but I have the same problem... or should I say my wife and my mother do when they use the pool.

I was thinking about just buying a regular old bug zapper and placing it outside. I have place to hang it out of the way and close enough to pool so that it still works but doesnt draw them towards the pool.
Would this work on the aboved mentioned pests? I know it works for flies

I read somehwere that those things do almost no good at all. Even if that's the case they do do something and they're cheap and quite entertaining; there's nothing like the sound of sizzling bugs to liven up the evening.

Heck yeah!! A six-pack and a bug zapper..now that's high-class redneck entertainment!! :lol: Get a june bug in the zapper, it'll pop and crack for a good five minutes or so!

Aren't mosquitoes drawn to humans by the CO2 we breathe out?? I thought that was the whole idea behind the propane powered skeeter traps.
 
Caustik - have you tried the garlic solution yet? Any results?

What sort of garlic oil blend are we talking about here. Is this something that I can mix myself or are you and Poolsean buying a product like Mosquito Barrier or something similar?

Riles
 
Well i bought a bugzapper and it came w/ a thing you open up and attach to the bottom of the bug zapper, that attracks mosquitos.

It seems to well. I know it kills a ton of bugs and I have seen less mosquitos also... But they dont bother me, hardly bite me and if they do I dont itch.

The wife hasnt been outside as much, but I have noticed she is scratching as much either.
 
Riles_J said:
Caustik - have you tried the garlic solution yet? Any results?

What sort of garlic oil blend are we talking about here. Is this something that I can mix myself or are you and Poolsean buying a product like Mosquito Barrier or something similar?

Riles

My wife boils the garlic cloves without crushing them, but slice it so that there are no little pieces that would clog the spray nozzle. Let it boil for about 10 minutes then let it cool. Pour into a squirt bottle and spray on your plants and flowers.
It is also fantastic for flowers.
 
Here is a solution that we have here in Houston. I know of one individual who has installed this and at the time, he swore it worked. I believe it is quite costly, but it might be an end to those nasty little boogers. Here's a link for the website.

www.zeromosquito.com

They say it kills and repels mosquitos, black flies, no see ums, flees etc. . Has anyone else ever seen this???
 
Riles_J said:
Caustik - have you tried the garlic solution yet? Any results?

What sort of garlic oil blend are we talking about here. Is this something that I can mix myself or are you and Poolsean buying a product like Mosquito Barrier or something similar?

Riles

Sorry for the delay Riles, the show posts since last visit has been a little wacky on my account as of late and I missed your message.

Yes, it has been on for 2 or so weeks now. There is a noticeable reduction in insect activity since the garlic spray. We will be going ahead with the 2nd and 3rd applications. We have not had the humid weather of norm lately so once that sets in I will know for certain if the spray is working.

I could not tell you what my tree care provider is using. I could give you his email address and you can find out what is in it for certain.
 
Sheesh, that Zero Mosquito looks like those sprayers that are in cheap restaurants, where it sprays a lil mist every 2 or 3 minutes. I am not sure if I would like to breathe in that stuff day in day out.

We dont have lots of skitters here, but I can attest to those Propane units, they are amazing.

Rik
 
KurtV said:
andysutt said:
I have nothing to offer... but I have the same problem... or should I say my wife and my mother do when they use the pool.

I was thinking about just buying a regular old bug zapper and placing it outside. I have place to hang it out of the way and close enough to pool so that it still works but doesnt draw them towards the pool.
Would this work on the aboved mentioned pests? I know it works for flies

I read somehwere that those things do almost no good at all. Even if that's the case they do do something and they're cheap and quite entertaining; there's nothing like the sound of sizzling bugs to liven up the evening.
Actually. that is what I thought, too, that is till my cousin bought one and his kills so many that he has to go out and bang the sides of it to clean the wire screens. They were filled with gnats and mosquitos. You have to get the one with the black light (not the blue light) and it has the mosquito chemical attractor on the bottom of it. I bought one... I have to say that mine doesn't kill as many as his does but mine is set up in a poor location (this was done to prevent bad neighbor kids from shooting out the bulb... their dad bought them a BB gun.... what a guy :twisted:). I will be moving it soon.

The other thing I do is I got a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. I drilled huge holes in the top and a couple of small holes on the side.* Then I mixed up some concrete and let it harden in the bottom.** I then put water in it and a quarter of a Mosquito Doughnut in it. The idea here is I have given the mosquitoes a place to lay their eggs and the Mosquito Doughtnut kills the Mosquito larva. I bought the Mosquito Doughnut at either Lowes or Home Depot (they both carry it).

*The holes in the lid is for the mosquitoes to get access to the water to lay their eggs and the holes in the sides of the bucket are to keep the water level low enough to keep my dog from drinking the water. I knew the rain would fill up the bucket and she would soon be drinking her fill.... and probably eat the Mosquito Doughnut too :lol: .
**The concrete is to keep the kids from "accidentally" knocking the bucket over.
 
pooladdict said:
We dont have lots of skitters here, but I can attest to those Propane units, they are amazing.

Rik

I have had one running for about a month now (SkeeterVac); seems like it might be helping a little, but we still have plenty of mosquitoes. . .

My pool house has a ventilation fan. . . it's probably too big for one of those Skeeter Bags, but I wonder if I could rig something up to fit that. . .
 

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Poolsean said:
I know Jules started this thread saying that Citronella oil lamps didn't work. . .

Actually I was using citronella CANDLES, not lamps/torches.

A suggestion I received from a friend was to plant citronella plants! Great idea, but not a quick fix. Chrysanthemums would be a good idea, if they would grow here. . . I have this idea they're a bit difficult to grow.

I like these "environmental" solutions. Need to get that bat house installed! We've had several families of barn swallows nesting on our house, and I've heard they are great mosquito eaters. We've still had plenty of the pesky bugs tho.

The problem appears to be getting a bit better. The weather is finally getting hotter and drier, so I think that helps.
 
We bought two of the ThermoCell lanterns - one for each end of the pool area. They seem to help some but I guess we have just had our best luck fogging with pyrethrin - it lasts for around 4 hrs or so with zero mosquito problem during that time.
 
So, SC is not the only place where mosquitoes will carry off your young?........Before I even go turn on the pool pump or the water hose I always spray down w/our skeeter concoction recipe we got from an old fisherman friend...

equal parts of Skin So Soft and Rubbing Alcohol

We use the green alchol so that we don't accidentally mix up which sprayer we are picking up...the other has bleach! :evil:

Sometimes I even spray the peramiter if we are going to be outside and it will hold them down. The SOS can be kinda' expensive, but we find it at local flea markets for $4 a 16.9 oz. bottle. :)

That "Skeeter Bag" and the "skeeter doughnut" ideas sound like something we will probably try! Inexpensive! Already have some screen wire left over from rescreening our windows and DH always has a bag of concrete mix in the garage! Even if the sides are not connected, I don't think the skeeters/flies can get back out w/a Patton fan on low! :twisted:

BTW, Sean, I'm going to boil up a batch of garlic brew and start that 'therapy' today!

Sure would like to hear more ideas on keeping skeeters at bay! Love this site.

Happy swimming, Joyce :-D
 
I found this useful thread while investigating ways to keep the biters away. Last night was my first night out by the pool and I have three itchy bites this morning.

We have a Mosquito Magnet we bought several years ago and I think this will be the first summer I don't bother with it. It is a bit of a disappointment for us. As was mentioned previously, it got to be a pain to have to replace the propane tank every few weeks and the bag wasn't exactly stuffed with dead mosquitoes. We tried all the various suggestions the company offered, but our yard just isn't set up for optimal mosquito killing, I guess.

My brother-in-law bought one of the bug-zappers that has the mosquito attractant in it and he swears by it. He says he has to keep emptying it every week as it gets so many mosquitoes and other bugs. I may have to give one of those a try, but I like the other ideas presented here, too.

I am starting to think that whole "mosquitoes have a very limited range" thing is a myth. I've worked with all my surrounding neighbors to make sure none of us have any standing water and, yet, we have mosquitoes. Either they don't really need standing water or they will travel >250 feet to munch on us (or there is a small bit of water hiding somewhere).
 
rbielefeld said:
I do a lot of fishing and outdoor activities, soon to be doing outdoor stuff around a new pool, but I digress, and I find that ThermaCELLs work great. A ThermaCELL is a small hand-sized device that runs on a small butane cartridge. They work by heating up a patch that containes a repellent. They work great on no-see-ums too. They get warm but not hot enough to be of any danger to anything or any body. I put one on or near the table we sit at on our back porch and we are never bothered by mosquitos or no see ums. I actually have three of these devices and scatter them around the yard when we are out back in the eveining doing yard-wide activities. There also are other products available from ThermaCELL. Just another possible solution. See this link for more info. Ron

http://www.mosquitorepellent.com/

I picked up one of these yesterday morning as we were having guests over for dinner last night and we wanted to eat outside. It seemed to work very well as none of us were bothered by mosquitoes the entire evening. I'm going to get some more to scatter around the yard.
 
Propane units draw mosquitoes to your property using C02 which is what humans breathe. Some use octenal tablets to help mimic a cows breath. Again these all attract mosquitoes so people accidently place these units on their patios thinking they are doing well. Then when they see the results (dead mosquitoes by the thousands) they think the machine is really working. Yes its attracting mosquitoes to your yard - good job! What people should do is place the units far away from where they are entertaining. In addition mosquitoes generally fly up wind to get their prey. Most freshwater mosquitoes breed and live in their yard a rarely travel outside of their block so to speak. So removing standing water is by far a way to go! BTI mosquito dunks should be tossed into drain pipes (tied to grate) and also use of mosquito misting systems is ideal.

Edit. Butterfly
 
We have used the mosquito magnet for years. It has worked great for us. We have a very wooded property and put the unit on the edge of the lawn. It is far away from the pool and deck so it does draw the mosquitos away. The bag is always full! We also got a free nosquito unit ( not sure of the manufacturer) this year form another company. This one doesn't work at all. We have both units on different sides of the lawn and the free one hardly catches anything. The other great thing about the mosquito magnet is that it is cordless, so we don't have extension cords running over the yard!
 

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