Mosquitos

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amkloppmann

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Sep 1, 2014
26
Murphy, TX
Hey TFP Peeps!

We have sporadically been enjoying our hot tub (when it's not raining, which is all the time), and we have discovered one really annoying problem: Mosquitos!!! I hate to put insect repellent on my neck and ears every time I want to get in our hot tub, but after doing quite a bit of research I haven't found a more natural alternative. I've read that the plants suggested to repel mosquitos don't work unless you actually remove the oil from them and make a spray. What do you use to repel these annoying pests while relaxing in your hot tub or pool? HELP!
 
We use Tiki torches with Tiki brand citronella oil. I found the key to using them is to light them about half an hour before you go outside. We put four of them about ten feet from each corner of the pool. They work great. Oil is kind of expensive though! We burn through about 6 gallons a year.
 
Same issue is rearing its ugly head here around San Antonio after all the rain. Everything is a swamp and those suckers are thriving. They were all around my head last night in the pool. I might have to invest in several tiki torches or other citronella-type burners as well.
 
I have a friend who swears by a company called Mosquito Squad. He uses their standard treatment and his yard has gone from infestation to completely mosquito free. They have natural treatments as well as their standard service but I don't know how well it works.

No joke, the guy who owns it here is named Skeat. Talk about being born for the job!
 
Ive had very good luck with mosquito repellent granuals that you toss around on the ground.
Dr T's Mosquito Repellent, which was the best of the two, and the other one is called Mosquito Beater.

I got them at the local Feed Store. I have not seen anything similar in any of the Big Box home improvement stores.

They are all natural mixture of garlic, lemon, and other things that mosquitos dont like. Wont harm any wild animals or pets.

I used to get ATE UP by mosquitos to the extent it was impossible to enjoy the pool or patio after sundown. A day after applying either of these mosquito repellents, the mosquito attacks went down by at least 95%. Maybe even more.

The DrT's has a definite garlic odor to it for a few hours after throwing it out, then its gone.
The Mosquito Beater has ingredient in it that hides the garlic odor and is more pleasant.

Have to reapply every 3 or 4 weeks.
 
I use a Gilmour 362 Professional No Pre-Mix Sprayer. It's the highest quality hose end sprayer that I've ever used. It mixes very accurately and reliably and has a nozzle deflector which can be removed and the resulting stream can go about 30 feet, if I need to spray that far out. It holds 16 ounces of concentrate and has a very wide range of dilution settings. Works great and I highly recommend it.

My Bifen XTS is 25.1% strength. I fill the Gilmour hose end bottle to 10.7 ounces mark with water, the add Bifen to get to the 16 oz mark. Then I set the dilution rate to 2 tablespoons per gallon. That gives the recommended .0625% dilution rate. Work great.

Any other questions?
 

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Thank you all so much for the input!! Ok, we're buying the Dr T's Mosquito Repellent this weekend, and I look forward to trying it out.

In addition to the Dr. T's, we found this online: Effective Mosquito Repellent for Outdoor Areas | Thermacell

We bought the small, outdoor version before investing in the "pretty" lantern version. We used it last weekend, and it worked very well! It "creates a 15 x 15-foot zone of bug-free comfort", according to the manufacturer and we found that to be very accurate. We will definitely be buying the lantern version for our outdoor dining table. The manufacturer's website says that it is "virtually odor free". We did notice odor if we were too close to it, so just know that if you're sensitive to smells you'll want to keep it at a little bit of a distance.

I like the idea of lavender! I've read that most of the plants that advertise keeping away mosquitos only work if you open them up and use the actual oils of the plant as a mosquito repellant. I hadn't heard that lavender was one of them though, so maybe that would work! Thank you again for all the help!
 
My neighbor is putting in a MosquitoNix system, so I'm looking into them. They seem to get either serious love or pure hate from the online reviews. I'd like to be able to do the maintenance/refills myself, but not sure if its feasible.
 
I'm not in Texas and probably the mosquitos aren't as bad up here but I back up to forest so ya they are bad. I had a mosquito magnet Liberty for years which ran off a propane tank which worked fairly well. Last year we went with the Mosquitos Squad company which sprays every 4 weeks. Worked better than our magnet. This year we went with a new spraying company which I believe is using a Bifen/polymer type product and seems pretty good so far. Still use the citranalia candles around the hot tub at night.
 

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