Used anything that works?

Everything I've read says to eliminate the source, the breeding areas (standing water) but I can't find any on or near my property.

So I've heard there are electronic repellents (doesn't sound like they work), propane powered CO2 emitters which "vacuum" in the bastards, and foggers that only work for a couple hours. Anyone ever used anything that actually works?

8/2/2008 10:03:37 PM

bug spray with DEET

8/2/2008 10:07:57 PM

Some of those tiki torches that use the bug repellant oil work pretty well (my brother has HORRIBLE mosquitoes on his property because he lives next to what is more or less a swamp in a forest). We put a couple of them about ten feet apart and they kept the nasty bastards away pretty well.

Keeping your grass cut short in your backyard will also help, and cutting it regularly should also help (keeps the bastards from settling in too much).

Honestly, your best bet is some spray bug repellent and some citronella candles or the tiki torches like I mentioned. If you have no standing water in your backyard, chances are you just live near somewhere that does and the bastards come over from there and bite you. Site treatments for mosquitoes just cost $ and don't end up being very permanent.

Oh yeah, a supposed "home remedy" for mosquitoes that I heard worked was keeping a dryer sheet in your pocket. Apparently they hate those. This also sounded like some crap so I have never tried it and have stuck to bug spray.

8/2/2008 10:13:31 PM

backyard is all woods, thanks for the idea about the torches though, i'll pick some up

8/2/2008 10:27:16 PM

Yeah, the real key was the jug of oil we bought for it. Make sure it mentions something about being mosquito repellent. It doesn't smell all that hot, but you're not going to be standing right next to them and they do work as long as it's not uber-windy out.

8/2/2008 10:31:15 PM

me and my roommate have an electric bug zapper in a tree beside our deck.

Damn thing works wonders.

8/2/2008 10:50:06 PM

lol tiki torches was so trivial, i thought thats what he meant by "foggers"

8/2/2008 10:50:48 PM

industrial insect repellent from work. this shit is amazing. we have to keep it in special cabinets.

probably give me cancer or something, but whatever.

8/3/2008 1:38:02 AM

Try Cutter Bug Free Backyard. You can get it at any Lowe's or Home Depot. Costs around $9 for a 32 oz. bottle. Just attach to a water hose and spray everything down. It's the best I've found for mosquito control.

8/3/2008 8:53:06 AM

We've got a fogger that uses permethrin and malathion if I remember correctly. It's 110 v and works well, but it was about 400 dollars. Our main farm (where we live) is right next to the Cape Fear River and our house is not far from the drop-off into the lowlands, so mosquitoes are a fact of life here.

8/3/2008 9:05:16 AM

I have one of these big trailer park bug zappers on a dusk to dawn timer. I have not noticed mosquitoes since I put it up. At one point during severe weather it was getting wet and looking like it was about to explode. After that I hung it under the eve where blowing rain and runoff would not hit it.

8/3/2008 9:47:01 AM

Quote :

"propane powered CO2 emitters which "vacuum" in the bastards"

they work, they sticnk, you run a BIG chance that they will bring in a neighboring mosquito infestation to your yard.

bug zappers kill good insects too. dunno how effective they are for mosquitoes since the units don't emit CO2.

8/3/2008 10:24:17 AM

tiki torches with quality oil, or bug repellant with picaradin, NOT DEET, as was mentioned earlier.

picaradin is the new shit and it works great, doesnt have a scent, and isnt sticky. also doesnt cause the cancer like deet.

8/3/2008 10:37:48 AM

^

it also doesn't eat your clothes.

8/3/2008 11:36:20 AM

get in touch w/ me.... i work for a wildlife removal and pest control company and we have had good luck w/ gettin rid of skeeters

8/3/2008 2:02:46 PM

put up a bat house or two. bats eat the hell out of mosquitoes. i put one up at my mom's house. it took about a month for bats to move in to it but they have lived in it ever since and the mosquitoes are almost nonexistent.

8/3/2008 2:33:49 PM

Quote :

"Try Cutter Bug Free Backyard. You can get it at any Lowe's or Home Depot. Costs around $9 for a 32 oz. bottle. Just attach to a water hose and spray everything down. It's the best I've found for mosquito control."

Is that stuff safe for pets? My dog will be roaming around the backyard and I would be pretty bummed if I poisoned her to death.

8/3/2008 2:59:11 PM

lol i just said the deet thing cause it sounds cool to say imo

8/3/2008 3:02:28 PM

^^ Just make sure you let it dry before your dog goes out in the yard. Usually 1-2 hours and you will be fine. I use it in my yard and my dog has never had a negative reaction.

8/3/2008 3:05:43 PM

Quote :

"put up a bat house or two. bats eat the hell out of mosquitoes. i put one up at my mom's house. it took about a month for bats to move in to it but they have lived in it ever since and the mosquitoes are almost nonexistent."

best suggestion yet and FREE$

8/3/2008 7:52:34 PM

i agree, the bat suggestion is the best so far

free, easy & best of all, eco friendly!

8/3/2008 8:16:59 PM

but it would require having a bat colony in your yard.

:shiver:

8/3/2008 8:34:20 PM

its actually pretty cool to watch them dive and dart around

[Edited on August 3, 2008 at 9:00 PM. Reason : but rabies FTL]

8/3/2008 8:59:21 PM

bats want nothing to do with humans

they eat a shit ton of insects and sleep all day

8/3/2008 9:36:56 PM

get a couple of thermacells

8/3/2008 9:41:46 PM

a friend of mine swears by theramacells when bowhunting before it gets cold enough to knock the mosquitoes back.

8/3/2008 10:45:56 PM

Quote :

"get a couple of thermacells"

http://www.mosquitorepellent.com/
These things really are supposed to be the shit. Men's Health just had a write-up on mosquito repllant and apparently these things are pretty much the best you can get. I saw the starter kit at Home Depot for about $20 and they carry them at Dick's too. Even the $400 vacuum-based mosquito catchers apparently aren't that effective (just put up bat houses).

8/4/2008 1:07:55 AM

I've tried most of these, and believe me, you could napalm torch the entire neighborhood and they'd still be around.

As an added bonus... the mosquitoes leave most everyone else completely alone, but they go after me in swarms. Minutes after spraying my ankles with deet, with a tiki torch in each shoe, it doesn't matter. I wish there were a way to carry out massive extermination during the winter while they were all hibernating - or whatever it is they do during the winter.

8/4/2008 7:57:01 AM

seriously.

8/4/2008 9:01:21 AM

Bat house FTW

8/4/2008 9:10:56 AM

I've tried skin so soft as well. It might as well have been a mosquito attractant.

Ran across this:
http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/skeeters.asp

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 9:34 AM. Reason : -]

8/4/2008 9:27:49 AM

i've gotten rid of most of my mosquitoes by the bat house option (did that as a kid, too, at my parents' place)...the other thing i did was buy those solar UV bug lights from harbor freight when they were on sale (about $10/each, IIRC)

they have a light sensor on them that cuts them on when it goes dark, and then the UV light turns on, attracts the bugs, and then kills them...the only downside is that it kills good bugs, too

8/4/2008 11:09:43 AM

bug zappers are the shit cuz when you have a bunch of people over drinking you hoot and holler when the zapper gets a big one

8/4/2008 12:12:45 PM

mosquito?


or mesquite?

8/4/2008 12:50:08 PM

cut your grass often. Tiki torches

8/4/2008 1:27:58 PM

^ there's no grass, its all woods. i'm trying out the torches, but i was hoping to find a more permanent solution.

8/5/2008 2:27:33 PM

there are a couple of businesses near me that have a mosquito solution in place.

mosquito nix is one of them. check it out. they don't use pesticides, so it's pet safe (i think).

8/5/2008 2:35:48 PM

^4 i too have a zapper and i too like to hoot and holler when we hear a big ZAP!

8/5/2008 2:56:30 PM

Quote :

"propane powered CO2 emitters which "vacuum" in the bastards"

These work, but they take time to make an effective dent in the total population.

I recommend using something like the vac combined with widespread fogging of the woods behind your house.

I would also plant a lot of citronella plants. They grow well, are attractive, they're fairly hardy, and they don't do a bad job so long as you plant a sufficient amount. Volume is the key and a multi-faceted approach is always superior to a single method approach.

8/5/2008 3:44:43 PM

Skin So Soft is best to put on your skin.

I have gotten numerous emails just raving about putting Listerine in a spray bottle and straying around the deck and they mosquitos won't come anywhere near it. I've not had a chance to try it for myself though.

8/5/2008 4:43:09 PM

Skin-so-soft is like the placebo effect in a bottle. It doesn't do shit.

8/5/2008 5:15:31 PM

this thread has inspired me to buy a bat house.


i want millions of them.

millions

8/5/2008 6:35:37 PM

bat house is the best option. Those bug zapper things kill the wrong bugs and hardly any mosquito's at all. Tiki torches look cool and set some good mood lighting but are pretty useless in terms of bug control. Make sure you empty any standing water around the yard.

8/5/2008 9:55:39 PM

Get some bat houses and citronella and you'll be golden.

8/6/2008 1:39:50 AM

I am batman

[Edited on August 6, 2008 at 10:06 AM. Reason : h]

8/6/2008 10:06:07 AM

I think I need to try this bat house deal too, although it'll probably be cooling off by the time bats populate the house.

Where can I buy them locally?

8/6/2008 10:07:24 AM

i live on the neuse river so bugs, especially mosquitoes, can get really bad. every year i have a party in the summer and i buy all kinds of mosquito and bug repellent. the best stuff was this cutter "bug free back yard spray concentrate". i got it at lowes pretty cheap ($10 for a bottle that covers 5000 square feet). before i sprayed this stuff, i would get lit up by mosquito whenever i went outside. now i can still go outside with no mosquito bites and the party was 3 weeks ago.

also, a friend said that the cutter stuff probably had bifenthrin in it (the active ingredient) and sent me links online to where i could get it much stronger (like 100x) for cheap, so i guess i'll share. thanks crazy j

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bifen-XTS-Pest-Control-Talstar-One_W0QQitemZ160204870361QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/BiFen-I-T-1-pt-Generic-Talstar-One-Termite-Control_W0QQitemZ360029399026QQcmdZViewItem

8/6/2008 10:20:42 AM

I'd like to get less dependent on pesticides, and I'd love to have bats flying around, so I'm trying the bat house. What style of bat house would you guys recommend from these?

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/bat-houses.asp?src=googleaws&kw=bat_house


That cutter stuff actually has permethrin, not bifenthrin, which you can get the similar concentrates of. I bought 32% permethrin for $1/oz a year or so ago. The cutter stuff is 2.5% permethrin for about $0.30/oz. Here's a discussion of bifenthrin vs permethrin:

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=238329&highlight=permethrin+bifenthrin

8/6/2008 1:14:23 PM

^ Holy Shit! It's a ghost!

8/6/2008 1:17:32 PM

I just got some of this bug free backyard concentrate


instead of this:


because it (the first one) said it killed fleas. I can't remember which is which, but one has permethrin and one has bifenthrin. Which is better for killing mosquitos? Oh and the one I got said it controls them for 8 weeks vs 4 weeks. Obviously with the first one you have to buy one of those dial-type sprayers, but I thought it was worth it given the benefits of it vs the one you just plug your hose into.

I'm wondering how long after spraying before I should let me dog outside...the packaging didn't say. Also did you guys wet the ground before spraying or not?

8/6/2008 1:26:25 PM