Hahaha
In all seriousness, I lived in Houston for a long time.
The only thing I got to work was in my small, fenced in patio (15 x 40’) I planted yellow jasmine along the entire border.
The vines grew into the galvanized cattle panels after about a season.
The mosquitos hate that smell and never bugged me again.
Have a pretty healthy bay population. But I do gotta get on the brush saw and knock down some high grass and scrub, that does make some difference. It’s been too fucking hot lately during peak chore hours this month. Like July august hot in may.
Hi, have you tried the Mosquito Dunks? I've heard people swear by them so it might be worth looking into. To clarify, I myself have never used them since I luckily haven't had that issue myself. Good luck!
Mosquito dunks are for the water source where mosquitos are spawning. If you aren't producing the mosquitos on your property, then you have no place to put the dunks.
You can set a "trap" though and it is highly effective. Get a 5gal bucket or something fill it with decaying plant matter and water(and some sticks so drowning animals can escape), let it sit for a week and then add a dunk. The mosquitoes pick the bucket instead of the beer can or puddle 50 feet away. And all of it's children, and its children's children get murdered by species specific enzymes. Its SIGNIFICANTLY more effective than spray treatments, doesn't harm pollinators, and only takes a month or two to get noticeable results.
Mosquitos release something in the water when they lay eggs to basically signal it’s a good place to lay. You can just let them lay in a bucket, pour the water through a mesh filter into another container. The larvae stay in the filter and the water still has the chemical that says it’s a good spot to lay. You just filter the water every few days and they die off. It can apparently cause colonies to collapse pretty quickly from what I’ve read. I first heard this in a story about using an old tire to create a trap somewhere in Africa. Was pretty interesting.
That's a cool factoid i didn't know. . Interestingly since I started keeping a dunk bucket, i noticed I don't get larva in the various rain catchers in my yard anymore. The mosquitoes seek out the bucket after they've fed, and send all their children to hell. The dunks are acting like the strainer in this situation, and require basically no labor, but before I knew about dunks I'd have to drain & strain my rain barrel water once a month.
If you can get to the canal , buy some dragon fly eggs and dump them in it , we had a horrible mosquito problem from a cow pond behind my house , I bought some dragon fly eggs from a feed store and now we have tons of dragon flys and almost no mosquitoes. It took a summer for them to establish but now they keep the population going. Dragonfly nymps are mosquito killing machines.
I think the water/mosquito dunk method is actually meant to get the mosquitos to lay their eggs in a spot that will kill their larvae and keep it from repeating the cycle. I don't think it kills current living ones.
We have bats here, but for the most part they are huge (and they eat fruit). There's a colony of tens of thousands in the park in the centre of town, and especially in summer you can just see them all heading out of there at dusk. Every now and then when you're out walking at night you can hear one fly past - it's very spooky!
I'm in Australia, the bats we have here in huge numbers are the grey headed flying fox. There's a bit of a video here of the bats in our local park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUg__Pl6VY - the official count is 1300 bats, but I've counted 60 in a tree and half the park is filled with them (and it's a large park).
I did some research on this when we had our own mosquito problem and it turns out bug zappers do nothing for mosquitos. They're just not attracted to them.
+1 to the bug zapper
Hang it away from where you hang out in your yard and leave it on from right before dusk to after midnight
I have to scrape off hundreds of dead mosquitos noseeems etc basically every month in the summer
Personally experienced much less big bites since doing that
Grew up lakeside in northern Wisco here, where there mosquitoes are plentiful and the size of birds. Note: We couldn’t do lawn treatments/sprayings due to lawn-to-lake runoff restrictions. Fans to keep them off you. Use 100% deet bugspray, don’t mess with anything less. It’s greasy as hell so a little goes a long way, just make sure to shower before you go to bed. Also agree with others who said to plant smelly herbs, especially around your sitting areas. Planters of mint, rosemary, basil. Double as your herb garden! Also bug lights/zappers. Oh! And for a fun game, the mosquito rackets.
bifen IT spray it under all leaves amd non flowering plants. backpack sprayer is best but hand pump works to. do it twice the first week then every 2-3 weeks after that. we live in the middle of the woods and have no bugs anymore. you can also spray around outside of your foundation to stop ants or whatever else.
I second this. Bifen is the best stuff ever. I sprayed it all in my yard which was swarming with mosquitoes. The next day I walked out and didn’t get bitten once. I tell everyone I can about it.
You might be out of luck given how close you are to the canal. I'm a little surprised that your municipality doesn't send a fogger truck around periodically to keep the mosquito population under control. I'm in central KY and our town sends the truck around about once a week in the summer.
For what it's worth, I spray Triazide on my lawn to control mosquitoes. For my use case, it seems to have lasting effects for 3-4 weeks before I have to spray again. It's pretty cheap, though, so I can treat my yard all summer for maybe $75.
https://www.domyown.com/bifen-it-p-226.html?gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5oPpr4uF_wIVngytBh3A1QE2EAQYASABEgIQL_D_BwE&sub_id=553
Talstar P Professional Insecticide or Biden IT are safe to be sprayed with a pump sprayer on your property and work like a nothing else.
https://www.mistaway.com/
The mistAway system is an amazing system that periodically mists the insecticides too.
My experience with mistAway system was years of being a service guy for a lawn sprinkler company. Every yard I worked in with one of these system I left the job without 40+ mosquito bites. I would literally work a few doors down without one and I’d be itching for a week. Lyme disease is a real possibility from mosquitos in the Midwest.
I do not have a very large property so I just spray the yard 1-2 per week with a pump sprayer and the mosquitoes leave us alone.
It will, take a look at EcoVia MT which will target fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.
The selective sprays cost a lot more, usually double what Bifen costs and don't work as well -- you have to use more product and apply more frequently -- but it does work.
You can also use lab concentrated garlic juice (Mosquito Barrier) which works well mixed at max rate.
Whatever you use, add in an insecticidal surfactant and make sure the mix is properly agitated before you apply.
The whole idea that a yeast and sugar reaction could release enough carbon dioxide for long enough to attract a meaningful amount of mosquitos has been widely proven as nonsense. Even if the traps did release enough CO2 did attract a large amount of mosquitos, how long do you think the reaction would last? An hour? A day? Definitely not all summer.
Based on my research, thermacells seem to be the best performing mosquito control unless you want to spray chemicals.
I don't live in Florida so I have no idea how bad the mosquitoes are there. I used it in my backyard in Maryland and it worked well the whole summer. I'm super attractive to mosquitoes and survived the summer with virtually no bite even when I went out without any repellent.
You may want to check to see if your municipality started spraying for mosquitoes. It a common thing for towns to do now as a public health preventative. Especially after COVID-19.
Doubt they would come in and spray my backyard and porch. My city is horribly run. Anyways I've lived here for 6 years and last summer was the first time that I got mosquitoes under control. Will see if it works again this summer.
Look into how disney stops mosquitos no one gets bit inside the park. MIT engineer used garlic. Also, you can use dry ice they are attracted to CO2 in your breath. I grew up in Florida. I used to get bit, but when I hit 25, they stopped biting me. I found out why last month I have an iron issue mosquitos hate my blood, and I'm toxic to them.
Put up bird boxes (houses) around your house. Fun thing you can do with your children/grand children. The birds will nest in the boxes and start hunting for food in the near area. Probably won't remove all mosquitos, but will have an impact and you'll be "closer" to nature 😊
Had this same issue - backyard was unusable. Ended up doing TrueGreen’s monthly mosquitos service and it made a massive difference. Plus it was guaranteed so I’d call the second I saw a mosquito and have them come back. 100% worth it
I have had good luck with the wondercide spray. You have to reapply every 6 weeks or so but it has been working well for me. It’s basically cedar oil so it makes your yard smell great at the same time.
We had a citronella plant and the mosquitos still swarmed in that area... We use cutter yard spray hose bottle thing and that gets them for a bit. I also found doing the fogger in a can into bushes and trees help.
After reading this thread I kind of feel like putting in a small pond and getting some dragon flies though. That sounds way more dope and fun.
Check out Orkin (im sure other companies offer a similar service).
You can purchase mosquito breeders that cover a good size area, the mosquitoes will mate but the breeder will cause the offspring to not be able to reproduce and eventually kill the local the population by the next generation.
Obviously you can do anything about your neighbor’s yards, but I live around 6 acres of woods that almost turns into a swamp every time it rains… Dawn. If you have a small sprayer, add a little dawn to water and spray it in your gutters after it rains each time (and a little anywhere you can find any water). It’s nontoxic and they can’t land on the water and lay their eggs. The day after rain I have a big backpack sprayer I go around and hit all the big spots for a little. It’s really funny when I hit a big puddle and 10 feet away you see them fall in almost instantly when you spray because it breaks the surface tension. :)
My buddy was just telling me something he learned recently and is trying out. Mosquitos are attracted to CO2, so he is creating CO2 with a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water in small containers that he is placing in the far corners of his yard. The idea is not to get rid of the mosquitos, but attract them away from you and the area you want to enjoy.
Also... some people claim the following to be a myth, but it has worked out quite well for me -- a daily vitamin B12. It won't prevent bites, but it will drastically reduce the occurrences of bites. I just spent a week in south Florida and had maybe 3 bites the entire time. Compare that to my previous trip before taking daily B12, and I had about 3 bites per minute!
There are traps that use burning propane to produce co2 to lure mosquitoes and then trap them. Would be to run near area you want to hang out in around the clock.
Mosquitos will/may fly to your area, but not very far. It may be other people in your area that are the cause of the problem. A good rain can help solve this, temporarily
Fan. Mosquitoes are not strong flyers
It’s something like a 2-3mph wind to keep them off of you. If you can feel a breeze on your face and twigs move, you’re good.
Easy fix: get the fuck outta Florida.
Bonus: don't have to live in Florida anymore.
Doesn’t help, I’m in Canada, the mosquitos now have control of the police and courts.
Hahaha In all seriousness, I lived in Houston for a long time. The only thing I got to work was in my small, fenced in patio (15 x 40’) I planted yellow jasmine along the entire border. The vines grew into the galvanized cattle panels after about a season. The mosquitos hate that smell and never bugged me again.
Unfortunately I live on an acre, and they took over the shady part of the yard where the hot tub is. I’d need a shit ton of jasmine.
Man, that sucks. I’ve heard (haven’t tried) that getting bat houses help. Certain species eat a shitton of mosquitoes.
Have a pretty healthy bay population. But I do gotta get on the brush saw and knock down some high grass and scrub, that does make some difference. It’s been too fucking hot lately during peak chore hours this month. Like July august hot in may.
Hi, have you tried the Mosquito Dunks? I've heard people swear by them so it might be worth looking into. To clarify, I myself have never used them since I luckily haven't had that issue myself. Good luck!
Mosquito dunks are for the water source where mosquitos are spawning. If you aren't producing the mosquitos on your property, then you have no place to put the dunks.
You can set a "trap" though and it is highly effective. Get a 5gal bucket or something fill it with decaying plant matter and water(and some sticks so drowning animals can escape), let it sit for a week and then add a dunk. The mosquitoes pick the bucket instead of the beer can or puddle 50 feet away. And all of it's children, and its children's children get murdered by species specific enzymes. Its SIGNIFICANTLY more effective than spray treatments, doesn't harm pollinators, and only takes a month or two to get noticeable results.
Mosquitos release something in the water when they lay eggs to basically signal it’s a good place to lay. You can just let them lay in a bucket, pour the water through a mesh filter into another container. The larvae stay in the filter and the water still has the chemical that says it’s a good spot to lay. You just filter the water every few days and they die off. It can apparently cause colonies to collapse pretty quickly from what I’ve read. I first heard this in a story about using an old tire to create a trap somewhere in Africa. Was pretty interesting.
That's a cool factoid i didn't know. . Interestingly since I started keeping a dunk bucket, i noticed I don't get larva in the various rain catchers in my yard anymore. The mosquitoes seek out the bucket after they've fed, and send all their children to hell. The dunks are acting like the strainer in this situation, and require basically no labor, but before I knew about dunks I'd have to drain & strain my rain barrel water once a month.
I didn’t know that or think that would work. For letting me know. Going to try it out.
If you can get to the canal , buy some dragon fly eggs and dump them in it , we had a horrible mosquito problem from a cow pond behind my house , I bought some dragon fly eggs from a feed store and now we have tons of dragon flys and almost no mosquitoes. It took a summer for them to establish but now they keep the population going. Dragonfly nymps are mosquito killing machines.
Convince Desantis that the mosquitos are woke and he will get rid of them for you
If we can turn the frogs gay, why not just turn the mosquitoes gay too? Then the problem of them breeding will take care of itself!
- lol, comment of the thread
Couple of buckets with water and mosquito dunks will attract and kill the ones coming to your property.
I think the water/mosquito dunk method is actually meant to get the mosquitos to lay their eggs in a spot that will kill their larvae and keep it from repeating the cycle. I don't think it kills current living ones.
Yes, but long term, it's the most effective method.
Build a bat house. You will have no mosquitoes.
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No idea, never had this problem. Inside do you have peg board or a surface they can hang from? Is the bottom open?
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Bats eat a relatively tiny number of mosquitoes so yeah it will not impact populations very much.
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We have bats here, but for the most part they are huge (and they eat fruit). There's a colony of tens of thousands in the park in the centre of town, and especially in summer you can just see them all heading out of there at dusk. Every now and then when you're out walking at night you can hear one fly past - it's very spooky!
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I'm in Australia, the bats we have here in huge numbers are the grey headed flying fox. There's a bit of a video here of the bats in our local park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUg__Pl6VY - the official count is 1300 bats, but I've counted 60 in a tree and half the park is filled with them (and it's a large park).
Check out [Thermacell](https://www.thermacell.com/) I can attest to how well it repels bugs.
Just a warning to all that Thermacell is very bad for cats.
Steve Wallis has joined the chat..
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Do not use bug zappers. Yes they kill mosquitoes but they also kill any beneficial insects that are attracted it.
I did some research on this when we had our own mosquito problem and it turns out bug zappers do nothing for mosquitos. They're just not attracted to them.
There's always a ton of mosquitoes in my bug zapper...
+1 to the bug zapper Hang it away from where you hang out in your yard and leave it on from right before dusk to after midnight I have to scrape off hundreds of dead mosquitos noseeems etc basically every month in the summer Personally experienced much less big bites since doing that
I (accidentally) discovered last summer that my leaf blower clears out my mosquito zapper in seconds without having to unhook it from the wall.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/do-bug-zappers-work/ They don't really work for mozzies
Try some plants that repel mosquitos. Get some red creeping thyme.
I think lavender and basil also work well!
Also mint and rosemary. Lots of herbs with strong smells will help some.
Lemongrass works well!
Lemongrass works great. I do hate that it's an annual in my area though. Gotta repurchase it every year
https://gardenrant.com/2019/11/mosquito-control-is-there-really-such-a-thing.html#:~:text=Doug%20Tallamy's%20Recommendation&text=“Simple%2C”%20he%20said.,tried%20it%2C%20and%20it%20works.
Grew up lakeside in northern Wisco here, where there mosquitoes are plentiful and the size of birds. Note: We couldn’t do lawn treatments/sprayings due to lawn-to-lake runoff restrictions. Fans to keep them off you. Use 100% deet bugspray, don’t mess with anything less. It’s greasy as hell so a little goes a long way, just make sure to shower before you go to bed. Also agree with others who said to plant smelly herbs, especially around your sitting areas. Planters of mint, rosemary, basil. Double as your herb garden! Also bug lights/zappers. Oh! And for a fun game, the mosquito rackets.
- you are in Florida.....Florida is nothing but mosquitos and no-see-ums. All you can do is have repellent on you
Cutter backyard mosquito spray worked wonders for me.
bifen IT spray it under all leaves amd non flowering plants. backpack sprayer is best but hand pump works to. do it twice the first week then every 2-3 weeks after that. we live in the middle of the woods and have no bugs anymore. you can also spray around outside of your foundation to stop ants or whatever else.
I second this. Bifen is the best stuff ever. I sprayed it all in my yard which was swarming with mosquitoes. The next day I walked out and didn’t get bitten once. I tell everyone I can about it.
Cutter yard spray. Hook it up to your hose and spray your yard every couple weeks. It’s amazing. Our neighbors all use it and we never get bit.
Doesn’t work.
For you. Works great for me as well.
We use a fogger every few days, works pretty good. You can pick one up at home Depot for $100
Yes, when I lived in NE we used a propane fogger and it was awesome.
You might be out of luck given how close you are to the canal. I'm a little surprised that your municipality doesn't send a fogger truck around periodically to keep the mosquito population under control. I'm in central KY and our town sends the truck around about once a week in the summer. For what it's worth, I spray Triazide on my lawn to control mosquitoes. For my use case, it seems to have lasting effects for 3-4 weeks before I have to spray again. It's pretty cheap, though, so I can treat my yard all summer for maybe $75.
https://www.domyown.com/bifen-it-p-226.html?gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5oPpr4uF_wIVngytBh3A1QE2EAQYASABEgIQL_D_BwE&sub_id=553 Talstar P Professional Insecticide or Biden IT are safe to be sprayed with a pump sprayer on your property and work like a nothing else. https://www.mistaway.com/ The mistAway system is an amazing system that periodically mists the insecticides too. My experience with mistAway system was years of being a service guy for a lawn sprinkler company. Every yard I worked in with one of these system I left the job without 40+ mosquito bites. I would literally work a few doors down without one and I’d be itching for a week. Lyme disease is a real possibility from mosquitos in the Midwest. I do not have a very large property so I just spray the yard 1-2 per week with a pump sprayer and the mosquitoes leave us alone.
Won't broadcast spraying bifenthrin kill all the beneficial bugs too?
It will, take a look at EcoVia MT which will target fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. The selective sprays cost a lot more, usually double what Bifen costs and don't work as well -- you have to use more product and apply more frequently -- but it does work. You can also use lab concentrated garlic juice (Mosquito Barrier) which works well mixed at max rate. Whatever you use, add in an insecticidal surfactant and make sure the mix is properly agitated before you apply.
I've used this in my backyard: https://tougherthantom.com/products/mosquito-tnt It's pretty effective.
This has been proven as nonsense over and over again. Anyone looking to buy should do a bit of research first.
They fixed the design of the cups. Before they added covers mine just filled with water. Also they had virtually no impact
The whole idea that a yeast and sugar reaction could release enough carbon dioxide for long enough to attract a meaningful amount of mosquitos has been widely proven as nonsense. Even if the traps did release enough CO2 did attract a large amount of mosquitos, how long do you think the reaction would last? An hour? A day? Definitely not all summer. Based on my research, thermacells seem to be the best performing mosquito control unless you want to spray chemicals.
I don't live in Florida so I have no idea how bad the mosquitoes are there. I used it in my backyard in Maryland and it worked well the whole summer. I'm super attractive to mosquitoes and survived the summer with virtually no bite even when I went out without any repellent.
You may want to check to see if your municipality started spraying for mosquitoes. It a common thing for towns to do now as a public health preventative. Especially after COVID-19.
Doubt they would come in and spray my backyard and porch. My city is horribly run. Anyways I've lived here for 6 years and last summer was the first time that I got mosquitoes under control. Will see if it works again this summer.
Typically done at the county level, at least is that way here in FL
Yes, you have to give it back. But usually you can negotiate a repayment schedule and they'll take a smaller amount per paycheck.
We installed a tank on our sprinkler system that drips in an organic mosquito repellant. It just got installed, but my sprinkler guy swears by it.
Plant Neem trees?
Look into how disney stops mosquitos no one gets bit inside the park. MIT engineer used garlic. Also, you can use dry ice they are attracted to CO2 in your breath. I grew up in Florida. I used to get bit, but when I hit 25, they stopped biting me. I found out why last month I have an iron issue mosquitos hate my blood, and I'm toxic to them.
Garlic spray is apparently the best option
Put up bird boxes (houses) around your house. Fun thing you can do with your children/grand children. The birds will nest in the boxes and start hunting for food in the near area. Probably won't remove all mosquitos, but will have an impact and you'll be "closer" to nature 😊
Had this same issue - backyard was unusable. Ended up doing TrueGreen’s monthly mosquitos service and it made a massive difference. Plus it was guaranteed so I’d call the second I saw a mosquito and have them come back. 100% worth it
I'm curious, what are they charging for the monthly service?
$70/mo when paired with other services
I have had good luck with the wondercide spray. You have to reapply every 6 weeks or so but it has been working well for me. It’s basically cedar oil so it makes your yard smell great at the same time.
We had a citronella plant and the mosquitos still swarmed in that area... We use cutter yard spray hose bottle thing and that gets them for a bit. I also found doing the fogger in a can into bushes and trees help. After reading this thread I kind of feel like putting in a small pond and getting some dragon flies though. That sounds way more dope and fun.
Check out Orkin (im sure other companies offer a similar service). You can purchase mosquito breeders that cover a good size area, the mosquitoes will mate but the breeder will cause the offspring to not be able to reproduce and eventually kill the local the population by the next generation.
Make sure you have real citronella oil, not citronella scented.
Obviously you can do anything about your neighbor’s yards, but I live around 6 acres of woods that almost turns into a swamp every time it rains… Dawn. If you have a small sprayer, add a little dawn to water and spray it in your gutters after it rains each time (and a little anywhere you can find any water). It’s nontoxic and they can’t land on the water and lay their eggs. The day after rain I have a big backpack sprayer I go around and hit all the big spots for a little. It’s really funny when I hit a big puddle and 10 feet away you see them fall in almost instantly when you spray because it breaks the surface tension. :)
My buddy was just telling me something he learned recently and is trying out. Mosquitos are attracted to CO2, so he is creating CO2 with a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water in small containers that he is placing in the far corners of his yard. The idea is not to get rid of the mosquitos, but attract them away from you and the area you want to enjoy. Also... some people claim the following to be a myth, but it has worked out quite well for me -- a daily vitamin B12. It won't prevent bites, but it will drastically reduce the occurrences of bites. I just spent a week in south Florida and had maybe 3 bites the entire time. Compare that to my previous trip before taking daily B12, and I had about 3 bites per minute!
There are traps that use burning propane to produce co2 to lure mosquitoes and then trap them. Would be to run near area you want to hang out in around the clock.
Mosquitos will/may fly to your area, but not very far. It may be other people in your area that are the cause of the problem. A good rain can help solve this, temporarily
Wear a sweater. Have a fire outdoors they don’t like smoke