At war with mosquitoes

Avoid evenings... there bad around here, for a few weeks each year... but only in the evenings... so I avoid those times, in the evenings.

Clear you area of any source of standing water, or spray some kind of oil on top, to hinder their breeding. If I leave anything upright, and water collects, if the chickens can't 'drink' it out, larvae will appear in days.

You really just need to get more people to come over and visit, during feeding hours, and the skeeters will have more to feast on, and not just ya'll!

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

I do most of what FunnyRiverFarm does - long pants, long sleeves, light colors, tight weave and a size too large plus a hat. I spritz the outside of the clothing and hat with a repellent containing deet. Don't like having deet on my skin.

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The three divine teachers of man: worldly calamity, bodily ailment, and unmerited enmity, and there is but through God alone a deliverance from them. Maine Farmer's Almanac

I like this idea -

so this morning when I went out to hang up clothes I rubbed the Lemon Balm on me and they stayed away from the places that I had actually rubbed it - I had on shorts (which I seldom wear) and they just bit behind my knees - ugg

We are cleaning everything up - removing leaves and standing water - that might be part of it is that we have spent a lot of time sturring things up the last few days so they are worse?

I Don't know, but I sure do like ya'lls ideas

This works for me also, I was in the garden a few days ago and they were eating on me. Went in and put the SOS oil on my arms and legs and never got another bite. I just slather it on with my hands like lotion.

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A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.

I've been putting Listerene (vanilla mint flavor) in a spray bottle and spraying the picnic table, benches and ground all around it when I camp. I also sprayed the window screens on my car-a-van and it seemed to work. It has eucalyptus as an ingredient which repels them.

I eat a lot of dried garlic in my hot dishes. That seems to help. Of course I'm single and haven't had a date this year so I may need to rethink this strategy.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

I try to never recommend a specific product for anything because if it costs money then it's like I'm asking someone to buy it. I can't tolerate chemical smells so I wanted a disinfectant that didn't smell like one. I bought the PureGreen24 disinfectant and deodorizer to use inside our house. It has no smell and is a fungicide, virucide, kills MRSA, and disinfects without bleaching. One other thing it does that's not mentioned in any of its directions for use is kill all household bugs on contact. Spray a surface, watch a fly land, watch a fly immediately die. Lasts up to 4 hours. It's not something I'm going to spray on my skin, but I do spray my clothing before going outside. I haven't had a bite from anything so far this year and usually I'm the prime target for bug lunch. I can't say if it works in skeeter clouds or not. I haven't done that yet.

I use this http://www.realgoods.com/product/17-...to%20repellent and price hasn't even gone up. I keep a few dozen on the window sill charging (after 4 years some have died) and put one in each shorts pocket when I go out in ams (my garden time) or if I have to go outside in the evenings (avoid that if possible but walk home neighbor girl, having each kid hold one in each hand)

I believe in them- get more bites without them and none or few with them (bad days I sometimes put a third one on my glasses or hang one on my shirt, but I also wear long pants then)

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US Army veteran, military retiree spouse, and military; civilian; British NHS; and VA doctor.

Take a vit, B12 everyday. Or put up several Bat Houses. A 50/50 mix of Palmolive dish soap and water in bowls and set several around where you are outside. This has worked for us for several years.
Steve

Marigolds have been used for centuries in or around gardens, porches, and other frequented areas.

They are a very common fall flower as well. Marigolds are also great for other pests. Many rose gardeners plant them near or around roses to help detour other insects such as aphids.

Another great landscaping plant for preventing mosquitoes is Ageratum. Ageratums produce coumarin which gives off a horrible smell that mosquitoes detest. Coumarin is commonly found in commercial repellents. Ageratum is great for your landscape as well and they come in pale blue and white.

Catnip can be used for more then just the cats! Catnip is actually the most powerful mosquito repellent plant. Another great mosquito repellent is Horsemint. Horsemint detours mosquitoes much like a citronella plant. Mosquitoes absolutely can not stand to be around the plant.

Bats, if you don't have brown bats, you need them, mosquitoe munching creatures.

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I see a very dark cloud on America's horizon,
and that cloud is coming from Rome.
- Abraham Lincoln

ill second the catnip! its one of the best, pluck and chop the leaves put a bunch in a bottle with water and use it as a mist, it works well.
you dont need alot if your using catnip oil, a little goes along way. lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon grass, ect all work well...

i will say though, if you have the money to run propane and electric i would suggest a skeeter magnet to anyone, we got one last season and it earned its keep, we whent fomr being swarmed to never seeing any, but the bags of dehydrated skeeters was always full within a day or two. we just put it back out for the season and the skeeter activity has already decreased, we only turn it on at dusk and only if were going to be outside, you have to make sure its positioned right though.

and i agree with the bats, theres no better protection than bats!

brewers yeast and garlic supliments also work great!

Take some Dryer "those fabric softner things" sheets and put them in a hat. They work. Don't know why.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/298811

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/dryersheets

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Thinking is hard. Feeling and believing a storyline is easy.

FREEEEEEEDDDDDDDOOOOOOMMM!!!

Prof Kingsfield. Rules!!





http://tnwoodwright.blogspot.com/

I don't know anyone in Alaska, no matter how crunchy-granola/organic minded they are, that hasn't resorted to the only thing that works up here: 100% DEET.

I try to keep it just on my clothes, but that doesn't always work out.

I'll probably have three armed babies and stuff.

Good luck with a more natural approach!

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Rachel Haiku Heritage City Farm

I'm not sure if this was mentioned yet, I didn't see it.
Bats will eat up to 3000 mosquitoes per day, per bat. All they need is a little house, which is very simple to build, plans can be found online, from the simple bat-shack to a bat-mansion for a whole flock of em. They come out to feed at dawn and dusk, I've seen it, they swoop around and gobble them flying blood-suckers up by the gobful. I'm gonna try this, I might have to buy some bats to bring out, but it seems worthwhile.

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Go Big or Go Home!!
1 Tim 3:2-3 "Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out. Convince, Rebuke, Exhort with all long-suffering and teaching."

http://www.batconservation.org/conte...mportance.html

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I see a very dark cloud on America's horizon,
and that cloud is coming from Rome.
- Abraham Lincoln

We dug a pond. It drains the water from the area, and the fish eat the mosquito larvae. Although, it may be easier to get a good Vitamin B supplement (from a health food store, not Walmart). B vitamins make you smell bad to the mosquitos, I'm not sure which one is the worst, maybe B-2.