mosquito control

[Charlie MV]

I saw

[TheLorax]

I'm curious if it will work myself.

Looks as if it works but not as well as the raving testimonials you can read at all the sites that sell it would have us believe. The above does give a recipe to make our own.

Here's one of the reviews at Amazon-

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Product, July 29, 2007
By Thomas Miller (Mastic Beach, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
After following the directions exactly I found NO RESULTS.

Waste of time, money and effort.

There were a total of 3 reviews. One was a rave review which is to be expected and the other is so so.

One thing that should be checked out would be references I've read online claiming "garlic is toxic to the brain because the 'sulphone hydroxyl ion' passes through the blood brain barrier and and interferes with electrical activity in the brain". Better get somebody qualified to comment about this because I found this-

http://www.karinya.com/garlic.htm

No time me for search this down but it did pop up associated with the product you are asking about.

I use BTi in my ponds. It's readily available in big box stores sold as mosquito dunks. These mosquito dunks help a lot.

Bug Zappers don't work. In fact I think they have the opposite effect because they aren't discriminating.

[Charlie MV]

damn bugs

[Charlie MV]

won't last.

[cynthia_h]

In those areas of the country where bats abide, encouraging them to roost on your property will (almost) automatically take care of the mosquitoes. A bat eats an unbelievable amount of flying insects, esp. mosquitoes, every day.

Another fly-by...

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[Charlie MV]

eat a mosquito.

[webmaster]

Good tip about the bats for controlling mosqutoes. Unfortunately, there were reports of bat populations on the east coast were plummeting because they were wasting away mysteriously, particularly in New York.

In California the local municipalities, including Marin County and Alameda County are offering people mosquitofish for mosquito control, which also eat the tadpoles of endangered California frogs, as well as the dragonfly larvae, both of which are mosquito predators.

[doccat5]

I can understand how garlic would act as a repellant, but I'd be wanting to know what else is in the mix. You can buy a lot of garlic for $22 and do your own.

As for the brain damage part, I am not sure I quite understand how that got in the mix. Although in my "salad" days I dated a few types with garlic breath that could have qualified for brain damage........

[Charlie MV]

brain damage

[TheLorax]

From the threads you posted it may even depend on the variety of mosquito we have. God does have a strange sense of humor what with mosquitoes and all those nerves we have in our teeth eh?

Yes, the type of mosquito will play into the equation.

This from a man I call a skeeter expert-

What you are seeing likely are floodwater/temporary pool breeders in the genus Aedes (sensu latum; this genus now has been split by raising several former subgenera to genus status - you can thank one of my former Army colleagues for this...). As a general rule, these mosquitoes lay their eggs in depressions where water will accumulate, rather than actually on water. Then, when the area floods, either from rainfall or from overflowing streams, the eggs hatch and you get a nice brood of mosquitoes. See http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/sp14.htm for an example. Additionally, the eggs of several species exhibit a phenomenon called batch hatching, whereby only a certain percentage actually hatch after a flooding event, the rest remaining in a dormant state. Then, if the pool dries up and subsequently refloods, another portion will hatch, and so on. Some have been known to go through up to seven such cycles before hatching. Obviously, this is a goodsurvival strategy in situations where the necessary resource (water) may be too ephemeral for them to complete their development. Adults of some of these species, especially the aptly named Aedes vexans, will fly long distances from their larval development sites. Usually, it is container breeders such as Aedes (now Stegomyia) aegypti and Aedes (now Ochlerotatus) triseriatus that stick close to their breeding sites.

I think one's best bet is to eliminate any stagnant water. Don't leave water bowls for pets outside, drip trays to plants and bird baths need to be dumped and refilled daily, kiddie pools should have dunks added to them, and be on the look out for old tires, buckets and anything that can hold water.

From the skeeter expert-

- Even a little water, much less than a gallon can hatch thousands
of the little 'buggers.
- Even though they aren't strong flyers warm summer breezes can blow
them miles.

I suspect the Garlic Spray may provide temporary relief but I don't know that any one "fix" is going to work.

For me; I go with bug sprays containing DEET, the elimination of all stagnant water, daily re-filling of birdbaths, mosquito dunks in everything warranting same, and bat houses carefully designed to accommodate the species of bat indigenous to my area. If it got really out of control here, I'd probably try the Garlic Spray if you personally tell me it affords some relief. Right about now, they've completely stopped spraying for mosquitoes around here because it was learned more were just blowing in and the chemicals they were spraying were toxic. The Garlic Spray is no where in the league of what they used to spray around here.

The mysterious bat disease is a major cause for concern for me personally. I don't want anything to happen to my babies so I'm watching that situation very carefully.

[TheLorax]

Ooops, missed Charlie MV's comments-

Doccat, re brain damage, see The Lorax's post near the end of it.

She is a doctor, my bet is she could comment if she wanted to ;) Thoughts are that you, me, and her have already arrived, "The brain damage thing...well I'm pretty much there anyway so..." We're pretty much ALL there anyway so no use in commenting.

Let me know how it goes when you use it. If we don't hear from you, we'll assume that you weren't quite there yet and that the Garlic Spray did you in and consider it not safe for us to use.

[Charlie MV]

garlic spray.

[TheLorax]

Well, you're still with us which is a good sign.

You do realize there are species of mosquitoes with eggs that are resistant to dessication, right? This may explain your situation. Otherwise, start looking for anything that can hold water even garden clogs.

[Charlie MV]

I'm doomed,

[TheLorax]

Well Charlie MV, we're all going down with you. Everyone will be doomed if we lose our bats to the white nose syndrome. Purple martins won't be able to control the skeeters by themselves, that's for sure.

I was reading back over the thread and found that you were sweating out the Avon product. I don't use an anti-antiperspirant, just a deodorant. No need for the anti-antiperspirant anyway because we women don't sweat we just glisten (ha ha). Anyway, I've been having good luck with Deep Woods Off out in the woods. It's been holding for me. Granted, if I really begin to "glisten", I have to re-spray but even on the hottest days I'm getting a good solid 3 to 4 hours out of the bug spray. Also too, dust and wood chips don't stick to the Deep Woods Off like they do to lotions.

[Charlie MV]

Way cool.

[TheLorax]

Here's a link to a site almost exclusively on Purple Martins-
http://www.michiganmartins.com/
Best site on the internet for technical info on PMs.

There's a link somewhere in there to forums that you can read but I don't know if you would be able to join or not even if you wanted. Makes no difference if you are allowed to join or not as there is a wealth of information you can read there and I know the man who started that site and he helps everyone who contacts him for help even if they can't join the site. Something to do with their members all being from the state of Michigan so it's nothing personal.

Another site you should take a close look at would be-
www.sialis.org if but for nothing else other than to learn about English house sparrows and European starlings.

A flock of chickadees eating from your hand! You rock Charles MV!

[Charlie MV]

Chickadees are fearless.

[kitty3]

sorry I'm so late but just try Thermo Cell. It is a product that repeals blood thirsty insects. Go to their web site and you can find out to purchase. It is the only thing I have found that really works.