Mosquitoes! Gardening is miserable this year.

[Skidmore]

You stick your trowel in the soil and monster mosquitoes come out in clouds. I don't want to use any DEET products. Any suggestion? My arms are covered in bites.

[TygrBright]

1. Avon Skin-So-Soft bath oil? n/t

[Blue Gardener]

2. Avon has a different repellent

That has an ingredient called Picaridin. Seems to work ok.

http://www.avon.com/

[Imalittleteapot]

20. I use Avon's mosquito repellant.

It works well and doesn't have a nasty chemical odor. It is expensive, but worth every penny.

[spinbaby]

3. They do make mosquito traps

They operate using one of those propane tanks that go on grills, and attract the mosquitoes using carbon dioxide. We've had one with mixed results--it does trap mosquitoes but there don't seem to be any fewer of the critters chewing on our flesh. We eventually decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

A long-range solution would be to build a chimney-swift tower.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/chimswtower.html

Also, be sure to follow the standard advice about not leaving standing water about for them to breed in.

[goddess40]

14. darn - there goes my father's day idea

we have a wetland area at the back of our property and the mosquitoes this year are horrendous. I planted some pink lilies of the valley yesterday and was attacked by a swarm. I think they're "africanized" mosquitoes!

[Kolesar]

15. Creating CO2 just for this purpose seems kind of distasteful to me

Join us over in the Energy/Environment forum some time and see what I mean.

[Ecumenist]

4. I feel so sorry for you, Skidmore. Sir Ecumenist get's eaten alive

every summer but I don't EVER get bitten. In fact, they seem to keep away from me and I've always wondered why. I have been bitten before but I can "USUALLY" go into a swampy area for hours and come out without one single bite.

[Ecumenist]

5. I just remembered something I was taught by an old organic gardener...

He told me that he planted pyrethrum all around the perimeters of his yard as well as his patio area etc. He VERY rarely had any serious issues with mosquitoes, even during the hottest time of the year. He also said that it repelled flies. I plan to try that this year. BTW, h planted them into a mixed border.

[BOSSHOG]

6. A smattering of Marigolds about the garden

will help. Won't do away with the mosquitos but will reduce their numbers. Most flying insects don't care for the odor of Marigolds and they add a splash of color to the garden.

[LiberalEsto]

7. I read somewhere about lemon grass

being a fairly effective repellent. I'm going to check the local Asian market to see if they have it, and try planting some around the yard.

[China_cat]

9. Guess we were posting at the same time.

It works.

[China_cat]

8. Lemongrass

The basis of citronella. Repels mosquitoes and tastes great in Asian cooking. Easy to grow, too. Full sun in the hottest part of the garden.

[Imalittleteapot]

10. Avon Bug Guard Plus EXPEDITION Unscented works!

When a mosquito gets me the bite swells to about 2 1/2" diameter and itches for hours, so I'm pretty cautious. I've been spraying OFF all over myself for many years.

The Avon repellent really works, and best of all it has no deet and doesn't smell like bug spray. However, it's pretty pricey - but worth it.

[NJCher]

11. yep, it works

One time I stumbled across somebody liquidating a supply of it on eBay. I bought a big box of it. Use it like crazy and the plus is that it has sunscreen in it, too.

I think that by buying it the way I did, I got it for something like 3 a bottle.




Cher

[Kolesar]

12. Drain the standing water they live in and put mosquito-larvae-killing "dunks" in the pools you can't

...drain. That was how the local environmental activists advocated an alternative to the municipal government spraying every street with pesticides. The dunks are a pesticide, but they are a better treatment than spraying "everything".

There has been a problem in this region with West Nile Virus. It led to some people's deaths. It has killed the population of crows and blue jays in my area. I finally started seeing them again last year.

[NJCher]

13. dunks

I have some mosquito dunks that use bacillus thurgiensis (sp?), thus they're pretty much harmless except to mosquito larvae. I use them in my raih barrels.




Cher

[flying_wahini]

16. Skeeter Defeater works pretty well here in Houston

I think I got it at Lowe's or Home Depot,, white bottle, yellow label.
It is a Citronella oil concentrate, you put it in a hose end sprayer and spray it on your yard, bushes, deck, flower beds, everywhere !
It says on the label that it lasts weeks, well maybe in some places, but it doesn't work as long as they say it does. I have to do it every week or 10 days, just to keep it bearable. Now it won't get rid of all of them, but it sure does help matters, so that you can enjoy being outdoors. Plus it is non toxic and won't kill the good things in the
yard....(like us!)

[NJCher]

17. natural insect repellent site

Wow, guys, I just discovered this and have had the most fun in reading all the natural insect repellents that people have written in about:

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_natpest_control.htm

In some of the sections, they will says "a reader wrote" and that takes you to this page:

http://www.eartheasy.com/inside_the_envelope.htm

I was looking for a natural repellent for flies, which are hanging around my inside courtyard by the recycling. Someone said a plastic bag with water hanging there repels the fly. It reflects them and they don't like to see themselves!

I'm going to try it and I'll keep you posted.



Cher

[uppityperson]

18. surround yourself with a whole bunch of frogs.Treefrogs can stick to your arms also.

Arms of frogs. That might do it. I hate mosquitoes also, am glad to live where we have only small amounts.

[Ino]

19. crusade against chiggers & mosquitoes

I have both in my backyard. Found this site, full of suggestions on how to reduce the itching. I tried many of them, and vinegar seemed to work the best.
http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-chiggers/

One suggestion I've been trying to pursue is ingesting 1 tsp pharmaceutical-grade sulphur + 1 Tbsp molasses each week, to keep them from biting. I can't find ingestible sulphur though! Walgreens sent me to a health food store, which sent me to a compounding pharmacy. All of them seemed horrified at the idea that I wanted to eat sulphur. Showed me "Flowers of Sulphur," which you sprinkle on your skin, but not eat.

She also suggested 100mg of vitamin B1 twice daily, to keep them from biting. So I started taking that yesterday. I'll let you know if it works!

[TygrBright]

21. My gran used to pour a spoon of sulfur and molasses down...

...our throats at the beginning of the "vacation to The Lake" when we were kids. Silly health food store & compounding pharmacy, whadda they think you get when you eat hard-boiled eggs! Sulfur!!

Don't know where you'd get the dose kind these days but I'd suggest a small-town drugstore. Stuff doesn't seem to go out of fashion in small towns as fast.

BTW, it tastes WRETCHED.

There's a reason people stopped using it as soon as DEET was invented...

reminiscently,
Bright

[Ino]

22. Did it work?

I didn't think about sulphur being in foods. Turns out it's quite good for you.
http://www.health24.com/dietnfood/Whats_in_food/15-47-108-122.asp#3

Ha! Here's an antique Flowers of Sulphur label, showing dosage. The pharmacist was adamant that it was not for consumption.
http://tinyurl.com/2ullt3

I figured the molasses was to make it more palatable. I'd gladly eat something foul once a week if it meant I wouldn't get chewed up by chiggers! But maybe I could put it in empty gelatin capsules to get it past the taste buds. Same difference, eh?

[TygrBright]

23. I suppose you could put it in a capsule...

...but as far as how well it worked, I don't recall NOT getting bitten. We went through plenty of calomine lotion. But considering how mosquito-ridden those Minnesota Lakes were back then, and the size and voraciousness of the Minnesota mosquitoes, I'm guessing it was a fairly perceptible reduction over what it would have been without.

dubiously,
Bright