strantor
Platinum Member
We are surrounded by rice farms so mosquitoes have always been an issue. And these aren't your average mosquitoes. Half of them are Shaggy Legged Gallinippers; prehistoric pestilence dredged up from deep within the earth and rehydrated to claim their spot at the top of the food chain - massive, twice the size of normal mosquitoes, aggressive, relentless, with serrated bayonettes on their faces that hurt like a fire ant bite. We have been getting rain every day for the past week so there is standing water everywhere and the Bloodhawk situation has gotten absolutely out of hand.
I've never sprayed anything because:
1. I don't like chemicals. If I can get away with a natural solution I will. (*)
2. I thought it would be exceptionally expensive. You know, basing my estimates on a can of Raid and how much area it covers.
3. I don't have a sprayer and can't afford one.
4. I'm paranoid about doing harm to the bee population (even though I rarely see any bees on my property - only wasps and dirt daubers)
5. I'm too busy (or lazy). I often triage problems until they become so severe that I have to address them - which is where we're at now.
(*)We have tried planting citronella, marigolds, lemongrass, lavender, etc. all around the house with zero noticeable effect. Sitting among these plants on the porch with half a dozen citronella candles in a ring around me, I have watched them fly one after another directly through a plume of citronella smoke to get to me. I also fog the front door area with Cutter 1-2 times daily, and it works temporarily but they always come back. And the bug zappers at the front & back doors seem to do nothing.
This morning at 7am I had a cloud (no exaggeration) of mosquitoes at my front door; the worst I've ever seen. Slipped out the back (where there's less of them) and as I walked through the grass, little "poofs" of mosquitoes rose up from every footstep. I sat down on the porch and when I went to take a sip of coffee I inhaled two mosquitoes. They congregate under the cars in the driveway and at the doors of the house, so any time you try to go anywhere or do anything, there is a 100% guarantee of letting vampires into the people tank. I've nearly crashed the truck a couple of times, distracted by swatting at the tail end of the swarm that got sucked into the cab as I opened the door to get in. I can't effectively do my job (I work in the barn trying to build stuff as I spray/swat/cuss mosquitoes), so these mosquitoes are now costing me money and putting the health and sanity of my family and myself at risk. This is a plague. Desperate measures are called for. I made it my mission to spray today.
As I said I don't have a sprayer, but I do have a pressure washer, a 55gal drum, and a tractor. I went to Tractor Supply and bought a jug of Bifen concentrate and a water saver turbo nozzle for the pressure washer. Strapped the barrel to the headache rack of the pallet fork attachment so that it would be elevated above the pressure washer, and then strapped the pressure washer to the forks. The instructions for the Bifen were a bit over my head; there were several options for dilution and I wasn't sure so I just picked an option in the middle. Mixed the solution in the barrel and then connected to the pressure washer inlet with a section garden hose.
NOTE: I did NOT use the soap feed feature and the water supply was not connected. The pressure washer is pulling 100% from the drum only, which is the diluted mixture.
I drove it all over my 2.5ac property spraying it all over the house and porch and yard, everywhere. Especially the doors and under the eaves. Into the trees, the bushes, the flowers, the grass, everywhere except the ditches (which drain to the bayou, and this stuff is downright catastrophic to aquatic life). It would maybe have been prudent to wait a while until the yard dried up but I didn't. I was on a war path and I rutted up my yard real bad and didn't care. I'll fix it later. I sprayed (5) 55gal drums of solution over the entire property and also sprayed my neighbor's yard and front door.
The turbo nozzle does a great job of creating an energetic, far-reaching mist of tiny droplets without using much water. The mist cloud that it creates permeates bushes and trees and seems to cover every surface over/under/behind all the leaves just like a propane fogger is supposed to do. Just don't get it too close or it will damage the flora. I was getting to 20-30min per drum of run time depending on how continuously I sprayed.
I have ZERO mosquitoes now. It's been hours and not a single flying thing has attacked me. The porch and the cars are littered with their carcasses. The front door is a macabre mural of modern art, a showcase of winged death, and I'm leaving it that way as a personal trophy and a probably ineffective means of warding off any blood sucking passers by. They are totally wiped out, and they took the wasps, gnats, locusts, cockroaches, and ants with them. I just took a walk around the whole place and not a single bite. My place is covered in dead bugs. Unfortunately this stuff also kills crawfish, and surely bees too. So if you have bees (I don't really) please keep that in mind. We will see how long this lasts but for now I'm calling it a total victory. Does not seem to kill dragonflies or love bugs.
I've never sprayed anything because:
1. I don't like chemicals. If I can get away with a natural solution I will. (*)
2. I thought it would be exceptionally expensive. You know, basing my estimates on a can of Raid and how much area it covers.
3. I don't have a sprayer and can't afford one.
4. I'm paranoid about doing harm to the bee population (even though I rarely see any bees on my property - only wasps and dirt daubers)
5. I'm too busy (or lazy). I often triage problems until they become so severe that I have to address them - which is where we're at now.
(*)We have tried planting citronella, marigolds, lemongrass, lavender, etc. all around the house with zero noticeable effect. Sitting among these plants on the porch with half a dozen citronella candles in a ring around me, I have watched them fly one after another directly through a plume of citronella smoke to get to me. I also fog the front door area with Cutter 1-2 times daily, and it works temporarily but they always come back. And the bug zappers at the front & back doors seem to do nothing.
This morning at 7am I had a cloud (no exaggeration) of mosquitoes at my front door; the worst I've ever seen. Slipped out the back (where there's less of them) and as I walked through the grass, little "poofs" of mosquitoes rose up from every footstep. I sat down on the porch and when I went to take a sip of coffee I inhaled two mosquitoes. They congregate under the cars in the driveway and at the doors of the house, so any time you try to go anywhere or do anything, there is a 100% guarantee of letting vampires into the people tank. I've nearly crashed the truck a couple of times, distracted by swatting at the tail end of the swarm that got sucked into the cab as I opened the door to get in. I can't effectively do my job (I work in the barn trying to build stuff as I spray/swat/cuss mosquitoes), so these mosquitoes are now costing me money and putting the health and sanity of my family and myself at risk. This is a plague. Desperate measures are called for. I made it my mission to spray today.
As I said I don't have a sprayer, but I do have a pressure washer, a 55gal drum, and a tractor. I went to Tractor Supply and bought a jug of Bifen concentrate and a water saver turbo nozzle for the pressure washer. Strapped the barrel to the headache rack of the pallet fork attachment so that it would be elevated above the pressure washer, and then strapped the pressure washer to the forks. The instructions for the Bifen were a bit over my head; there were several options for dilution and I wasn't sure so I just picked an option in the middle. Mixed the solution in the barrel and then connected to the pressure washer inlet with a section garden hose.
NOTE: I did NOT use the soap feed feature and the water supply was not connected. The pressure washer is pulling 100% from the drum only, which is the diluted mixture.
I drove it all over my 2.5ac property spraying it all over the house and porch and yard, everywhere. Especially the doors and under the eaves. Into the trees, the bushes, the flowers, the grass, everywhere except the ditches (which drain to the bayou, and this stuff is downright catastrophic to aquatic life). It would maybe have been prudent to wait a while until the yard dried up but I didn't. I was on a war path and I rutted up my yard real bad and didn't care. I'll fix it later. I sprayed (5) 55gal drums of solution over the entire property and also sprayed my neighbor's yard and front door.
The turbo nozzle does a great job of creating an energetic, far-reaching mist of tiny droplets without using much water. The mist cloud that it creates permeates bushes and trees and seems to cover every surface over/under/behind all the leaves just like a propane fogger is supposed to do. Just don't get it too close or it will damage the flora. I was getting to 20-30min per drum of run time depending on how continuously I sprayed.
I have ZERO mosquitoes now. It's been hours and not a single flying thing has attacked me. The porch and the cars are littered with their carcasses. The front door is a macabre mural of modern art, a showcase of winged death, and I'm leaving it that way as a personal trophy and a probably ineffective means of warding off any blood sucking passers by. They are totally wiped out, and they took the wasps, gnats, locusts, cockroaches, and ants with them. I just took a walk around the whole place and not a single bite. My place is covered in dead bugs. Unfortunately this stuff also kills crawfish, and surely bees too. So if you have bees (I don't really) please keep that in mind. We will see how long this lasts but for now I'm calling it a total victory. Does not seem to kill dragonflies or love bugs.
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