MOSQUITOS

[dave1949]

Hi Dave...Interesting, but what if anything, is being done?

Who knows what officially will be done (if anything) or when? The obvious first thing is more studies if funding is available. We have enough history behind us to see the patterns: wonderful safe chemical becomes a health and/or environmental hazard; those two cannot in reality be separated.

That is the value of keeping an ear to ground on these issues. We can do a lot on our own if we know what some of the suspects are. In our own homes at least, we have pretty good control over pesticide use and intake from food residues. Maybe not so much for someone living in a agriculture intensive area though.

Of course, there is a simple solution to all of this chemicals merry-go-round. Stop. Just say no.

 

[scaredychicken]

okay, I live in Skeeterville, 7.5 acres of overpopulation. I am planning to buy one of those propane cannister SkeeterVac SV5100s to improve the country living... covers 1 acre, so it will go near the house. I know that they take about a month to get "established" and in working order.

anyone have any experience with these units ? I'd love to hear stories good or bad. I know they are pricey, but I'm done with the make-do versions and lemon / citrus candles. I need to win the invasion this year.

 

[haroldy]

I heard from a friend they are useless..He bought one

 

[jix]

Don't work..waste of money

 

[Jstpssng]

This from the local paper.Why mosquitoes are drawn to you and what Maine researchers say you can do about it | ThinkMaine
Between the article and things I've learned from this thread, my cause of death will most likely be exsanguination. My property abuts a blueberry field and has a large wet area running through it which is the headwaters of a small stream. And while I can learn to buy light colored clothes, the chances of my changing my blood type (O) are greater than of not enjoying a cold one (or two) while working in the garden at the end of the day.

 

[scaredychicken]

haroldy and jix - I appreciate the responses. Jstpssng - we have a creek on the property also... but it is not near the house. (it's near the bear den)

Just a question, do you know if the poor performing Skeetervac's were given the required 3-5 weeks to get established ?

the clerk told me that people regularly complain that they are not working, but it is usually due to people expecting a positive result within a couple of days... then they get returned to the stores with customers complaining that the unit is faulty. just wondering.

I'm told that this particular brand is probably the best on the market (granted, that was an opinion also)

thanks

 

[haroldy]

No ,,, I dont know if that is true,,maybe the 5 weeks is past return date,,,I would like to know theory behind 5 weeks ,,I doubt if mosquitoes live that long

 

[dave1949]

I've had some success using mosquito dunks, the dry donut cake things you toss in standing water. They work on the larval stage. Not cheap to keep a large area treated though.

I think whatever control methods you use, it is going to take a while to reduce the breeding population. Letting some breeze and sunlight in, and keeping brush and tall weedy areas cut back around your yard can help at least during daylight hours. Maybe that's useless advice for BC. Dragon flies are death on mosquitoes if you have those and can encourage more.

We had one of those skeeter magnet things years ago. I'm not sure if it accomplished much. Eventually I got tired of switching propane tanks and putting in new scent things. But, just about any method will be more effective in heavy populations than light ones probably.

 

[scaredychicken]

thanks for the thoughts, haroldy and dave - the 4-5 weeks (from what I was told) was to enable the equipment and the bait that you install into the skeetervac, the right amount of time to take control of larvae and breeding skeeters. the bait appears to be some sort of suet pattie type thing that acts as an attractant. running the propane for a month or a summer will consume a bunch of propane for sure, but the skeeters just laugh at the smaller "household units" in my experience. I think I'm going to give it a try - I'm just a really hard-sell on this kinda stuff, so I appreciate your input.

I haven't bought one previously because we were beekeepers earlier, and had about 100 hives - I did not want to risk losing the honeybees to the skeetervac. I was told that was never really a concern, but did not want to gamble with the bees.

 

[jix]

Scaredychicken: in our lakeside trailer court there were 7o trailers with board patios. About half the units had skeeter vacs running all summer, but the mosquito were still terrible all po0f the time until the really hot dry weather came about mid-July, when the mosquitos were all dead of old age.
I don't think that the propane skeeter vacs worked at all, but then I did not have one on my patio. I had a propane torch hhich made a dense foggy smoke with DDT in it. That worked until the smoke blew away. It killed a lotta bugs, but the mosquitos were rignt back withiin twenty minutes. Some guys would spray dozens of cans of raid into the open. That killed all the mosquitos for about an hour, then back they came. At night my neighbour burned a big cordwood fire with flames ten feet high in the middle of his large lot next to mine. He burned half a cord of wood every evening, dried and split. That really worked, but somany neighbors would gather there every night you could not get any peace and quiet, cause thell got rowdy and drunk, so he got kicked out of the park becoz of the complaints of late night noise and firecrackers that scared all tbe pet dogs into barking. It was bedlam but nobody felt any mosquito bites with ten yards of the firepit. In the morning there were hundereds of beer cans scattered heck west and crooked. His dutifui tolerant wife would get up early and clean up the mess without a murmer, but I got so fed up we pulled out and sold my trailer and deck right where it stood. I don't really like rowdy neighbors much, especially the ones that think it is fine to throttle up Harleys in the middle of the night. At that place the swkitters were awful, but preferable to the Yayhoos and the impossible racket way late. My wifes little dog would be so scared of the nouse of the fiurecrackers tght he would lie in bed beside my wife and tremble in terror. We Will never go back there.______ullinghair: