[ale] WAY OT controlling asian tiger mosquitos and others

Tue Jul 30 11:09:09 EDT 2013

What Jim said and look for the smallest container of water, the plates
under potted plants, the gutters, old tires, (in Cumming, old stills ;-),
etc. etc.  BT is killed by UV, so you have to repopulate every month or so,
perhaps more often with all the rain we have had this summer.

Purple Martins also are your friends.  Unlike bats, they ARE active in the
day time and consume a vast quantity of mosquitoes every day. They are also
a delight to watch as they swoop around the yard catching the little
buggers. I think they prefer open spaces to heavily wooded, but you might
try hanging some gourds next Feb and see if you can attract some to your
home.

On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 9:48 AM, Beddingfield, Allen <allen at ua.edu> wrote:

> The fans/moving air around the house will keep them struggling to fly,
> assuming you have strong enough fans.  I have personally had good luck with
> CedarCide "Best Yet" spray.  It is a little pricey, and it makes you smell
> like cedar (which is less noxious than some colognes I have smelled), but
> it seems to work for me when I am gardening late in the evening.  We also
> have lots of horseflies over here, and it seems to repel them.
> Allen B.
> --
> Allen Beddingfield
> Systems Engineer
> The University of Alabama
>
> ________________________________________
> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [ale-bounces at ale.org] on behalf of Ron Frazier
> (ALE) [atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 12:22 AM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: [ale] WAY OT controlling asian tiger mosquitos and others
>
> Hi Guys,
>
> You've been warned, WAY OT.
>
> Don't flame me for posting this, but you guys are my geeky brain trust,
> and you had a gardening thread going on recently, so I figured I'd try it.
>
> I live on a wooded property and there are huge numbers of mosquitoes
> around in the summer, particularly lately.  I think the main species
> active in the day time may be the Asian Tiger Mosquito.  If we go
> outside for more than 1-2 minutes, they're attacking with a vengeance.
> I don't know for sure if they're Asian Tigers, since I'm too busy
> shewing, slapping, and moving to look closely at their appearance.  But
> I do know those are much more active in daylight hours than others; and
> I know I've occasionally seen their distinctive striped appearance.
>
> I'm not a big outdoors person, but this just reinforces my stay inside
> or in a car mentality, even in fair weather.  I have to make it a point
> to try to never leave the front house door or a car door open more than
> 5-10 seconds.
>
> I'm posing this to you to find out if you've had personal experience
> with exotic solutions, some of which I'll mention.  I don't want to put
> pesticide / repellent on my skin.  I don't want to spray large parts of
> the yard with chemicals.  So, I'm wondering about some of the less
> invasive technologies.
>
> I've read enough to become convinced that ultrasonic devices don't work
> at all; and bug zapper devices don't primarily work on mosquitoes.
>
> I am interested to know if anyone has had experience with the mosquito
> magnet brand of propane / attractant driven trap.  According to Amazon
> reviews, they seem to work, but cost $ 300 to acquire and $ 40+ or so
> per month to run.  Some reviews say they're not durable.
>
> I would also be interested in the new OFF devices with a fan that you
> clip on your belt.  They've been advertising them like they're the
> shields around the starship Enterprise.  Let's just say I'm skeptical.
>
> Another thing that crossed my mind is those fans you can mount over the
> door which blow air downward.  At least that could keep the critters out
> of the house.
>
> The subject of bats may come up, and I'm glad to discuss it.  I did do
> some reading though that said bats will prefer other food sources where
> they can get more of a meal for less work.
>
> This is not a critical problem, and, truth be known, I probably wouldn't
> spend $ 300 to fight it.  But it is extremely annoying.  I just hate the
> idea of my blood being sucked to help create more of the #$#$%#$%
> stinking bugs.  There is also the remote chance of them carrying
> dangerous diseases.  Also, not being able to go outside hardly at all,
> is annoying even for me.
>
> Anybody have any suggestions that don't involve putting toxic chemicals
> on myself or the property?
>
> Any help is always appreciated.  Can't say I would implement any given
> suggestion, but I'd certainly consider them, and would enjoy learning
> about options.  I always learn things from the discussions here.  My
> reading has convinced me there is no silver bullet, as with so many real
> world problems.  I'd settle for just about any usable and affordable
> bullet.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> --
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
> Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
> Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20130730/66388bb6/attachment-0001.html>