OT Mosquitos are the devil

Markarm4119

Just try and use insecticides for mosquitos in the late afternoon, early evening when bees are less active to avoid negative impact on our honey making friends.

H12mike

caliking said:

H12mike said:

Last year I purchased a Stihl  gas powered backpack sprayer/mister and spray Talstar P monthly and eliminated 99% of the mosquitoes in the yard.  Prior to that I was using a service and we still were having mosquitoes and paying them $100 per month.  I later found that the service was only using 25% of the recommended amount of Talstar P.

Any idea if Talstar can be filled in a barrel system, timed to spray monthly?

Talstar P is a waterbased solution but I do not know it's "pot life" after being diluted.  A good source of info would be Do your own pest control.

westernbbq

In Wisconsin the mosquito is the state bird.  In AZ the mosquito population is about 20 and thankfully itll hit a crispy 113 this week and dry those little suckers out.  To me, one mosquito is too many.

Years ago a family dog died from lung cancer that was probably tied to a chemical pesticide which was super effective at eliminating the bugs and our dog.

In my search for something that wouldnt harm pets but still get rid of pests, ive found a place in CA called garlic research labs.    Your yard will smell like an italian deli for two days but the repelling effectiveness of the spray lasts for at least 4 weeks.  Natural, non toxic amd effective.

jwc6160

We started a service last year. Mosquito Joe I believe. I hate having them spray chemicals everywhere, but it is fantastic. Those bastards love me and I could go in my yard from July to September w/o getting chewed alive. Now I rarely even see one. 

nolaegghead

4,4'-DDT is the best for mosquitos, and it has very low toxicity in humans.  Sadly it was overused and bio accumulates, resulting in thin bird shells which started devastating bird populations.  A book written about this called Silent Spring really started environmental awareness and the EPA.  Looks like another thin shelled entity may put an end it it. 

DoubleEgger

westernbbq said:

In Wisconsin the mosquito is the state bird.  

I was in the middle of “mosquito country” in Minnesota last week and I must say that it wasn’t anything like it is here in Georgia. Atlanta is a routine winner in the worst mosquito city in the US rankings.  It’s terrible here. The pest control folks sprayed this morning just in time for the Holiday 

poster

Spraying wont work here, unless you have thousands of gallons and a pilot

lkapigian

Take Vitamin B1 Complex- they hate it works like a charm- no spray no fuss no muss

SonVolt

Not a big problem with mosquitoes here, but the flies are horrendous this time a year. The BGE  seems to quadruple the amount during a cook also... 

caliking

H12mike said:

caliking said:

H12mike said:

Last year I purchased a Stihl  gas powered backpack sprayer/mister and spray Talstar P monthly and eliminated 99% of the mosquitoes in the yard.  Prior to that I was using a service and we still were having mosquitoes and paying them $100 per month.  I later found that the service was only using 25% of the recommended amount of Talstar P.

Any idea if Talstar can be filled in a barrel system, timed to spray monthly?

Talstar P is a waterbased solution but I do not know it's "pot life" after being diluted.  A good source of info would be Do your own pest control.

It doesn't seem to be suitable for misting systems. Thanks for the rec. 

caliking

The_Stache said:

Sorry @caliking .... I'll get off my soap box now....

No worries at all. SWMBO is an avid gardener, and had similar concerns. But she too was won over, when  she and the kid stopped getting bitten by the skeeters

caliking

Markarm4119 said:

Just try and use insecticides for mosquitos in the late afternoon, early evening when bees are less active to avoid negative impact on our honey making friends.

Yep. That's when the system is set to mist, when the lil bastiges are snuggling up in the bushes. 

Botch

lkapigian said:

Take Vitamin B1 Complex- they hate it works like a charm- no spray no fuss no muss

That's one I haven't tried yet, thanks for the recc.  
Two years ago I bought a potted "mosquito plant" for my back patio.  After it had grown a bit I scrubbed a couple of the leaves on one arm and sprayed the other arm with DEET, and headed out to the bird refuge.  The skeeters seemed to really like the plant, that arm got chewed up 4 to 1 compared to the DEETarm.  
Consumer Reports did a test of the different repellants, Deep-Woods Off! got the nod for the DEET repellants but a new chemical called Picaridin did just as well; I've picked up a bottle (brand name Sawyer) but haven't had a chance to try it yet; the DEET is hell on camera plastics and I really don't like its smell nor its "stickiness".   

nolaegghead

I was cleaning out a hatch in my boat on Friday Night and a leaky bottle of DEET destroyed two fire extinguishers, a USB cable, a first aid kit and dissolved a few plastic lures.

I also discovered it removes paint from cars.

Botch

Dang!  Glad I just had some overspray.