Have a couple of small, shallow ponds at my camp in the boonies. Two dried up the last two years, killing off most of the dragonfly population. (Takes 'em two years underwater to mature.) We no longer have Combat Air Patrol, fine at our house though. So bad out there that bug spray doesn’t work even if you bathe in it. Never had issues before. Because I had dragonflies. I’m sure the 10" of snow, in Florida upset things just a tad. Fucking global warming.
Anyway, searched a bit and everyone wants to sell me a bug zapper. A) I don’t have power unless I run a genny. B) Those things are indiscriminate and we humans have nuked the insect population as is.
There has to be some way to attract them into a trap. I know they target mammalian CO2 exhalations, and to a lesser extent, warmth. Seems like there should be an easy way to suck the mindless beasts into a black hole. ?
The best way I know to keep unwanted bugs like mosquitoes away without zappers and chemicals is planting lavender. They hate it and will avoid it, while also helping local Bee populations because bees love it. It also keeps wasps and hornets away, as they hate it too.
Well that’s a plan! Haven’t had much luck planting out there though. Typical NW Florida soil, about 2-3" of topsoil, sand all the way to China.
You got me thinking on citronella though! Forgot about that.
Lemon Grass also. It should grow well there.
I grow a bunch and don’t really notice it keeping mosquitos away from the area. But I’ll pick some, crush it up in my hands, and rub it on myself and the cats. Works as good as most bug sprays without feeling like I need a shower after.
That sounds like a pain for growing conditions.
I use planters because I live in an apartment, but my mother in law uses those little kids pools full of soil to get around not having good soil to grow in. The pools seem to work really well, and she even customized how each soil can drain for different crops and flowers by cutting drain holes. I think she is also trying to grow rice in one of them that is more flooded. haha
I was curious and looked it up, English Lavender doesn’t really like to grow in Florida either because of the heat and humidity. But Spanish, French, Goodwin Creek grey and Phenominal lavender all grow well there. Which is now a fact I know. haha
Citronella is a pretty good alternative! I used to use the candles specifically for mosquitoes. The only problem I had with it is it also keeps other things away I don’t want to avoid like bees and such.
“Mosquito Dunks” in a bucket of water. The water attracts females to lay eggs in the bucket. The “dunks” have a bacteria in them that kills the larva after the eggs hatch preventing further generations from maturing.
I put about a quarter of a disk in each bucket and set them up around the yard in problem areas. Need to add more dunk about once a month.
There is a “Mosquito Bits” which is a granulated version of the same thing that might work if you still have ponds but I’m not familiar with the exact dosage
I can’t edit my posts for some reason, but I wasn’t being sarcastic about global warming. A monster bolus of hot air smacking the polar vortex on it’s ass is what send Canada weather down here. Fucking global warming.
https://youtu.be/yJ-9DYVdi5c?feature=shared
This is a native plant guy and he talks about a trap specifically designed for mosquitos, not other insects. Said its something about a sweat molecule that attracts them. I guess it’s also useful if you want to feed your carnivorous plants.
You can make a mosquito trap that lures them to lay eggs in poisoned water and deals with the issue earlier in the year
This is what we do too, minus the poisoned water. It’s just a one-way trap made with some cloth net and plastic bottles.
It takes a while to make a difference but eventually the population of mosquitoes should decrease (unless they are reproducing elsewhere)
There are big expensive mosquito magnets that take a propane tank and electricity to run (these are environmentally ok) and the Thermacell device (somewhat dubious but very effective). Source: Finland, the land of mosquitos
I’ve had those thermacell things and it was just filled with bugs EXCEPT mosquitos lol
Can confirm the gas powered ones work really well, but you gotta run it early in the season to catch the fuckers right after hatching.
A friend lives in moscito hell and could probably make burgers daily with the amount he catches.
Source: Norway. Also a mosquite hellhole, like Finland
mosquito buckets help a lot but you won’t see results right away.
Yeah! I’ve heard of these, but haven’t tried them out myself yet.
Maybe pick up some deet as well.
A farm channel I watch on YT solved his horsefly issue by wrapping the outside of a plastic garbage can with a roll of wide bug tape. Really made a difference and when it fills up you just tear it off and feed them to your chickens
I heard humming birds eat them. You could try to set up some humming bird feeders and see if that helps.
Seen a hummer or two, but not for the last couple of years. Guess they’re dying off with everything else, and in any case there’s not much flowering out there. Still have some at home!
Put feeders out the last few years, but they don’t see any action.
Plant flowers they like instead. My hummingbird feeder went unnoticed but now i have lots with flowers like hollyhocks
The nearest body of water is about a mile away from me, I attract dragonflies with tall stem grasses and way too many flies.
Maybe you can encourage them with some tall grass? I don’t remember what kind I scattered, whatever the University of Colorado said to plant here in Denver years ago
Got a few “ponds” at the house, between 10g and 150g. Brings all the boys to the yard! But the dried up ponds at camp set me back a year or three. Since they take 2 years to mature, they won’t be back this year or probably the next.
Yes but they also need 2ft high plants to hunt from. If you cut all your tall grass they will have to hunt elsewhere
Insect populations dropped by 41% globally since 2015.
No mosquitos will be the least of our problems when every species above in the food chain ends up on the endangered list.
