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March 27, 2009
Mosquitoes
I have very serious mosquito problem in my yard. I hear they are particulalry vicious in Brooklyn. Has anyone had any success in ridding themselves of mosquitoes in their yard? Let me know.
Comments
Welcome to Brooklyn, where the mosquitos rule...
They are particularly active around dusk till mid morning and then again around 6 until dark.
Best to just stay out of their way. Repellant with deet typically does a good job if you must be outside. Other than that - very tough to control.
Posted by: newsouthsloper at March 27, 2009 3:07 PM
Are they wearing gang colors?
Posted by: mod squad at March 27, 2009 3:10 PM
I wish I could help. It was our first summer last year and the skeeters were LETHAL.We had citronella tiki torches set up and still got eaten alive. I think fans work best, if you can set one up.
Posted by: new2hood at March 27, 2009 3:11 PM
As you probably know, any standing water is fertile breeding ground. The roof under my deck doesn't drain as well as it should. I try to spray (with wasp and hornet spray) or agitate that water on a regular basis. It helps some but I also end up putting on bug spray before I go out.
Posted by: Bessie at March 27, 2009 3:40 PM
If you live close to a real water source you can try putting up bat houses to attract bats that will eat the mozzies.
Posted by: rh at March 27, 2009 3:52 PM
There's a propane tank solution that seems to be the only thing that actually works. In fact there are some South SLope families getting together on one block to chain some together.
Here's an example
http://www.1mosquito-control.com/Mosquito-trap-Lentek-mosquito-machine.htm
Of course this does contribute to global warming :-)
Posted by: denton at March 27, 2009 5:25 PM
Lowe's & HD sell mosquito pellets that work in standing water - puddles in coal holes or other obscure places.
Posted by: Arkady at March 27, 2009 6:10 PM
The pellets are also known as mosquito dunks. Pretty harmless to humans - they contain some sort of bacteria that gets inside the mosquito's gut (or the mosquito larva gut?) and kills them.
Posted by: arches at March 27, 2009 6:24 PM
The problem with all of these "Solutions" is that due to population density, anything that might be effective must be done by all of your neighbors within a fairly large radius. No matter how much you do, the guy three houses down with clogged gutters, standing water, etc. will generate more than enough skeeters to compensate.
Posted by: newsouthsloper at March 27, 2009 7:49 PM
We got the "defender" from mosquito magnet. Results were OK but did not eliminate the problem.
http://www.mosquitomagnet.com/mosquito_magnet/defender/
Would estimate that it killed a couple hundred mosquitos over the course of the summer, but we did burn a couple of tanks of propane doing it.
Am going to use it again this summer.
I shared the expense with a neighbor.
Posted by: phripley at March 27, 2009 7:52 PM
The Dunks come as pellets too - the size of timed-release fertilizers. They are safe for birdbaths & ponds w/ fish. They don't kill anything - as I understand it, they screw up the surface tension of the water so that larvae drown & don't hatch. They're cheap enough that you could give a babyfood jar of them to neighbors.
Posted by: Arkady at March 28, 2009 11:10 AM
A good dose of West Nile Disease may be what's necessary to get people to act responsibly and clean up the standing water in their backyards. But even that is unlikely to move the most recalcitrant. As Newsouthsloper points out, there are simply too many people to be able to rely on everyone doing the right thing. Lest you think I'm being a scaremonger, btw, the city's infectious disease experts are expecting West Nile to soon reach a tipping point.
Posted by: 1929 at March 28, 2009 10:31 PM
Here's the answer to all of our prayers:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/16/mosquito.laser.weapon/
We just have to figure out where we can buy one!
Posted by: werner at March 29, 2009 12:01 PM
I have a Mosquito Magnet that I got last summer. It definitely made a big difference for over the previous summer. I also was more diligent about ensuring there was no standing water anywhere on my property. But no matter how many gadgets or strategies you try, you will never get rid of all the mosquitos, and you'll probably always need to wear repellent.
Posted by: geekspice at March 30, 2009 2:44 PM
ThermaCell lamps work great. Put 3 around my deck last summer (16x16) and had minimal mosquito problems when they were on.
Posted by: wyckoff at March 30, 2009 3:29 PM
Two things guaranteed to work:
- Thermacell lanterns: ring your eating area with them. we use six. repel mosquitos from 15 square feet.
- Cutter bug-free back yard spray - the kind you hook up to your hose. spray down the whole yard, trees, plants, fences, etc. (just don't spray kids toys or anything near where you eat). kills mosquitos and larvae dead dead dead.
I have the mosquito magnet defender. used it half of last summer, didn't work that well. will try again this summer in conjuction with the above.
Posted by: chuck at March 30, 2009 4:30 PM
Here we go again. I have been on mosquito warfare for 3 years - with little success. I spent over $600 on a Mosquito Magnet last year with very disappointing results - and it was a total pain in the a$$. It takes constant vigilance - some squirrels attacked it, I had to build a wire encasement to protect it! And changing the propane tanks every 2-3 weeks is no small feat if you have young children - or a life. Very few places repair them or are capable of maintaining them. I tried all the various placements, attractants, etc. But I totally agree with New South Sloper - if your neighbor isn't doing anything and there is standing water or even overgrown brush - your efforts will be futile. This year I am planting citronella and penny royal all over the place. I also bought a ton of cintronella candles, which seem to help as long as you are standing right on top of the candle, and plenty of citronella oil so I can lube up. It really pisses me off that after essentially buying a house for the outdoor space I can barely use it!!!
Posted by: Lisa FG at March 30, 2009 5:52 PM
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