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April 29, 2009
Mosquito Magnet Poll
Ok folks - I know there have been posts in the past regarding the Mosquito Magnet - but I'd love to hear from anyone who actually has one of these units whether or not it helps reduce mosquito populations in your row-house backyards. We are desperate not to cede control of our backyard to the mosquitoes this year - but at the same time I don't want to plunk down for one of these things unless it really works.
Thanks
Comments
Depending on the size of your yard, it may be more advantageous to you to have a neighbor have one in his yard. They have to be pretty far away.
Posted by: BH76 at April 29, 2009 10:12 AM
I have one and used it all last summer. It definitely made a big improvement over the previous year. I found that the Lurex attractant worked better than the Octenol, despite the people who will swear up and down that we don't have Asian tiger mosquitos in Brooklyn.
Posted by: geekspice at April 29, 2009 11:47 AM
As I have posted a couple of times, we have a Mosquito Magnet Defender that we purchased last season. We are sharing the expense with a neighbor. If I read the instructions correctly we are actually providing benefit to about 12 - 16 yards or more (1/2 an acre).
There are two lures available IIRC -- one for Marsh mosquitos, which according to the manufacturer are prevalent in our region, and one for Asian Tiger mosquitos, which my neighbors have told me is what we actually have in our yards. We deployed the Asian Tiger lure last year.
Yes, it caught mosquitos. Were there still mosquitos in the yard? Yes. Were they ones not attracted to the lure, is the thing just not 100% effective, or did we put it in the wrong location: impossible to determine.
I would say we had fewer mosquitos overall and there were fewer instances where my kid came in covered with bites and unable to sleep at night due to itching but it could just be it was a dryer year or windier or any number of external factors.
We are having a go at it again this season and I set the thing up a couple of days ago.
Aside from the expense of purchasing it there is the not-unsubstantial expense of fueling it as it burns through a tank of propane every 3 weeks or so IIRC. It also requires the maintenance of swapping tanks, lures, cleaning the basket and flushing the innards with compressed CO2 carts.
It is also somewhat unsightly in our little garden and requires that an electrical cord be snaked out to it, this is easily hidden but it is only a matter of time before it I accidentally cut it while trimming the ivy or cutting our tiny plot of grass!
We bought ours at northline express which at the time had the best prices on new units (free shipping).
http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5WD-MM4000
There were some cheaper on Ebay for less but I wanted the option to return the thing if it turned out to be a total scam.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: phripley at April 29, 2009 11:53 AM
the more expensive ones can use batteries on the $450 version or a 'recharge pack' on the $600 version(check them out on amazon.com here),
The problem is running costs, propane and lures etc.
Cheers,
Dean
Posted by: deancollins at May 1, 2009 10:39 AM
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