How do gardeners survive down here (lol), and another question (Charleston: how much, house)
Charleston areaCharleston - North Charleston - Mt. Pleasant - Summerville - Goose Creek
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We've been in our house in Summerville for about two weeks, and a lot of renovating is going on. My husband's uncle is "helping" - meaning he gets it in his head that he wants to attack our bushes/trees with some sort of electric trimmer for 20 minutes, leaving me with a ton of crap to clean up
Day one of me trying to rake up all the branches/leaves: I was outside for an hour and a half, and got about 35 mosquito bites. Joy!
I am just a bit melancholy over finally having a gorgeous yard for future kids, and I can't see them actually playing in it without being eaten alive As for myself, just found out I am pregnant, so no Deet for me, ugh! Do people actually use their backyards down here?
Also, is there a place to dump debris in Summerville - stuff like old drywall, panelling, flooring? Thanks all, I'm really liking it here, just not so much the bites, haha
CONGRATULATIONS - how exciting. As for the trash - we've taken stuff to the dump - located on Central past Myers Mill.
We've found the same thing - mosquitos, fire ants... My husband treated the yard for bugs, but it didn't seem to do much good, but we have a lot of pine trees on our property, and naturally he couldn't get in there to treat it - or didn't want to. It doesn't seem like people use their yards here as much, we had our son's graduation party with a big tent - everyone stayed inside, so we'll know not to do that next year at my daughter's graduation.
Can you use the Avon lotion? I saw a test on TV with different mosquito repelents, and surprisingly enough it worked. I don't remember the name of it - but I'm sure an Avon rep could tell you.
For years, many people have sworn by Avon's Skin so Soft. My friend who is an Avon rep says they aren't supposed to even try to represent any kind of company stance on this
I just did an internet search and found that pregnant women are twice as likely to be a target for skeeters than non-pregnant women -- the extra heat and carbon dioxide, I guess. I've read in many places that DEET in normally used levels isn't bad for pregnant women (I've got a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old, so I've just been through it all...). There are also some other chemicals used in widely available repellants (picaridin). Oil of lemon eucalyptus is also effective, according to the CDC's website.
For fire ants we buy Top Choice at the warehouse where all the pros get their chemicals from... It's not cheap, but is guaranteed for a year. I'm VERY allergic, so I need to keep those little buggers away. You can also get any decent pest/lawn company to put it down for you.
We are thinking of relocating to Charleston, but we have two Dachshunds. Anyone know anything about whether the mosquito sprays are toxic to small dogs???
If you can stand the heat there tend to be less mosquitos during the middle of the day. We've had some success with the mosquito coils. We also spray garlic spray (bought online) but we're not sure how much it works. For fire ants I'm trying grits. I heard the ants eat the grits and the grits expand in them and kill them.
I just did an internet search and found that pregnant women are twice as likely to be a target for skeeters than non-pregnant women -- the extra heat and carbon dioxide, I guess. I've read in many places that DEET in normally used levels isn't bad for pregnant women (I've got a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old, so I've just been through it all...). There are also some other chemicals used in widely available repellants (picaridin). Oil of lemon eucalyptus is also effective, according to the CDC's website.
For fire ants we buy Top Choice at the warehouse where all the pros get their chemicals from... It's not cheap, but is guaranteed for a year. I'm VERY allergic, so I need to keep those little buggers away. You can also get any decent pest/lawn company to put it down for you.
Ok, get yourself a Therma Cell from Walmart, they are great for about 500 sqft.
What part of Summerville do you live in? Some areas have street pickup of yard debris, depends on what trash pickup company you hire.
I think the Therma Cell recommendation is a good one. I also know of a more economical solution but I dont' know for sure if it's AS effective as the Therma Cell? But OFF makes a blue plastic fan that's called Clip On and it runs on the 2 AA batteries and has a small fan in it that is supposed to provide head-to-toe protection for 12 hours. I have not used this product yet but plan to give it a try. The OFF fans cost less than the Therma Cell's and also can be refilled for additional uses. No spray on necessary.
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