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That's interesting and I'd never heard of it before but apparently there are studies that show coffee in standing water makes it unusable for mosquito larvae. I can see a run on the Starbucks dumsters coming up...
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Originally Posted by HHeard
not being from the area, I wouldn't know what a Crane fly looks like. they looked like Mosquitos to me.
I would think that with the emphasis on nature conservancy that pest control companies would be careful about what they use, and where.
Pyrethrins are naturally produced by chrysanthemums and the mosquito control co's are using some chemical copy which generally has the same effect. I don't know much about the human health effects of the chemical versions or about what other chemicals might be in the sprays but I do know that natural or chemical versions of pyrethrin will kill all insects. I have little faith that the mosquito co's care about much more than their bottom line and in my experience they promote the chemical version over the "natural" version (garlic based, I think).
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Originally Posted by m1a1mg
Bat houses.
Bats do eat mosquitoes but I think you'd have to have a giant colony of bats in your back yard to make a dent around here.
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Originally Posted by CharlestonNative
Invest in some purple martin houses also. Also you could light some citronella candles or citronella tiki torches (my personal favorite).
It's been shown that Purple Martins actually don't eat many mosquitoes and in fact do eat Dragonflies which are a natural mosquito predator. So as nice as it is to have PM's around, they won't help your mosquito situation.
Bats do eat mosquitoes but I think you'd have to have a giant colony of bats in your back yard to make a dent around here.
Many bats, and almost all in the United States, thrive on an insect diet. A single bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquito-sized insects every hour, and each bat usually eats 6,000 to 8,000 insects each night.Their appetite for mosquitoes certainly makes a backyard more comfortable. Bats are opportunistic, and their lack of discretion benefits everyone. Some of their favorite prey include crop-destroying moths, cucumber beetles, flies and gnats. Natural insect control is their specialty.
I don't mind the mosquitos down here, frankly they're not that bad. It's the noseeums that drive me crazy.
Unless you're covered up, they'll drive you indoors during the nicest days of spring and fall.
That's interesting and I'd never heard of it before but apparently there are studies that show coffee in standing water makes it unusable for mosquito larvae. I can see a run on the Starbucks dumsters coming up...
Pyrethrins are naturally produced by chrysanthemums and the mosquito control co's are using some chemical copy which generally has the same effect. I don't know much about the human health effects of the chemical versions or about what other chemicals might be in the sprays but I do know that natural or chemical versions of pyrethrin will kill all insects. I have little faith that the mosquito co's care about much more than their bottom line and in my experience they promote the chemical version over the "natural" version (garlic based, I think).
Bats do eat mosquitoes but I think you'd have to have a giant colony of bats in your back yard to make a dent around here.
It's been shown that Purple Martins actually don't eat many mosquitoes and in fact do eat Dragonflies which are a natural mosquito predator. So as nice as it is to have PM's around, they won't help your mosquito situation.
What eats noseeums?
Maybe there's a way to get the noseeums and fire ants to wage war on eachother?
What eats noseeums?
Maybe there's a way to get the noseeums and fire ants to wage war on eachother?
I love this Idea! Maybe if we can get the noseeums to join the Republican party and the Fire Ants to join the Democratic party they would become sworn enemies and wipe each other out...
The mosquito dunks definitely work and simply removing any standing water around your yard will make a big difference especially if the neighbors do the same. Even small areas of standing water can breed a lot of mosquitoes so you have to be pretty vigilant. Not sure if you could get enough mosquito dunks to control any sizable body of water.
There is a minnow called a Mosquitofish which eats mosquito larve and which might be good to introduce to your own pond but they're considered an invasive species so it wouldn't be good to release them into the wild.
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