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Location: North Downtown Houston (Northside Village)
157 posts, read 578,167 times
Reputation: 127
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I have a very small back yard that doesn't get much sun (grass won't even grow)- and it's infested with mosquitos. I've tried using my flea killer back there, but the mosquitos are still thriving.
There is no standing water. In fact, we've had a record dry summer this year. I'd hate to see hate to see them after a wet one.
I'm in Houston, TX. What do you use on your lawns to kill mosquitos? Is it safe for dogs? Also, I'm trying to get a grounud cover to grow.. will it kill that?
I would think ground cover would only make it worse, as it would hold in moisture. We always found that they swarmed in our flowerbeds in our yard in Houston. I think the problem with them is that you can kill them in your lawn, but they will just fly in from next door. When we would plan something in our backyard we would buy those backyard foggers and use them before our guests arrived. They helped some, but didn't work great. We had neighbors that had one of those backyard misting systems installed. They loved it and said it worked really well.
I used to have the worst backyard for mosquitoes.. and I didn't understand why.. until my husband peeped over the fence and saw an open cooler full of stagnant water.
I guess the neighbor finally cleaned up his act because this summer was much much better.
I don't know if they still do this but True Green came out one year and sprayed the entire grass in the backyard. It temporarly killed a lot of the bugs and the misquitoes. It worked well. The guy told me that people will have TG do this just before they are having big party.
Mosquito Magnets work WONDERFULLY well. They're not inexpensive but you can pick them up second hand on eBay. They plug into an electrical receptacle, work on propane (one tank a month) and a mosquito attractant cartridge (one a month) and quickly mess up the whole breeding cycle. I started using them at my restaurant when our summer BBQ nights were being severely disrupted by mosquitoes. Just one unit strategically placed showed results in less than two weeks both inside and outside the building and what a relief it was both for customers and staff. We were quickly able to dispense with all the bug sprays and the mosquito coils and candles and enjoy the outside.
Mosquito Magnets work WONDERFULLY well. They're not inexpensive but you can pick them up second hand on eBay. They plug into an electrical receptacle, work on propane (one tank a month) and a mosquito attractant cartridge (one a month) and quickly mess up the whole breeding cycle. I started using them at my restaurant when our summer BBQ nights were being severely disrupted by mosquitoes. Just one unit strategically placed showed results in less than two weeks both inside and outside the building and what a relief it was both for customers and staff. We were quickly able to dispense with all the bug sprays and the mosquito coils and candles and enjoy the outside.
Houston seems to have an even larger mosquito population than Florida We use coils to chase them away in our yard. Light them about 5 minutes before you go out and they work well to chase the bugs away from the area.
We use the coils sometime when we go camping. They do a good job. Something else that does a very good job is Raid Yard Guard. It's an outdoor fogger and works for several hours. Spray the yard and, like Va-Cat said about the coils, go in for a few minutes then you're ready to go!
I lived in Houston as a child in the 60's. Every so often in the summer a city truck would go down every street and through every neighborhood spraying DDT. It had a megaphone announcement that all citizens should close their doors and windows as it passed through. The trucks fogged everything.
Did a pretty decent job of keeping the mosquito numbers down.
Yeah, a bat house would be the more environmentally-friendly and healthy solution. I'd never want to breathe in chemicals on a regular basis. We live in the woods surrounded by swampy, stagnant water and have a lot of mosquitoes. We have bats that live on the side of our house, and every night they feast. I would hate to think how many mosquitoes we'd have without them.
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We use coils to chase them away in our yard. Light them about 5 minutes before you go out and they work well to chase the bugs away from the area.
