Believe it or not...

Living in MN, (you all know that our state bird is the mosquito), I have found that this really works. A few years ago (it may have been 10) I read that if you take vitamin B-Complex, the little buggers won't bite you. Every year since, I will start 'dosing' in April and I swear that I haven't had a bite since. They were out in swarms tonight and even though they will land, it's like they sit there not wanting to sink their little fang in. I buy the B-COMPLEX sublingual liquid that you squirt under your tongue and hold/gag for 30 seconds but it works for me. Give it a try.

Hmmm, that migh be the case here. I always have taken many vitamins including b complex, and the skeeters don't bother me much at all, where they eat my husband up.

Years ago, they had a pill for poison ivy. You took it over a series of months, a stronger dose each time, and it would sensitize you to poison ivy, oak and sumac. well, Russ and I took it, and have never had any problem with poison ivy since. When Mittsy was out one time, she mentioned noticing some by a tree. We don't even pay attention to it anymore. They took it off the market, but it was something herbal, and we got it right from the allergist. Sometime altenative treatments or remedies really do work.

Thanks kinda funny I used to get eaten alive by the mosquito's but Not this year they have not bothered me and my husband has gotten bitten up so bad. I had been wondering why or what was different this year.

My doctors have me taken a bunch of Vitamins and one of them is B complex, now I know what is different.

Thanks for the info, I will make sure I keep taking it.

Once when I was headed off to some tropical place for a vacation someone recommended taking a B-Vitamin before I left and while I was there to ward off mosquitoes. I don't remember which one it was -- B1 or B6, but I took it. Don't remember how I fared, but will look up the number of the B vitamin and let you all know. Right now I am taking time released B -complex ( B-50's) and I haven't had any bug bites, but we have very few bugs at this altitude and this time of year.

I was told to take B1, but taking the entire B-comlex is better for your health. I was told that all the B vitamins should be taken in the correct porportions to each other.

Makes sense to me. The great thing about B vitamins is that they are water soluble and if you take to many you simply excrete what your body doesn't need. Not the same with oil soluble vitamins like A and D. You are probably right that the one I took in my trip to Central America was B1.

My chiro told me there is one B that can build up. Seems like it was B6.

Ok, those little boogers/buggers eat me alive so I will try the vit. B and tell you if it works for me. I have several ponds with and without fish, flowers etc. so I have alot them lurking around. I just figured they liked me because I'm so dog-gone sweet. LOL

I'd rather take vit. b than use all the bug spray I go through. I'm sure that the spray has to be bad for you but I just can't stand the mosquitoes having me for lunch.

Thanks for the tip, I'll let you know what my results are in a week or so. I figure I'll need to get it in my body good before it starts working??????

Marian

I hope it works for you Marian. I agree that bug spray can't be good for the body day after day. I like the Spring Valley B-COMPLEX sublingual liquid. I squirt it under my tongue, leave it there for 30 seconds and have a glass of water ready for rinsing. I think the body absorbs this quicker/better.

We have a biting fly up here and they really bite/hurt. They just bite to be mean. I do use a Sportsmen outdoor spray that helps...I think it Cutters. They aren't around as much, thank goodness!

Sharon

maybe this is why I don't get bit much and DH and DD do? my doc has me taking a centrum silver (generic) each day? that's got plenty of Bs in it.

Could be. I hate insect repellent, have since childhood. Maybe that's why I chose to live in a nearly bugless place. We don't have many here, thank goodness.

knew you had common sense pajar! I could tell when I met you!

Well, about some things. Not about irises though. My common sense goes out the window when I see an iris sale!

like the one coming up? ^_^

Yes. Like that!

Not fair! I know nothing about a sale and even if I knew, it's too late for us '4' zoners.

Also, I don't think my husband would understand my bringing potted Iris home to NE. for 6 months. He already has a wife that is out of control here. He has the birds and I have the flowers. No wonder we have lasted 50 years. You should see his Hummingbird pictures! They are truly amazing!

How long is your Iris season? Because of rebloomer's now, it must be 9 months? So amazing! I love it for you!

Depends on what you call my iris season. We don't get a lot of rebloom but when we do, it goes through September, so that would be 5 months. But that is stretching it because this year I have yet to have a single rebloomer. Normally it is more like slightly more than 6 weeks.

all my rebloomers are looking sickly. we've had a weird season, too. but yeah, we have sdb and ib in March and one year I put a stalk on the Thanksgiving table of Double Shot. we don't get enough cold for things I love like roses and peonies. the roses I have to spray to go dormant, or the following year they come up spindly.

Well, my lack of rebloomers is partially my own fault -- plus it is just now starting to be time for them. We never have very many, but this year I divided on of the most dependable ones, Sugar Blues. Last year I divided Romantic Evening and the gophers hit it hard over the winter. I don't even know if I have Romantic Evening any more, nothing in that bed bloomed, this year. The ones that re-bloomed last year bloomed late -- not sure we are there yet and the gophers have eaten up Immortality pretty badly. Don't know if I have that left any more.
Did I mention that I am now trapping gophers? I am tired of losing perfectly healthy plants to them.

That must be what's eating my rhizomes! I thought I saw a gopher/ground hog in the yard the other day (we don't normally have them) but thought I was seeing things because it moved so fast! Normally we have rabbits under the neighbors shed!


Will the cats and/or neighbor's dog keep them at bay?

R.

I think gophers are smaller than ground hogs. Gophers are only about 6 inches long not counting tail. They rarely come up above ground so it is unlikely that you saw a gopher, but not impossible. We don't have ground hogs but I understand they are quite a bit larger than gophers. You should probably check them out.

Ground hogs are much bigger than gophers -- about the size of a raccoon. They also don't move very fast -- gophers are FAST. And yes, my cats chase the gophers and will dig them (and moles and voles) right out of the ground. My German Shepherd isn't quick enuf to catch the things, but the neighbors beagle mix is and does! I have found the critters mostly leave my garden alone now, after 4 years. Now, if I could only come up with a similar program for the weeds.....

Feed the weeds to the groundhogs.

you so wise irisMA ^_^

And groundhogs live forever and hold a grudge. They live up to about 10 years. When we first bought our property there was a small groundhog here. We had just planted some flowers, and went to look at them, and the groundhog was eating them. My daughter who was around 19 at the time chased the groundhog, and it ran then turned around and chased her. That groundhog lived down in that same area for about 10 years, and everytime we came down there, and it was there, it would take a dash towards us, then run away.

Great story, polly! I have never seen a groundhog except for P. Phile ( could not possibly spell his first name.) P. Phil doesn't look like he could move very fast, but does look like he could hold a grudge. I have seen wood chucks up in the mountains here -- I mean farther up than we are. I think they are similar to ground hogs. Is that correct?

same animal. different name.

Interesting aside.... Punxsutawney Phil is always a female.

5 Billion gophers to be slain here. Our cat is an avid gopher hunter. Yes they do come above ground and run amuck. Holes in the prairie grass so you have to watch your step. They are quick also and ugly and dirty and flea ridden germy things. Yuck

Punxsutawney Phil is a female? Figures. Time to change her name to Phyllis! or Phila or something like that. Give the gals credit!

Great Groundhog story Pollyk! Ladygardener told a story of having one bite and take a chunk out of the back of her calf when she was a child. I think she may have had to get the rabies shots.

There is a den here and usually every year another family moves in after I trap & relocate the current squatters. So far this year the den is vacant, except for those vile Iris eating voles.

I never saw a Groundhog eat any Iris, although they love tulips, Hydrangea, ferns and lilies.

My mad Groundhog experience was quite startling. A large one was chomping away on some plants so I went over with a long garden rake and tried coaxing him away. He stood up on his hind legs and squarely faced me. He wrapped his clawlike paws around the rake's tines and pulled it right out of my hands!!!

Now that would have scared me. When critters get aggressive, I'm outta there. And those groundhogs for some reason seem to be more brave than other critters.

The groundhogs eat the leaves off my siberian and Japanese. At least they're not eating the rhizomes, like the darn moles or voles or whatever. But if they eat the leaves down far enough, the plant doesn't get enough food to multiply well. Rabbits also eat the leaves down quite a bit.

It's funny that new families move in the old dens, stormyla. I never knew that,

Gee Polly, that might explain what happened to the Siberians that were near the den. I thought the voles got them, but they had been there undisturbed for a couple of years and the voles had not bothered them.

Stormyla, spray around the den and your plants with Jalapeno juice! They will leave and NOT come back! Rabbits and voles leave plants alone that are sprayed with it as well. Works every time for me! I've never confronted a groundhog, but it worked like a charm on a very large boxer dog! He runs whenever he sees me now!

Sue

Thanks, Sue, I just might do that. Does the juice come in a bottle or do I have to squeeze some burning peppers?

I buy a gallon jar of the sliced ones from Sam's Club, drain off the juice, give the peppers to my kids (I can't eat them!!), then put the juice back in the jar, fill it with water, and then fill my sprayer with it! Easy peasy. Just make sure you wear gloves!

Sue

Thanks Sue, I would have never thought of that methodology. I don't eat them either, but can find someone to give them to.

Would a bottle of hot sauce do the trick, maybe we could get them with the good stuff like habanero sauce.

I know one little doggy that wouldn't work with the little chupacabra ate a whole packet of that fire sauce from taco bell and 2 habaneros I dropped on the floor....then got mad cause I wouldn't give her any more

Polly, I imagine it would have to be diluted to get the coverage needed and not burn the plants.

That Groundhog did scare me, I don't want to have to go through those rabies shots. I try to stay away from them and racoons. I have a glider located in a break in my big bed and sometimes when I sit there one would brush up against my legs. That's a little too close for comfort for me. I've learned to listen for the sounds they make so I don't have a close encounter.

I've often wanted to go to Punxatawney for the festivities, but when I tried to make arrangements last year, I found that it's almost a 3 year wait list to get a hotel room. Too many people for such a small town. 3 year wait for Paris? Yes. Punxatawney? No.

I got the biggest kick last February when I read that Staten Island has it's own version of Groundhog Day festivities and this year the creature bit the Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.