How are the mosquitoes this year?

I've only been bitten twice this year. I've been very careful about standing water and using mosquito dunks in my fountains and rain barrels. We've had enough rain that we're not in a drought for the first time in 2 years, so you'd think we would have them. Don't know why we don't and I don't care!
Barb

Don't know how you all feel about Jerry Baker, But he's got a 'tonic' that I'm going to try…Especially after hearing reviews on Listerine!

1 cup Listerine ( the brown stuff)
1 cup lemon scented dish soap
1 cup lemon scented ammonia

Put it into a hose end sprayer, and spray everything in your yard!

As bad as these bugs are…At this point I'll try most anything!

Huh. Interesting, I may just have to try that.
Barb

Terrible here, everytime I go out if even just to let the dog out I get bit.

Please edit and add the missing "m"

I was bitten several weeks ago on the temple while gardening (what else) . Did not bother me at the time, but I woke up the next morning looking like something out of a horror movie. My eye lid was all puffed up and was almost swollen shut. The swelling lasted a few days and seemed to work its way down under my eye. Did not itch,thank goodness, but I would have scared a small child. Spent the time continuing my gardening , but this wearing mosquito repellant. I give myself a little squirt every morning before heading out. It is such a delightful scent! Right up there on the list next to deer spray.! LOL!

gee whiz bea...are you sure it was a mosquito? do you normally have that type of reaction from a mosquito bite? maybe it was a spider or some other type of critter. do the deer bite in dallas, or?

No it was a mosquito as I kept swatting him/her away from my face.When I am in my gardening "zone" i don't like having interuptions. It was getting on my nerves! I guess it snuck in when I wasn't paying attention. I do get serious reactions to gnat bites with much swelling, but this was a first for this kind of reaction from a mosquito. That night I had a sore spot on the temple, but no swelling at all. It was a true shock to look into the mirror in the morning and see my face looking like that. Wierd. I have not heard of any deer's biting here in Oregon. There was a real problem with wild turkeys last year. I heard that they attacked an elderly woman and knocked her down. She moved to a retirement community after that. Poor lady!

We have just had the first case of West Nile diagnosed here in La. ( New Orleans). It is possible to reduce the immediate area population, but with so much wetland around, it is impossible to get a firm hand on control. We do have GAH-zillions of biting gnats at present. Shortly before sunset, you can see clouds of them swarming about.

No mosquitoes but I was gardening today for over 5 hours and a fly drove me nuts.

Have seen a few in the morning early while doing chores in garden,one followed me in back door evening before last. With a drought going on though they are nowhere near as bad ,usually there are swarms.

No mosquitoes but the flies are bad, I think it,s the compost tea thats bringing the flies. Im busy most of the time so I dont notice them much.

I just posted about Mosquito's in another forum....

An effective natural repellent is Vitamin B1 (Thiamin). or getting a Vitamin B shot.
Many pest control professionals in this area get a B shot regularly to protect themselves from the deadly West Niles Virus.

A good source for B vitamins is TwinLabs B-100 Caps (vitamin B- complex).
Taken daily it supplies Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vit B6, Folic Acid, Vit B12, Biotin, Pantothenic Acid, and more.




This message was edited Jun 28, 2012 9:04 AM

Fish, seeds, nuts also good sources of B1.

Fabric softener sheets! Pin several fabric softener dryer sheets to your clothes when you are outside. The sheets apparently have a repelling effect on mosquitoes.....

It's 7.00 am here and I have already killed a dozen mossies with my trusty bat! Here in Thailand burning citrus fruit peel especially Pomelo peel is quite popular it creates smoke like the mosquito coils,

thaidai...you kill mosquitoes with a bat? are you telling us that the mosquitoes are very large in Thailand? what do you do if a mosquito lands on a window? :-D do you have problems with dengue there or other types of mosquito-spread sickness?

Hi vitrsna

Sorry for late reply, have only just seen your message. The mosquito bat looks like a tennis raquet but with electrified strings so it kills by electric shock, the mosquitoes quit with a satisfying crack and spark, you can also get a mild shock if you put your hand on it, so manufacturers put a warning on it for people with dodgy hearts!. Have never seen one in England (but we don't have mosquitoes only midges) so it may be illegal in some other countries.

There are problems with dengue fever and malaria in some parts of the country fortunately not where we live. But then dengue fever is more dangerous for people between the ages of 16 and 25 (if i remember correctly) so at my mature age that should not be a problem!

It seems like at 5 o clock here in Oklahoma city (sort of near a creek as well) someone opens a flood gate and they are eating you alive. But up until then they are not bad. Weird huh?

Maybe they show up for rush hour....grin

Last nights news reported our first confirmed case of West Nile Virus in the County….UGH!!! Thank goodness the woman is recovering...

The mosquitoes swarmed me the other evening when I went outside.. they were almost a cloud! I grabbed my bottle of listerine as fast as I could.. guess I was fast enough because I only got one bite and was outside about 2 hours. I sprayed myself several times because I was watering the yard and was determined NOT to geet bitten. My skin was a little sticky in a couple places from so much listerine but at least I had no mosquito bites.. I saw them hovering over my arms a lot but none landed.

From none all spring and summer to the last few days that now they are everywhere even in the drought conditions.Here they come they have adapted!!!.....I hate those little vampires ,I really do!!!

I found the entire population for this county when fishing a small pond today. I did not fish long.

We have had 14 cases of West Nile virus here in La. this year, but an unusually large number of W. Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis in horses.
Found this state by state break down

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/Mapsactivity/surv&control12MapsAnybyState.htm

WOW! That is very interesting! Thanks for the link! :-)

Thanks for the link! WV Virus is all over the country. Keep protecting yourselves.

You are welcome. Yeah, it would seem mosquitoes are equal opportunity pests

Just saw in this morning's paper that the count is now up to 33 cases with 4 of them the more dangerous form. The more it rains, the more they breed. We have had some form of shower/heavy rain here for 17 of the last 21 days.

Neighbors and I sit out every evening under the shade of my elm tree. Mosquitoes are bad, they love me soooo much. I have many bites on me now. They itch awful. Does anyone know what to apply to stop the itching?

They have now returned with a vengeance and attitude here!! Try maybe Cortizone 10 ,healing creams,or the poison ivy gels.?I use the healing creams myself.

I use Cortizone creams. Works pretty good for me. I usually average 4-5 bites within an hour each night and I put cream on it and the itching goes away after a few minutes usually unless I get a really bad one. Then it might be closer to an hour. lol

I try to stay as far away from them as possible....West nile cases have risen dramatically here and there have been 6 or 8 deaths across the state from it's more virulent form.

Have you tried the listerine to avoid the bites in the first place? It works very well for me. I buy bottles at dollar tree to use for spraying... just find something that has a good spray pattern you want to use.. I mix it about 50/50 with water. I keep the bottle handy because you do have to reapply to keep them off but to avoid bites, it is worth it. It is funny to see them hovering over your skin but not landing.

I haven't tried that. will have to look into it. Thanks.

I've been using the listerine to avoid them in the first place,works pretty good,one bite in about two weeks.That is walking through clouds of them,nasty little vampires!!!

I found something that stops the itching of mosquito bites and chigger bites! It's called Mayan Oil. You can check out the website at http://mayanoil.com. It's made from tropical herbs and really works.