Gardening with Mosquito Control in Mind?

My friend has a 100-year-old house with a big backyard and tall established trees. She's done some work on the inside of the house and hopes to get a new roof in the fall. The problem with her yard is that the mosquitoes are completely out of control. I can step outside for just a few minutes (I'm one of those people that mosquitoes loooove) and get bit at least four or five times. We've looked through her yard and there are no containers of standing water for mosquitos to breed in, so it isn't a matter of clearing the yard of that sort of stuff . . .

She's offered to let me plant my vegetable garden in her yard next spring and I'd like to help her with flowers and stuff like that in exchange. Is there anything I can do from a gardening standpoint to perhaps attract mosquito predators or somehow repel the bugs or . . . . ? Can we attract certain birds that will eat them or something? Or will only bats eat them?

It's a wonderful, historic neighborhood with lots of big trees. But is it possible that with trees that large, maybe the mosquitoes are breeding in water that gathers somewhere high in the branches and that efforts on the ground won't help? Sorry if that sounds silly - I don't know much about mosquito control.

Another silly question - could there be any plants in her yard that might be contributing to the problem? The edges of her yard are overgrown with all kinds of stuff we're trying to identify - some of it perennials that must've been planted there long ago, some of it overgrown weeds and tree seedlings. Should she clear out as much of that as she can unless we know what it is? They found blackberries back there a few days ago, but some of that stuff, I have no idea what it is.

The gutters are growing cute little miscellanious sprouts, which I'm sure isn't helping. So when she gets the new roof and cleans the gutters, that should make a difference. But the rest of it . . . any ideas?

Basil and Pennyroyal repel mosquitos, according to some.

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/companion.htm

I would clean out the gutters ASAP, if things are sprouting up there that means there's probably too much moisture around and could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes (as well as having the potential to cause problems for the house when it rains/snows if water can't drain down the downspouts like it's supposed to). Also I'd look around the neighborhood--could be one of the neighbors has an open rainbarrel or something and that's where they're coming from.

I hate the nasty little boogers. I'm all organic and stuff, but I am NOT amused at being a part of their food chain! They love me, too. :|

Mosquitos, fleas, and the Stanford blood bank all love me, too. I stopped having a problem in my own yard when I put in my first pond. I put in some mosquito fish, and it became a mosquito trap. If your friend is interested in a water feature, I would highly recommend it!

When we lived in the Caribbean for 15 months with the WORLD's WORST mosquitos, we burned mosquito coils all night every night. They're like incense coils, and the smoke and fragrance effectively repel mosquitos. I've seen them in some catalogs.

Hummingbirds eat TONS of mosquitos---hang feeders (these are my favorites==>>http://www.drjbs.com/)

There are also ultrasonic mosquito lures/killers available, which I've not tried, but which might be worth considering.

All of those sound like great ideas. Thanks!

By the way, here's some info on the mosquito fish
http://www.lawestvector.org/MosquitoFish.htm

Even if you just set up a small kiddie pool on a temporary basis, let it sit for a few days to allow the chlorine to evaporate, and then put some of these fish in, they would help. After you're done with the project, if a pond's not in order for the landscape, you could donate them to someone with a water feature. As the article says, don't release them in "wild" waters.

I know these little fish are used all over the country in reservoirs, so you might be able to get access to some from your local water authority. Here in my area of CA, some counties have programs to deliver them where they're requested by homeowners.

When we put in our first pond, we stocked it with goldfish right away (thinking they would take care of the mosquitos) but they were soon overwhelmed by the larvae. We went to a local county park with a big koi pond, and I happened to ask the ranger if the little gray fish I saw swimming around were baby koi. She called them "mosquito fish", so I told her about our problem. She said if I had something to put them in she'd give us some. We got about 10, and all we heard for the next 2 nights was tiny slurping sounds! Within a week, all the larvae were gone. That was 20 years ago, and we've had some ever since, without restocking. We moved some to our bigger pond in the back when we built it about 10 years ago. I can always sit out in the evening at home without getting bitten---not so elsewhere. The skeeters hang out by the pond, and the koi & goldfish jump for them when they come close to the water, and if they manage to lay eggs the mosquito fish eat the larvae as soon as they hatch.

That sounds like fun! Once she gets the gutters and yard taken care of, we can put in hummingbird feeders and a makeshift fish pond. :o)

Just another suggestion for your mosquito problem... Purple Martin Birds! I love these guys. Living in the Texas Gulf Coast mosquitos are a serious problem. Put up a "Martin Hotel" and problem solved. These birds will dessimate the mosquito population, and as a result, each year the problem gets progressively less and less. The key to attracting the Martins is to get your "Hotels" (essentially a large bird house with multiple compartments) around 30 ft in the air, and get them up before spring. It looks like the Martin Scouts head your way around March, so January or February you'd need to have these houses up.

My grandfather taught me about the Martins and we use to build the hotels during the winter and put them up after Christmas. Kind of a family tradition. You have to clean them out yearly to ensure that they keep coming back, but once you get one family, you'll soon have plenty of Martins. For me it was always the first indication of Spring when you'd look up at the sky near dawn and see the birds swarming around the houses.

Hope this helps. http://www.indianabirds.com/martins.php

I love that idea! Thanks for the information.

I've read that there are a lot of plants that repel mosquitoes. Plants that come to mind are marigolds, catnip, and Rosemary. I also planted society garlic (probably not hardy to your zone) as I heard that it repelled them as well. Admittedly, I don't have that many mosquitoes to start with, but a couple plants in pots on the patio seems to have provided me with a "slap and itch" free patio.

With that said, I've also read that you have to "damage" these plants to release some of the chemicals or scents that do the actual repelling. I'm not a scientist, but that seems to make sense to me.

If anyone running across this thread needs more information on this topic, see this excellent article: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1726/

It just came out today.

I love the idea of attracting birds to this area to take care of the insects. I am going through this same problem in the rear section of my yard. I guessing that they are just heavier there because it hasn't been disturbed in years. Within the next week, I am adding a new feeder here to hopefully cut down on the numbers.

Question about the purple martins - I know that they use birdhouses that are placed on high poles, so how do you clean the houses?

Plants said to repel mosquitoes. These might help some.

http://ca2pr.com/2008/05/03/mosquito-repelling-plants/

Karen

I have read that catnip is a good mosquito repellant. I have quite a few growing now on the property mainly for my cat.. The first one I transplanted about 5 years ago I haven't had very many mosquitoes the last 3 or 4 years...really and I am not sure just why. Come to think of it , could it be ?.......

I can't keep catnip or catmint alive in the ground long enough to find out what its effects (on anything other than my cats) might be...LOL! I've even surrounded my plants with chickenwire to keep my cats out of them, to no avail.
The only success I had growing catnip was in a hanging planter several years ago, and then I struggled to keep it watered.
I know some cats aren't really interested in catnip---apparently my 3 didn't read that brochure!~~