When you guys are thinking about mosquito control, please try to make sure it is safe for bees.


Please won't someone think of the children bees!

7/16/2013 10:23:33 AM

7/16/2013 11:54:53 AM

^^ agreed!

7/16/2013 12:12:19 PM

bees are the bees knees and help my veggies

7/16/2013 12:27:46 PM

Pesticides aren't why we have a bee shortage here

7/16/2013 1:47:59 PM

I am doing research on this very topic^ and ^^ for the EPA

7/18/2013 8:13:02 PM

2^educate me! You too klatypus!

7/18/2013 9:26:26 PM

I've been fogging/spraying my yard with pyrethrin myself rather than have a service come out an do it. It's about $1.50 per gallon (diluted from a concentrate) for the spray and the fogger ran me about $70.

I hate that it kills all the other insects, but the source of water is likely a nearby neighbor (I've seen at least one neighbor with pools of standing water in their backyard from poor drainage) and I can't really do much about that. I sprayed once two weeks ago and again today. There definitely seems to be a lot less mosquitoes. I found a decent concentrate with a 1:10 pyrethrin to PBO ratio that I'll keep using. That little fogger is slow as hell, but I couldn't convince myself to buy the $700 Stihl mister/blower.

(That is unless someone lives in Hickory and feels like offering me $300 to come spray their yard every month.)

[Edited on July 18, 2013 at 9:37 PM. Reason : ]

7/18/2013 9:33:41 PM

don't get caught spraying insecticides or herbicides for pay without a license

[Edited on July 19, 2013 at 8:49 PM. Reason : county truck came by and sprayed my neighborhood again the other night. skeeter issue is much better]

7/19/2013 8:48:40 PM

Imidicloprid is the most common neonicotinoid product out there. It is a systemic pesticide that has been quite successful. However, interestingly enough when honeybees are exposed to it the foragers start becoming inefficient very quickly. At this time no one knows if they are confused and can't come home or if they can't find pollen or nector. But the end result is they don't bring home the pollen, which is crucial for honeybees. Then once they take a blow like that, any other diseases or mites that attack the hive will have a devastating effect.

7/27/2013 8:55:20 AM

Ah. I thought it was as simple as pesticide kills bees. But that is still sad.

7/27/2013 5:43:47 PM

interesting read if you are interested in this topic

http://qz.com/107970/scientists-discover-whats-killing-the-bees-and-its-worse-than-you-thought/

and here is a good one about mosquitoes for those interested in their behavior
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/07/25/205526533/why-mosquitoes-love-me-and-other-mysteries-revealed

7/28/2013 9:48:17 AM

i found some festerign water on my deck in an old trashcan that was crawling with mosquito larva


poured in the bleach and watched that whole process grind to a halt

7/29/2013 11:04:51 AM

meanwhile, it seems that yellow jackets are flourishing.

7/29/2013 11:22:31 AM

they were flourishing in my outside wall until I closed down their airspace with some aerosol paint thinner and caulked up the hole really fast, sucks for the ones that were inside....

7/29/2013 11:31:07 AM

I should also say that insecticides are like only a small portion of what is causing them to not do well.

yellow jackets are predatory as larvae, so at least they are eating other insects before they sting you. And they are pollinators, so they are sorta good that way.

7/29/2013 4:11:53 PM

Yesterday I set out 4 1-2 gallon containers of water treated with Mosquito Dunks around my house. I'm hoping some of those little assholes will breed there instead of clean sources of water. We'll see...

7/7/2014 9:59:42 AM

7/7/2014 4:06:57 PM

^^ shit seems to work. mosquito population is way down.

7/21/2014 10:48:07 PM

really ... im going to do this then. you cannot go in my backyard without getting eaten alive

7/22/2014 10:40:16 AM

Yeah I think it's working well...I was just outside for about 30 minutes and didn't notice many...also didn't get bit which is a first, especially after it's been raining. Also haven't noticed as many in the house where there used to be a bunch getting in here.

Here's a picture of the bottom of one of those buckets...they all look pretty similar. In my mind those
little things at the bottom are all mosquito eggs-

7/22/2014 10:16:48 PM

Sweet ... So did you use one dunk waffer for each trap?

7/23/2014 8:17:11 AM

No something like 1/4 of a dunk per 1-2 gallon bucket. There are instructions on the back...think I went a little strong

This is the product: http://www.lowes.com/pd_92460-1643-MODU1_0__?productId=3047384

[Edited on July 23, 2014 at 10:38 AM. Reason : ]

7/23/2014 10:37:07 AM

this has been the worse summer i can remember... i've been getting bit every time i go in my backyard.

8/18/2014 1:33:44 PM

No joke, even our conditioned company warehouse has been getting them like crazy and all the shop/shipping guys went and bought fans; its like best buy opened a showcase to display every type of fan made in there now.

8/29/2014 4:03:25 PM

i can't wait for some cold weather to get here to reduce these bugs.

8/29/2014 4:26:54 PM

Mosquitos a shit

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

8/29/2014 5:42:49 PM

Doing that same mosquito dunk system again this year. If anyone else tries it this year lemme know how it goes please.

5/20/2015 7:49:27 PM

This was pretty interesting: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef005.asp

5/20/2015 7:57:31 PM

Has anyone had any success with anything like this?

http://www.lowes.com/pd_114974-316-HG-61067___?productId=4441845&pl=1&Ntt=backyard+bug

6/2/2015 3:56:14 PM

^^how big of a jug are you using? would lowes buckets work for this?

6/2/2015 3:57:28 PM

^ I'm actually using coffee containers for it..2-3 gallons each, and breaking each dunk into 4. Anything will work as long as it's dosed correctly, it's just cheaper for smaller volumes of water. They say to refresh them monthly I think...I probably went longer than that.

^^ I used it once with some success...kinda sketches me out though.

6/2/2015 4:05:11 PM

^^^ Used it a couple years ago to some pretty good success. Would only say that it worked for about 4 weeks instead of the listed 6-8 (I think that's what it said). But tried it again the next summer and I don't think it worked as well. Also was sketched about by using it with our garden.

I've got a neighbor who bought a Mosquito Joe franchise down here. I'm tempted to use him, but we don't have to many big grill parties planned this summer, so don't know if its worth it (I'm okay with spraying myself with Off for a night).

6/2/2015 4:41:04 PM

Label for that bug spray stuff: http://cdn.spectrumbrands.com/~/media/Spectracide/Images/Secondary%20Page%20Elements/LABEL_Button.ashx?h=18&w=35
active ingredient: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyhalothrin
http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/lambdacyhalothrin-c-114_369.html

6/2/2015 5:05:08 PM

thermacells, dudes. thermacells.

6/2/2015 9:02:26 PM

Yah I have one and will play with it...but I'm not the only one in the household, and frequently have people over. I like the idea of putting an actual dent in the overall population, if there's any small chance that's what I'm doing. I definitely like Thermacells over dousing my land in ^^ stuff.

6/3/2015 8:53:37 AM

^ i feel like you have a good idea, but are you not just attracting more to come and populate in the water? i want a solution to kill all of them dead lol

6/3/2015 10:39:56 AM

Yeah who knows. I doubt I'm actually helping.

Quote :

"i want a solution to kill all of them dead lol"

Spraying chemicals all over your land will help to a degree, but it will also probably kill beneficial insects, most notably important pollinators like bees and butterflies. Doesn't seem like a very responsible thing to do.

[Edited on June 3, 2015 at 12:10 PM. Reason : This stuff looks interesting: http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/]

[Edited on June 3, 2015 at 12:10 PM. Reason : You can probably make something similar yourself]

6/3/2015 12:01:44 PM

What is taking so long for these to take off? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser

6/4/2015 11:21:32 AM

http://gizmodo.com/this-low-tech-trap-for-killing-mosquito-eggs-is-brillia-1769907351

4/8/2016 4:28:17 PM

What's wrong with mosquitos?

4/8/2016 4:30:34 PM