Turns out my backyard is a haven for mosquito breeding. I can go outside and one side of my house will be covered with giant male (?) mosquitoes breeding their hearts out. Hell my dog was just walking in the yard just now and dozens of them sprang up from the ground where she walked.

There is a small ditch that runs behind the houses in this development and it has had maybe 3 inches deep, 5 inches wide of standing water. Apparently it was enough to bring out a fuck ton of these damn things.

There are little kids that play around outside and I have pets that go outside. Any safe recommendations, or is this a hopeless endeavor? I know my parents would fog bomb the backyard at home late at night, but everything here is pretty open and close together so I'm not sure how open I'd be with that.

4/15/2011 11:48:50 AM

install a bat house somewhere in your yard. It might not do much good but atleast you can say you tried

[Edited on April 15, 2011 at 11:54 AM. Reason : also drain the water so it isn't standing if it is at all possible]

Also think about adding some gambusia, that what they do to a lot of stormwater wetlands. supposedly it helps but it sounds like the water might not be deep enough for that.

http://www.enr.state.nc.us/upclose/pages/stormwatermosquitoes.html

[Edited on April 15, 2011 at 11:57 AM. Reason : gambusia is an awesome word]

4/15/2011 11:54:16 AM

Skeetervac or similar

4/15/2011 11:56:35 AM

bleach in the free standing water will kill the mosquito eggs, other than that I don't know

4/15/2011 11:57:49 AM

try mosquito dunks designed for home pond use

4/15/2011 11:59:27 AM

Yeah, the water seems like it is just temporary, but after getting a ton of rain it was standing for a few days so I guess there was just enough for mosquitoes to take nest and all that.

4/15/2011 12:00:27 PM

well, in reality water shouldn't be standing there so for a permanent solution the ditch needs to be regraded or have a drain installed in the bottom of it. also keep in mind that mosquitoes can fly far and they can also be breeding in much, much less water- some pooled on a tarp or in a plant saucer is plenty. be dumping water out of stuff before it sits for 3 days.

4/15/2011 12:05:45 PM

They can work with small pools of standing water on leaves - like in the parts of your yard you don't rake.

They're terrible behind our house. I basically don't go out in the summer because they'll sift through a crowd of 100 people to track me down and bite me leaving others alone.

I'd pay a crop duster to dust our neighborhood if I thought it would help.

[Edited on April 15, 2011 at 12:19 PM. Reason : -]

4/15/2011 12:18:34 PM

Mosquitos love me

4/15/2011 5:38:39 PM

flamethrower

4/15/2011 6:30:23 PM

Bat box!

4/15/2011 6:36:40 PM

napalm strike

4/16/2011 9:48:39 AM

Apparently the bugs that have taken hold of my yard are in fact Mosquito Hawks, giant mosqiotoes that pose no harm to humans and whose larvae often eat normal mosquito larvae. Works for me

[Edited on April 17, 2011 at 2:00 PM. Reason : biological warfare at its finest]

4/17/2011 2:00:28 PM

if you are talking about crane flies they do not eat mosquitoes
http://www.a-mosquito.com/mosquito-hawk.php

dragonflies do though, and they can eat hundreds a day

4/17/2011 2:42:14 PM

Aw poopie. Guess I need to invest in some dragonflies eventually

4/17/2011 2:54:26 PM

I thought this would be an evan thread.

4/17/2011 8:52:58 PM

you need DEET

4/18/2011 9:51:08 AM

do those mosquito plants (a type of geranium) really work? they had them at the nursery this weekend for $5.

4/18/2011 11:04:06 AM

if we have all these candles and chemicals and shit and they still don't work that well, what makes you think a fucking plant is gonna help?

4/18/2011 11:47:34 AM

i'm not asking for YOUR, or anybody else's, sake. i don't have all these fucking citronella candles and chemicals and shit, and was planning on buying something. i thought that since this thread was about mosquitoes that it might be the right place to ask that question. you know, IN CASE someone has used them before. maybe someone had one last year & it worked, or maybe it didn't. that would be the reason i'm asking.


what. the. fuck.

[Edited on April 18, 2011 at 1:19 PM. Reason : that's a big knot in your panties]

4/18/2011 1:16:48 PM

as a native of ENC, i've fought, slapped, and cussed over skeeters for years and i'm here to tell you nothing really works except long sleeves, long pants, and some bug spray on your neck/face or just getting your ass inside.

4/18/2011 3:38:40 PM

Don't worry about NRR. His myopic thinking and narrow view lends itself to the same suggestions: shoot it, trap it, poison it (regardless of ancillary environmental effects) or set it on fire. That's just how he rolls. The idea that nature might actually have the best solution is beyond his comprehension.

4/18/2011 3:42:11 PM

4/18/2011 3:50:40 PM

4/18/2011 3:50:43 PM

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/18/135468567/repelling-bugs-with-the-essence-of-grapefruit?sc=fb&cc=fp

maybe this link goes here.

4/18/2011 4:00:06 PM

Getting rid of the free-standing water and bats will help.

We've now got some bats living up in our attic somewhere, and robins, squirrels, cardinals, voles, and a huge barred owl in the backyard. There's a stupid possum under the house, in addition to our chickens, and dogs that go outside. The only thing I don't have are snakes, although I wouldn't be surprised that joins the petting zoo.

4/18/2011 4:44:05 PM

Bats eat mostly moths when they're available instead of mosquitos. Mosquitos are like grape nuts for bats. Good when you're hungry and there's nothing else to eat.


I've got and aerosol can of something serious that you spray on your clothes that keeps mosquitos away for real. I can't remember the name, but it's a mostly non-descript yellow can. On Sale at Carolina Outdoor Sportsman if you can handle a trip to NoRal. Downside is you wear the same clothes outside. Which is fine for my set of camo, but not so much if you want ot play in the backyard.



Nature's optimal solution to mosquitos: Move somewhere where there's no mosquitos. Nevada? Wait for winter?

4/18/2011 4:54:35 PM

4/18/2011 5:26:19 PM

Malathion has worked for me for several years. I live on a creek and the mosquitoes are awful in the summer. I spray this 2-3 times a summer and it does wonders. There are still some mosquitoes around, but not nearly as many as before. You can get this at any Lowe's or Home Depot for about $8.

4/19/2011 7:59:37 AM

Last year we had Mosquito Squad spray our yard every few weeks. They have these backpack leaf blowers that spray a mix of soapy water and synthetic bug killer that lasts a few weeks. They come regularly to keep killing the mosquitoes throughout the summer. We have a very natural back yard with lots of leaves and such which trap water, so our yard is full of mosquitoes normally. Last year I don't think I was bitten once...great service, a little pricey but it was worth it to enjoy our yard with the kids.

4/19/2011 8:10:13 AM

^How does that work out? Thinking of the cases where mosquitoes would just fly over from a non-treated neighbors yard.

4/19/2011 8:29:40 AM

we did that when i got married at my parents' house (next to a mill dam pond. lots of mosquitoes, other bugs, & snakes). it worked VERY well. they came out every 2 weeks for 6 weeks prior & the day before.

4/19/2011 8:49:48 AM

i get chlorpyrifos from farmers. kills about anything with legs.

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 9:19 AM. Reason : also excellent for wiping out fire ant hills]

4/19/2011 9:18:16 AM

There is a device the military uses on their bases in humid areas. They also sell something similiar at local hardware stores. From what I understand, the mosquitos are attracted to the carbon dioxide we/animals breath. It is essentially a device that hooks up to a propane tank, expels the goods, the mosquitos think its the golden corral, and then a vacuum sucks them in as they get close. I've seen pictures of trash bags full of these things. Ask the home depot or lowes (not the one in Sanford). I don't think it can be THAT expensive, and by far the best solution to your problem. It's only going to get worse as summer goes on. The only downside is that I believe the problem has to get worse before it gets better, as it will essentially attract every mosquito in a 1/8 mile radius.

4/19/2011 11:34:10 PM

^They are called mosquito traps, and there is mixed evidence to support them at best.

4/20/2011 7:07:31 AM

^^that is what this is

4/20/2011 8:23:14 AM

those things are great if you don't mind attracting every mosquito from the neighborhood. they are good for a short term thing if you have a party or something, but in the long run they are just attracting more mosquitos

4/20/2011 9:42:45 AM

So put it in the neighbors yard.

4/20/2011 9:57:17 AM

^ my parents do that with their Japanese beetle traps

4/20/2011 10:26:19 AM

Does anyone think it might be helpful to actually create sources of treated standing water ? The idea being that they breed in toxic water I set out for them instead of other clean sources of standing water/tree bark/dead wood/etc?

7/15/2013 4:15:18 PM

i dont know if it would help that much because they are going to continue breeding inthe clean sources as well so you might wind up with 3 less mosquitos than you had before lol

7/15/2013 4:19:57 PM

its a shame you can't use DDT anymore.

7/15/2013 4:24:46 PM

Has anyone tried this?: http://bitsandpieces.us/2013/04/07/homemade-mosquito-trap/



[Edited on July 15, 2013 at 4:27 PM. Reason : ^seriously. fuck joni mitchell, and fuck the bald eagle, what good have they ever done?]

7/15/2013 4:25:53 PM

I guess I was hoping the standing water would be more attractive to them to breed in versus the fallen wood etc

7/15/2013 4:27:16 PM

my father in law has a company come out to spray around his house. He pays somewhere around $480 total for the spring-fall months and they come out every three weeks (the gestational cycle of a mosquito) to spray. The spray is organic so its not like the old fog bombs that spread poison around, this is derived from a flower supposedly.

We had a long talk about this when I was over there yesterday, its amazing that we can be in his yard throughout the summer and never get bitten by a single mosquito. He has a swimming pool, a ton of landscaping and about 0.5 acre of land in his backyard.

I can find out the name of the company that sprays his yard if anyone wants it. I would definitely recommend it if you can afford it, I was literally outside playing soccer with his sons all afternoon yesterday and dont have a single mosquito bite to show for it

7/15/2013 4:32:09 PM

in most eastern NC counties, you can call the county and they'll come out on a truck and spray some chemicals in your neighborhood. they just did my neighborhood this past weekend. not sure if your county offers this.

7/15/2013 4:35:59 PM

onslow did this

7/15/2013 4:41:16 PM

call Killingsworth...the Big Green K

7/15/2013 5:05:08 PM

the bottle thing seems to be useless based on the comments in that article.

7/15/2013 5:08:16 PM

My pest control contract covers spraying for mosquitoes, but when it rains buckets every day that stuff just does not last that long. The mosquitoes are horrible everywhere this year, its not just your yard.

7/16/2013 8:59:02 AM