Mosquitoes are ruining my summer. I've got a nice covered patio which can't be used due to the mosquito problem. Any suggestions? I'd prefer non toxic natural repellents but I'm getting desperate. I've got a dog outside and a wife who thinks pesticides are death. Thanks in advance.

Make some bat houses and set them up in your trees.

My wife has made this a couple of times and it does work for a while. It does stink for a day or so after spraying though.

https://insectcop.net/make-homemade-mosquito-spray/


We also put out Spartan tubes for the first time this summer and within 10 days, the mosquitos were almost gone. The tubes just have water, sugar and yeast in them. I opened one of the tubes the other day and it was full of dead ones...I think they either get trapped in there and die or they get out and then explode from the sugar-yeast combo.

Just make sure you have a big enough back yard to put them somewhere away from where people congregate. We bought a trampoline during shutdown and put it too close to one of the tubes so mosquitos were naturally around the trampoline. I moved the tube and the mosquitos followed it.

While bathouses are cool, bats aren't a means of effective mosquito control. And they aren't really suited to mounting to trees either. At least not the trees we have here in Central Texas. Thermacell.

Spartan. They work

raidernarizona said:

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While bathouses are cool, bats aren't a means of effective mosquito control. And they aren't really suited to mounting to trees either. At least not the trees we have here in Central Texas. Thermacell.

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The bat people disagree with your statement.

https://batmanagement.com/blogs/bat-roosts/bats-and-mosquito-control

Live oaks and cedar elms can't host a bat house?

OP, a can off OFF has been a proven deterrent.

Fedup said:

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Mosquitoes are ruining my summer. I've got a nice covered patio which can't be used due to the mosquito problem. Any suggestions? I'd prefer non toxic natural repellents but I'm getting desperate. I've got a dog outside and a wife who thinks pesticides are death. Thanks in advance.

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She isn't wrong here, as they are quite fatal to mosquitoes.

I honestly don't know of any effective mosquito repellent that doesn't have chemicals. I spray my yard with Bifen a few times a year as needed and it works really well, also useful for keeping wasps from nesting under your eaves.

Spartans have been useless for me, but I've heard rumors that some batches are bad. I've got bats but there are still armies of mosquitos. DEET is the only thing that works.

Better living through chemistry. Hippies get bit.

Lemon eucalyptus oil based repellent works pretty well in my experience.

https://www.amazon.com/Cutter-Eucalyptus-Insect-Repellent-HG-96014/dp/B00860Y3DQ/

SanAntoneAg said:

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Make some bat houses and set them up in your trees.

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Just don't eat the bats when they show up. Apparently the carry viruses that can end the world.

lunchbox said:

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We also put out Spartan tubes for the first time this summer and within 10 days, the mosquitos were almost gone. The tubes just have water, sugar and yeast in them. I opened one of the tubes the other day and it was full of dead ones...I think they either get trapped in there and die or they get out and then explode from the sugar-yeast combo.

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Or they are Getting drunk and dying of alcohol poisoning.

A good pyrethrin product.

They are all derived from Chrysanthemum plant compounds that are completely organic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum_cinerariifolium


Tell your wife to take a chemistry class. I'll be honest each year that goes by I get more and more tired of rolling my eyes.

raidernarizona said:

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While bathouses are cool

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speak for yourself. I'm not into bathing with other dudes.

Science disagrees with your statement.

Quote:

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"Bats are very poor predators of mosquitoes," says Joe Conlon, a medical entomologist with the American Mosquito Control Association. While they'll eat the insects, they prefer moths and beetles.

"Less than 1% of their foodstuffs are mosquitoes," Conlon says. "They would starve if they relied on mosquitoes."

Shelly Redovan, head of the Florida Mosquito Control Association, says the state of Florida has tried using bats to control mosquitoes.

"They tried bat towers, bat houses, and they were a dismal failure," Redovan says. "Most of the time, bats don't like coming to the houses. They like to find their own places. Down here, it's our palm trees."

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BifenXTS

A few thoughts for non chemical help:
* Install a few high speed oscillating fans around your patio. Mosquitos hate wind.
*Eliminate any standing water around. You'd be shocked at how many mosquitos can come out of a saucer full of water. Go full Karen & check your neighbors yard closest to you. If standing water is found, post on Next Door or Facebook to alert the ignorant as to their wrongdoings.
*Trim/thin shrubs. They like the dead air space & love to hang around.

Go buy and plant a couple of American Beautyberry plants

Crush the leaves and rub them on you a bit. Bye bye skeeters.

A Spartan in the front yard, a Spartan in the back yard (both away from where you want to hang out), and an oscillating fan on the porch... works great here in Arkansas.

Apache said:

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A few thoughts for non chemical help:
* Install a few high speed oscillating fans around your patio. Mosquitos hate wind.
*Eliminate any standing water around. You'd be shocked at how many mosquitos can come out of a saucer full of water. Go full Karen & check your neighbors yard closest to you. If standing water is found, post on Next Door or Facebook to alert the ignorant as to their wrongdoings.
*Trim/thin shrubs. They like the dead air space & love to hang around.

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Fans apparently work... 1) mosquitoes are weak fliers, 2) moving air dilutes the C02 we exhale (which is what attracts mosquitoes)




And here's another fan application that may help:

Burn pionon pine wood in the chiminea or firepit or whatever you have. Keeps them away and isn't an unpleasant smell to be around.

Screen that porch in!

Do bats each wasps and bees?

I think wasps and bees are asleep when bats are dining

Just spray some real poison when she isn't home.

Deet has saved more lives than any instagram hippy and his lemon juice concoctions could ever dream of. I know this doesn't help with the emotional thinking wife(have one too) but chemicals work. They're safer than West Nile!

Cutter yard spray that screws onto the hose

Off Deep Woods

Buy a bottle of hippie juice. Pour down the drain. Refill with highly concentrated DEET. Give to the wife.

Profit.

Don't go too high concentration on the DEET. I tried something like 80% or 90% one time, and it didn't have enough dispersant to get a good coverage. Better to spray on heavily with a 30% to get good coverage.

My grandmother swore by planting garlic near the porch. I can't remember the exact variety but even
a human could smell it from several feet away.