Mosquito Control

[huntingislife]

The mosquitos in our yard are terrible and I am wondering if any of you have had any luck controlling them. I was thinking maybe something to spray the whole yard with?

[buddha]

I've done the spray thing with the hook-up to the garden hose and it seems to work for a short spell. If you plan on being out it does help but my experience with the products is that it is not the complete fix.

[Grant]

you may want to try to call the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District- I'm not sure if they will do spot treats out as far as Oak Grove... But it's definitely worth asking.

I worked as a Field Inspector for 4 summers, they can be contacted per the info below.

Contact

Metropolitan Mosquito Control District

Metro Counties Government Center

2099 University Ave. W.

St. Paul, MN 55104-7646

Telephone: 651-645-9149

Fax: 651-645-3246

Email: [email protected]

Metropolitan Mosquito Control District

They are a publicly funded organization, almost exclusively via property taxes. When I last worked for them in 2001, I think the tax rate was something like about 4 bucks per 100K home value.

for doing my own treatments, I've had the best luck using a combination of 2 products, first a barrier spray, with a longer residual, active ingredient Permethrin; followed by a fast kill fogger treatment- I use one of the propane fired foggers, with an active ingredient of Resmethrin. this has a residual of about 20 mins.

Yes, I'm still somewhat of a mosquito nerd, but it's come in handy over the years

[BoxMN]

Hey Grant,

I too worked for MMCD, but as a research assistant back in '90-'95. Learned a ton about the little pests I was going to reply exactly as you did, with those control materials. I would add that you want to use the resmethrin during the day, when the skeeters are resting in the vegetation, and usually if there is a slight hint of a breeze to move it through the brush to kill them over more space

I actually worked on studies comparing treated to non-treated parks that were sprayed using permethrin, and looked at the longevity of it. There was a sig. difference, and it lasted about 3-5 days with sig. difference, but you could tell a "seat of your pants" difference for about a week.

I worked at the HQ in the lower level, with Diane and Sandy and Nancy. I had a great time while working there, and I got to see first hand how it could be a lot worse in the metro area, bite-wise, if the MMCD wasn't doing its thing. They kill lots and lots of skeeters

[fishing tech]

I keep my grass short and use my fogger if we are going to be outside after dark. Seams to work.

[hoggs222]

Huntingislife,

I haven't seen a single mosquito this year and I'm not too far from you (knock on wood).

Besides what has been said already, you could make sure that you don't have any standing water. Used tires, buckets, etc. Those are breeding grounds for the nasty little buggers.

Any ponds near the house?

[Wanderer]

Thankfully our SWARM has died back a little this week! We were pretty worried since we'll have alot of company this weekend.

We asked at the farm store for a good repellent and are going to give "Mosquito Beater" made by BONIDE a try. They claim that a certain city buys up a ton of it every year to treat the park for an annual event and it seems to work well for them.

Its a granule formula of Naphthalene and Butoxypolypropylene glycol (plus 95% other ingredients). I can use my spreader to broadcast or shake out of the can.

We have high hopes and will report back.

Oh, it rated to be effective for 24 hours. We'll see.

[Thorn]

Resting in the vegetation...LOL

Heck That's all I have around my yard. So when they leave the neigbors yard I just get enamered by twice as many.

Oh well, got to love the deep woods. Give and take.

By the way I've had tons of draggies here in the last couple days. It's been cool out so alot have just been kinda dazed and confused, and many have falllen prey to ants..Darn it.

Hope they make it through as they'll be chasen the Mosqos when the temps get back to norm.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Thankfully our SWARM has died back a little this week! We were pretty worried since we'll have alot of company this weekend.

We asked at the farm store for a good repellent and are going to give "Mosquito Beater" made by BONIDE a try. They claim that a certain city buys up a ton of it every year to treat the park for an annual event and it seems to work well for them.

Its a granule formula of Naphthalene and Butoxypolypropylene glycol (plus 95% other ingredients). I can use my spreader to broadcast or shake out of the can.

We have high hopes and will report back.

Oh, it rated to be effective for 24 hours. We'll see.

We used to use Mosquito Beater years ago. Worked okay, fairly decent.

[huntingislife]

We have Lake George and then a dense woods behind our house so I will just have to concentrate on our yard and around the house. It might be a lost cause. I got rid of any buckets and flower pots holding water. We will see if that helps. I picked up some fogger and am planning on trying that this weekend. Anybody ever try those Mosquito Magnets? They are pretty spendy.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Getting rid of anythin holding water is the first step. Get em where they make baby skeeters kind of thing.

This may sound corney, but I've found bats and birds are the best defense against the little vampires. Try putting up some bat houses under soffets or a darker area and some martin houses up high in the air. Granted, it takes a while for your buddies to move in and it prolly won't help you right away, but it's well worth it.

Right around sunset it's so cool to see all my little friends come out and defend my family against vampires.

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

I have the mosquito magnet and it works awesome!! I collected all the mosquitos and filled a gallon ziplock bag in a month and a half. Of course the people in our town complained about the mosquitos and now our city now sprays and the skeeters are gone. Now it just sits on the shelf in the garage. I woudl recommend it.

I also heard the thermacells work good also. Look in the camping/hunting section. I plan on getting one to use this year camping and also use it bowhunting this fall.

[sparcebag]

I'm yet clearing a lot and the skeeters are the worst they have been in years!! I'm gonna try Ortho MAX today,and then use a fogger just before I start working in the area,I'll let the ones here know how it works for me.

[Thunder]

Glad I am not the only one with Mosquito problems. Our area (near Chaska) is terrible! We live on the edge of town with some trees/ditch/pond by us, but NEVER has it been this bad. My friends in town also say they are terrible - to the point we can't be outside in the evening. It's terrible. Saturday I fogged the yard with some Cutter yard fogger, had citronella candles going and had some spray on (very weak spray)...and we still couldn't be outside. I purchased some OFF Woodsman 40% Deet today...we'll try that. I'd rather stink that not be able to sit on my deck!

Side note, I have heard that spraying Listerine around the area works wonders. Never tried that, and not sure if it will kill the grass.

I've been researching the Mosquito Magnets that run on LP tanks and reviews have been good, but reliability seems to be an issue...and those buggers are spendy! Not sure what I am going to do, but I am waging war on those flying vampires!

[Tom7227]

You folks may think I'm nuts, but I have not had a problem on my deck because it has a solid wall that goes up about 42 inches. It is sort of a privacy fence thing and was there when I got the place. I can go out any time at all and not have any real problem with skeeters. I live in an area that has a 800 acres park 2 blocks away and two lakes in view. Lots of swamps, lots of bugs. If I go to the front yard there's a problem, on the deck not so much. The deck is made with vertical 1 x 6 plastic material.

[sparcebag]

I read before that skeeters seldom travel above 10 foot,is your deck high? I also noticed after reading that years ago it seemed there were yet skeeters up high just not as many.

My Ortho max worked not 100% but after fogging they were all but gone and my clearing went without jumpin around swatting! NASTY LITTLE CRITTERS!!

[glenn57]

i know someone that has one of those lp things and seen it work, i was not impressed. just my .02.

[hoggs222]

I now am infested with them. Grilling was a treat last night!

[Grant]

Box- I was there 96-98, and 2002.... South Henn the first 3, then North Henn under Scott H-C for all 4.

[Wanderer]

Thankfully our SWARM has died back a little this week! We were pretty worried since we'll have alot of company this weekend.

We asked at the farm store for a good repellent and are going to give "Mosquito Beater" made by BONIDE a try. They claim that a certain city buys up a ton of it every year to treat the park for an annual event and it seems to work well for them.

Its a granule formula of Naphthalene and Butoxypolypropylene glycol (plus 95% other ingredients). I can use my spreader to broadcast or shake out of the can.

We have high hopes and will report back.

Oh, it rated to be effective for 24 hours. We'll see.

HMMM.... I posted an update a while ago...wonder why it didn't take.

Just to let y'all know, The Mosquito Beater was literally 90% effective. Those of us that understand how bad the buggers get were excited by not having 9 of the previous 10 pests around. Our guests from the metro still thought we had a lot though.

I'll be keeping a can ready at home and one up north too.

[huntingislife]

How long did it last?

[Wanderer]

It's a 24 hour deal. After applying two doses though on consectutive days, it seems like there's a little bit of carry over.

It states to apply to the area 1 hour before its to be occupied but when I put it down on the first morning it only took about 10 minutes to start having an effect.

Its definitely designed to be an occasional use product and not a long term solution. Give it a shot.

[gurkster]

Go to Professional Misquito Control dot com. I bought their srayer and Barrier Concentrate. It last for about a month with no misquitos. I am on 5 acres of woods next to a large swamp. the mosquitos were so bad we considered selling the place. Now 5 years later the issue is resolved. BTW I am in no way affiliated with them, just a happy customer that finally found something that works.

[Thunder]

Where can I find Mosquito Beater? We're having some people over Saturday for a BBQ and I want to be able to enjoy the outdoors, weather permitting.

[Hastings gal]

We use this when we go camping - found at Wally world and ace, it is by the gardening products close to the bug spray.

This does work good - just smells a little funny at first.