Controlling mosquitoes around your home

[hotinhawaii]

The lethal ovitraps I originally posted about don't "catch" mosquitoes. So if you have made those traps don't expect to see dead mosquitos in them. They kill mosquitoe that land on the fabric strip later after they fly away. They kill eggs that the mosquitos lay in the water.

[VancouverIslander]

quote:

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Originally posted by shockwave rider

The tenant's "cottage" sits virtually on the property line, but the new landlord has returned to spend the winter in his nearby "cottage" so we are hoping he will make something happen soon. No one in our house is really interested in fence hopping into someone else's place, even someone who has been dumping on our property. I think part of the problem is the changeover from the former landlord to the new one, all of the tenants are carryover from a Kona side slum lord who built a Puna version of a trailer park over the last 20 years. The new guy is planning to live there at least every winter, so he has a personal interest in cleaning things up, his lights were on tonight so we hope he will get those tires removed this weekend.

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Sounds like there are likely building violations that you could overlook and not report to the county if only someone would take care of that problem.

Just call me Mike

[hotinhawaii]

UPDATE: Our traps have been out in the yard for two weeks now. The difference is dramatic. In places where there were always mosquitos buzzing around, they are gone entirely! I was working under the house in the 4' high dark and cool space. Generally, they are always waiting under here. Not one all day! Yesterday, the wind was blowing strongly all day. Some mosquitos blew in from elsewhere but I suspect they won't be here for long.
I am going to keep up with the traps by refreshing them every month. Iff you want to make your own: www.makemosquitotraps.org

[Chas]

I saw a documentary many years ago that showed a rural village somewhere that had eliminated their mosquito problem by disturbing the water every seven days. They did this by flushing it with fresh water. The reasoning was that mosquitoes need 10 days of standing water to breed.

I was looking for verification and found this on the State of Virginia's website:

Q:How long can water stand in puddles or containers before it poses a problem?

A:If the water stands for less than a week it will not breed mosquitoes. Only one species of mosquito (the dark rice-field mosquito) can complete its aquatic life cycle in less than seven days. It is not a common mosquito, and it would probably not lay eggs in a puddle that would dry up so quickly. Most mosquito species require standing water for a minimum of 10 to 14 days to complete their development. Puddles that stand for less than a week are not worthy of concern.

For those of us who have ponds, using a hose to spray water into it and disturb the "still water" areas would probably prevent breeding.

I wonder if frequent rain showers would be enough "disturbance" to affect areas where they breed.