Controlling mosquitoes around your home

[Carey]

I found that the mosquito bits, bTi on corn cob grits, float & will wash out of the pockets in semi-heavy rains...and then need to be redistributed after most rain events here...so a little labor intensive for any one with a bunch of bromiliads (almost as much as turning the the plants upside down to empty water after every rain...

there are some sinking larvicide that you can get, (and the county uses in the storm drains) but they are more heavy duty, both in larvicide & cost...

OH, and as a mated female can lay a couple of hundred eggs at a time, and has a range to fly in, she will repost eggs in many locations...and if you miss a bromeliad or a few... well, then those skeeters will join the jungle skeeters...
it is interesting that the female doesn't NEED a blood meal to live, just reproduce, and the source of a blood meal far increases her fecundity & survival rate, so any females that are born near blood meals (like those born closer to human housing) will have a greater chance to get a blood meal & a greater chance to have a lot of good eggs... & antibiotics in the blood meal can actually increase the mosquito populations

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342818/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1948-7134.2013.12006.x/asset/j.1948-7134.2013.12006.x.pdf?v=1&t=ii270s50&s=fb746fd5fb61935658625ff2bba514c5be256745

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150106...s6921.html

ADD: Since this is about controlling mosquitos around the home, I have become aware that we should all be checking those unused drains (things like the spare bathroom drains, or a floor drain you forgot was there...) these things are breeding magnets...just week (or less) of not using a bathroom can increase your mosquito counts around the home!

[Lodestone]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carey

I found that the mosquito bits, bTi on corn cob grits, float & will wash out of the pockets in semi-heavy rains

---

But maybe the mosquito-killing bacteria will have been dispersed and still live in the pocket (albeit in diluted quantities)? I no longer can find any "wrigglers" (which I presume are mosquito larvae) in any of the pockets.

[EightFingers]

I use the mosquito bits in my bromeliads and they have stayed in for at least the last couple weeks. Had some pretty heavy rains during that time.
I refresh them every two weeks per instructions and haven't seen any mosquitos. Only takes a few minutes to treat a lot of plants.

[Rene Siracusa]

re Evil Octopus's comment about hollow papayas as breeding ground: I put a baggie over the cut end, secured with duct tape, so no water can get in for mosquito breeding. Even an upturned bucket or tin can would do the same.

[PunaMauka2]

I'd imagine a shovel full of cinder on top might do the trick too. ...?


ETA- ...as long as the cinder isn't too coarse.

[shockwave rider]

We have been unsuccessfully trying to get our back neighbor to deal with his pile of huge tires placed on the property line. He has a truck, we don't, and refuses to deal with them. We called the county, the health department, and the landlord, but the tires are still there, I could maybe take half of one in my little car if I chopped it up. At this point this is the last source for mosquitos in flying range of our house, and there is a case of dengue on our street just out of flying range of the tires.

Why do some people have no common sense or idea of community health? My partner has a very compromised immune system, and our Dr. says dengue could lead to hospitalization and further decline in overall health, because one guy is a clueless jerk. The same guy has been putting jugs of used motor oil and old car parts on our lot too.

[Tink]

Sneak in and put a bit of veggie oil, or anything that will create a "slick" in with the water within each tire to suffocate the larvae.

Community begins with Aloha

[Punatic007]

Shockwave, at a recent meeting I learned the Health dept in conjunction with Civil Defense have created a new task force to deal with neighbors just like yours to help stop the spread of Dengue. Sorry I didn't get the number, I'd say call Civil Defense and tell them about it, I believe he said all calls are protected and anonymous.

[shockwave rider]

We did talk to them. They can advise people to remove the tires, but can't make them do it and CD will not remove them themselves. This is a big gap in the system.

[Punatic007]

Oh no, I was hoping there was some follow thru from Civil Defense.