Slightly off-topic: Has anyone good recommendations against mosquitos? I hear UV traps are ok, but not perfect. And of course I have used the anti mosquito sprays. They don't last long though and I don't like the smell.
Not the prettiest thing in the world, but:
Get a cheap box fan, cheap mosquito netting type material, and duct-tape.
Cut the netting to size and tape it to the fan so that anything that goes through the fan gets caught in the net.
Put it in shaded places - bonus if its around doors.
Mosquitoes are not strong flyers, and when hunting or looking for a place to rest will get sucked in and can't get out.
I've killed - without exaggeration - thousands doing this.
Not a silver bullet (what is?) but as part of a defense-in-depth strategy this is insanely easy - and kind of fun.
n.b. I've been hospitalized with west nile - this is fun :-)
This is absolutely the way. And mosquito weather tends to be fan weather anyway!
Works pretty well for ventilating enclosed spaces, too—just make sure the fan points inward, pumping positive pressure into the space, so there’s a steady outward flow from the rest of the door/window/whatever.
I have some friends who live in the Houston suburbs. They bought one of the CO2-based mosquito traps. Seemed to work.
Although it's absolute hell on plastics, DEET is incredibly effective as a mosquito repellent. At least in the US, you can buy 99%+ pure DEET at Home Depot.
There are pest control companies that will fog your property which supposedly reduces the mosquito population. I'm skeptical though that me paying for the service will make a difference unless all of my neighbors do as well.
I can't find it now, but I remember reading about a person that used a box fan, some type of mesh fabric, and dry ice to create an insect trap that was apparently catching pounds of bugs every week.
Yeah growing up in the Florida Keys, our county did this on a county level. They used to use DC-3s to fly super low and fog the entire island but it was found that the pesticide was bad for fishes so they switched to truck based fogging. As as a kid I loved seeing the DC-3s because it would mean relief from mosquitos for a long time.
Picture of DC3 flying basically at roof top height: https://keysweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/FKMCD-2.jp...
[Edited to include picture.]
It's hard to imagine people being okay with actual chem trails...
I can't believe we would get fogged by those planes as we waited for our school buses. It would sting our eyes a little bit but then it was fine and all the mosquitos were dead. It's probably okay... I hope.
Passenger planes still get fogged on landing in some countries, with flight attendants walking the length of the isles with insecticide spraying out.
On the move 20% picaridin repellent works well to almost completely prevent bites. It's also slightly more long-lasting than DEET and doesn't destroy plastics. It will still need re-application if you're sweating. Otherwise long sleeves, repellent on hands and a net over your head work well. The general rule is to not stand still for more than a minute - CO2 accumulation will draw in exponentially more of them. If you have to stop, look for a place that is naturally windy like ridge or a forest cutting.
At home / in camp, obviosuly put nets everywhere and turn off interior lights when opening doors. If there aren't too many mosquitoes UV traps can make things bearable, but if you're near standing water at dusk you'll still get eaten alive.
We've had good luck with Mosquito Dunks, both in natural standing water sources and in dedicated "trap buckets" filled with water and vegetation, but you have to do it early in the season as the dunks only affect the larvae.
Last year I came across a water-filled stump that was teeming with larvae swimming around in it. Dropped a piece of a dunk in, came back 24 hours later and the water was clear.
Mosquito nets are best: put some as canopies above beds and enjoy sleeping without the dreaded ear buzz. If you live in a badly infested area, put them around doors / windows (there's retractable ones, you can fit them yourself). And finally, the superpower of just doing things: do some door to door / enlist your neighbors and hunt down the neighborhood stagnant waters.
> do some door to door / enlist your neighbors and hunt down the neighborhood stagnant waters.
Thats a good idea but don't think that by covering few neighbors you are covered - they can easily fly 5km depending on species if they have reason or get carried by wind. And all you need is ie one old tire laying around on the ground.
This is one topic that Florida man knows better than most: a propane powered fogger was super effective when I was growing up in Florida. They would also do this as a public service where trucks operated by the county would drive by and fog entire neighborhoods. I don't know how ecologically sound this is but it is effective.
I have had better results with Picaridin based repellents than with DEET. Picaridin does not have the same oily feel that leaves my skin crawling after repeated applications. It also seems to do a better job dissuading our local variety of horse flies which will bite you right through clothing.
The tennis racket style zappers are effective and pretty fun!
the noise is pretty hard to stomach
I find that having a fan working in the room helps a lot. It's not foolproof, but it helps in certain situations.
The biogents traps are really effective. We have one without CO2 on our property and it works amazingly.
