Mosquito

[Geaux]

We just moved to a new house in a new city. Our old home was high and dry, and we did not have mosquitoes... SO, for all you experts, how do you deal with these bloodsucking bastards? Surely I am not cursed to deeting up everytime I wanna sit outside and smoke a big ol cuban... right? RIght? 

[...]

Maybe Prez & co can come up with a Shooaway special edition for mosquitoes ?

[Phillys]

Not ideal, but I use a large oscillating fan when the mosquitoes are out in full force. It's annoying but it works.

[PapaDisco]

Fans are great, as Phillys points out.  Mosquitos track you by your vapor trail; anything that confuses that keeps them off you, be it chemical or mechanical.

In my family, I'm known as the mosquito magnet.  If I'm in the room, everyone else is safe.  In the tropics I always sleep with mosquito netting, but discovered many years ago that a fan on low would do just as well.

So get yourself some fans for out of doors, and hopefully you can find a low enough setting to still keep the buggers away but not bung up your burn.   A big ass fan on low, is better than a tiny fan on high.  Ceiling fans are great.

[El Presidente]

 

1. foster a colony of bats. 
2. Insect spray
3. Smoke with wife or female partner. Mosquitos head to them first. 
4. throw some rosemary on the coals. 

[El Presidente]

11 minutes ago, Phillys said:

Not ideal, but I use a large oscillating fan when the mosquitoes are out in full force. It's annoying but it works.

Thanks for the heads up!

[PapaDisco]

53 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

 

1. throw some rosemary on the coals. 

Rosemary?? I did not know that . . .  

[El Presidente]

22 minutes ago, PapaDisco said:

Rosemary?? I did not know that . . .  

Growing up, it was everywhere around the house.  Cut off foot long sprigs and throw them on the hot/cooling BBQ coals. Great aroma and seems to work well as a repellent. 

[thedame007]

3 hours ago, El Presidente said:

 

 

Smoke with wife or female partner. Mosquitos head to them first. 

Now, who said chivalry is dead? 

[ayepatz]

Smoke next to a ginger Scot. Our blood is the Chateau Lafite of the mosquito world.

[anacostiakat]

There are several supposedly anti-mosquito plants.  Also lilac and of course citronella.  Make sure you have no standing water around for them to breed in.  If you have to use mosquito dunks where appropriate.  Socks and long sleeves.  Deet when you gotta.  And yea fans work if you can rig them up. LOL

A main reason I smoke inside!!!  There are brief periods in the spring before they show up and in the fall before it gets too damn cold that I can smoke outdoors. 

 

[Fugu]

5 hours ago, El Presidente said:

foster a colony of bats

This, in all seriousness. 

And track the source, as anacostiakat said, don't underestimate the outcome from a simple, uncovered rain butt...

[stogieluver]

Slap yourself a lot & tell the wife you hope you don’t catch a deadly disease. 

I now have a man cave with the full blessings of the wife. ?

[alloy]

I was sitting out on my third floor balcony smoking a Siglo II. After smoking, I came back inside and noticed my upper right arm was covered with 14 mosquito bites. Didn't see them, didn't hear them, but talk about itch!!! Neosporin is helping. Going to set up a fan. 

[Riverstyx]

You can have people come out and spray.  Never tried it, but I've heard some people have had success.  I use tiki torches

[shadowACE]

Do tiki torches work? I know from experience that a fan will work as it disturbs the air. Mosquitos don't like air that isn't calm.

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[TNT009]

Citronella candles and wipe skin with dryer towlettes.

[99call]

11 hours ago, ayepatz said:

Smoke next to a ginger Scot. Our blood is the Chateau Lafite of the mosquito world.

Yep! I can back this up. Little bastards! as it weren't bad enough being hated upon by the rest of mankind, they animal kingdom feel the need to get involved. 

[ThePolskiOgorki]

Try a ThermaCell. I find they work fairly well. 

[Fuzz]

1. Wear loose-fitting, light coloured clothing.
2. Don't exercise before going outside (mosquitoes are attracted to lactic acid, sweat and you exhale more carbon dioxide).
3. Don't drink any alcohol (alcohol raises body temp, blood rushes to the surface of your skin and you sweat more).
4. Hang around a pregnant woman. They exhale more carbon dioxide, so will get bit instead of you.
5. Plant rosemary, lavender and basil around your smoking area.
6. Use a fan to circulate the air around you
7. Eat some garlic before going out. The smell will mask some of the carbon dioxide exhaled.
8. Don't eat bananas. Mosquitoes are attracted to the smell.
9. Essential oils like clove bud, lavender and peppermint are natural mosquito repellents.
10. Use pinon wood in a brazier or firepit.

[phidelt076]

3 hours ago, ThePolskiOgorki said:

Try a ThermaCell. I find they work fairly well. 

I use one of these while hunting and they work perfectly!

[Lotusguy]

Move

[Lotusguy]

Certain give and takes are necessary when assessing where to live.
 

True that

I hate winter, seasonal allergies, and Moskitos - three good reasons why I stayed in California after being assigned from Germany for one year back in 97

[cfc1016]

I met an eccentric fellow named Anders while riding the amtrak across the country ~10 years ago. We engaged in many ‘counter-culture’ activities together, in the wee hours of the night, while we could get away with opening the window in the snack car. Lead to some esoteric conversations. 

I explained to him that i have quite sensitive skin, and don’t wear lotions, bug spray etc, to avoid severe skin irritation. He asked me if I wanted to know the secret to dealing with blackfly (minnesotans and mainers will relate to this). ‘Sure’ I said. 

“They taste like blueberries.” He explained that the formic acid blend in their bodily fluids tastes remarkably similar to the citric acid blend in blueberries. He went on to tell me that he developed a taste for them, and actively hunts them for tasty free snacks while hiking in summer. Once he became particularly adept at catching them, they apparently started to recognize him as a predator and... stopped biting him. This utilization of predator/prey relations to more efficiently interact with pest animals got me thinking outside the box.

I had suffered the aggravation of being a mosquito magnet for many years. I did a little research on the mosquito’s method of locating its prey/host. It’s 100% olfactory. In fact, that’s pretty much all their central nerve cluster is devoted to - smell. Every animal on which they prey produces CO2. They smell it. They go to the source. They drink blood. Well... even the most primitive ‘brains’ (for lack of a more succinct and accurate term) are capable of recognizing/remembering 2 basic things - how to FIND food, and how to avoid BECOMING food. So I thought to myself, “well... they probably recognize the smell of dead mosquitoes. Experiment time”. In 2007, i set forth employing an experimental method. When i got bit, I would slap the bugger. Instead of flicking it off of me, though, I smeared its mortal remains into my skin. After a season of doing this, it got to the point where I would generally not have to exterminate more than one skeeter per appendage, to become ‘mosquito proof’. They just stopped messing with me. 

I went on a trip to wisconsin and the UP of michigan one year, for the Native Orchid Conference. We went on several field trips to bogs/fens in the UP to observe native orchid species en situ. A friend of mine, Ken Cameron, had several of his phd students there with him, who were all from Colombia. Aside from us, the group was mostly old folks. Everyone was slathered in deet and wearing netting - the whole 9. They were all getting eaten alive. I was in a tanktop, shorts, and sandals - that’s it. The skeeters didn’t touch me. One of the Colombians asked me what was my secret. 

When I explained to them the above story, they exclaimed “THE NATIVES! This is what THEY do!! At the beginning of mosquito season, they walk to the river and remove all clothing. They allow their bodies to be engulfed in mosquitoes. Their brethren crush the mosquitoes and slather the carcasses into their skin. The rest of the year, they are never bitten!”

It’s worked for me, in nearly all cases, for over 10 years now. There was one population of skeeters in north carolina that seemed indifferent to my predatory status in 2011. They tore me up. I noticed something funny though. Whereas my friend broke out in itchy bite marks, which bothered him for days, I was right back to normal as soon as the skeeters were gone. 

I surmise that long term, low-dose exposure to the aggravant compound in their saliva (the reason a bite itches) had desensitized my skin to its effects. Now, even if i DO get bitten, it doesn’t itch. 

As i mentioned in my post about moving, in response to @ayepatz , the skeeters and I now have an understanding, you might say. I am at peace with them and no longer consider them a pest. 

[Foulhook]

I grew up in the bayou of TX. I sill use the same system up here in PA for black flies and mosquitos. 

Doyourownpestcontrol.com 

i use Bifen IT.. one ounce per gallon of water in a pump sprayer. Spray the perimeter of the property especially under leaves where skeeters sleep. Then around the perimeter of the house up about 3 feet on the house. Then at a slow walking pace most the grass especially the prodominatly upwind area. 

bifen will bind to what it’s sprayed on and is good for a couple months. Less if you have a lot of rain. Try not to spray flowers as it will kill bees if you do. 

I use kestral for controlling ticks and tick larva as well. 

In the spring it may take two treatments in a week to get them under control. 

You’ll thank me later when you have your outdoor life back and can enjoy that cigar on the deck in the evening with no blood suckers

here is a long thread on the topic 

https://www.thehulltruth.com/dockside-chat/413391-mosquito-control.html