Never had these in the past but we have them by the billions this year. You can't open a door with out them invading the house, at night. They are very attracted to light, even LEDs. We made the mistake of leaving the garage door open and a shop light on until after dark last night and it was full of them. They swarm all over you and get in your hair and ears and such , wife says they bite... I don't think they do. I don't really care what they are but we need to do something to mitigate them before a BBQ/ pool party for my Grandson's HS graduation... about 40 - 50 people expected... on the 20th.

I thought a couple zappers might help as they are strongly drawn to light but they are so tiny they might pass through the wire mesh unaffected. What you think?

I am also open to chemical warfare suggestions...

The fly strip pictured covered up was up for about 3 or 4 hours in the garage. You do not see them in the day time.

If you all don't hear back from me in a couple days....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cparktd,

You won't kill them out if they are present in those numbers. Your only hope is to repel them. Maybe do a test run with a dozen of these spread around the perimeter of your party space to see if that works.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/TIKI-...Vd1hzhBoC5vQQAvD_BwE

Probably gonna have to know what they are before we can figure out if they can be controlled/repelled.

I'd be inclined to start with my County Extension office.

that is a lot of protein right there...

Any secret atomic projects going on in your area?? I don't like how this movie ends.

Is there a poultry farm upwind of you? I have a vague recollection of seeing at least similar flies around them. One raised chickens and eggs, the other ostriches. They didn't bite, but would swarm in clouds and usually, but not always, part when you walked through them. Some occasionally wanted to get around my eyes and ears.

I suggest Thermacell, when I’m hunting in areas infested with skeeters it keeps 99% away. I don’t know what those bugs are but perhaps it will work on them.

OK, I went ahead and picked up a 5,500 volt zapper at Lowes, strongest they had, with "double killing screen" Don't they all have a double screen? One positive charged and one negative?

Anyway, the inner screen looks like 1/4 inch hardware cloth so it may work.

One review stated it was effective on No see ums so that is encouraging I guess.

Have the wife looking around for torches and citranilla candles. I did quick test with Deep Woods Off last night and they seemed to ignore it.

^^^^^
Any updates? Where in Middle Tn are you located??

Get a Dynatrap. I've been using it on my back porch and it catches anything with wings. They catch them with UV light and radiating a chemical that attracts them.

quote:

Dynatrap

Crikey! For that price I hope it works!

Have you tried spraying Talstar or it's generic equivalent? It seems to work with every bug we have in Michigan. If I don't spray every couple of weeks, I can't stand on my porch. With spraying, I rarely see any bugs. The downside is I don't see any bees, either.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
OK, I went ahead and picked up a 5,500 volt zapper at Lowes, strongest they had, with "double killing screen" Don't they all have a double screen? One positive charged and one negative?

Put the zapper far away from your house/porch. We tried a zapper one summer, and had many times more dead bugs than we ever had live ones. The zapper is very effective at attracting them. I had a huge mound of dead bugs on our porch (a foot high and a couple of feet wide) after just one night.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^^
Any updates? Where in Middle Tn are you located??

In northern Bedford County. Bell Buckle.

It was pretty breezy last evening, and today. Didn't see many.

Sent photos to the county agent's official email account, we go to the same church and I used to have a big crush on his wife... she was HOT! an early bloomer so to speak. ...back in Jr high school, sat together in study hall... but I digress... If he monitors his official e-mail he should respond.

quote:

Originally posted by Seamus:
Have you tried spraying Talstar or it's generic equivalent?

Not yet but I will when the winds die down, I actually have some Generic on hand.

Answered.

According to...
Frank A. Hale, Ph.D. Professor, Horticultural Crops Entomology and Plant Pathology
Soil, Plant and Pest Center UT Extension Institute of Agriculture, Nashville TN.

They are...
Potato leafhoppers.

Potato leafhoppers overwinter on plants in the Gulf States. Each spring, they fly north on prevailing winds and storm fronts.

They migrated in on a storm front. Worst case he has ever seen.

They seem to have mostly moved on, seeing only a few now.

Good to hear both that you got an ID and that they aren't swarming you now.

Those are some extra-tiny leafhoppers!

"Bug Zappers" do work. But if you use one, don't plan on listening to AM radio.