I've been spending a lot of time in my yard this season but the mosquitoes are sucking all the enjoyment out it. I don't have a standing water issue but the yard is lined with trees and shrubs that are a perfect sanctuary for the little blood-suckers.

I'm looking for recommendations on how to get the situation under control. Here's what I don't want:

Bug Zappers – I have a lot of fireflies and other non-biting, flying insects that I'm not looking to kill. Bug zappers are too indiscriminate.

Bug Spray – the kind that you apply to your skin. I've been using this when I'm out there at dusk (the worst time of day) and it's effective but I'd like to eliminate it.

Tiki torches – I've made some torches from mason jars and, while they provide a nice ambiance, they are completely ineffective.

Professional Pest Control Company – I'd prefer to try and tackle the problem myself before I pay someone else to do it.

My preference would be a pesticide that I can spray into the trees and shrubs that targets mosquitoes, ticks and fleas or a repellent like the garlic concentrate. There's a lot of stuff on the market but they're all expensive and I'd like some recommendations before I spend the money.

Here's the controversial part – application. I see that many of the chemicals are concentrated and need to be diluted in water. I intend to use my pressure washer to apply the product. It has a detergent tank that injects the chemical into the water spray. Stihl sells a backpack fogger specifically for this purpose but it's too expensive. The $50 variety look like cheap, ineffective junk.

What's worked for you?

Talstar P?

Instead of trying to treat the great outdoors you could try a much smaller environment.
I mean your own body.
Since the little devils are attracted to the lactic acid that you sweat out, try using MINT SOAP. We get a big bottle from Big Lots. It is relatively cheap and it lasts a long time.

Shampoo and wash the rest of you with the mint soap and the little vixens might come close but will not land.
the woods around hear stay damp most times, and I fully understand what you are going through. Hell, some times in the winter with snow on the ground I still see the occasional mosquito. The little bastards can survive.

Drink vinegar

this is good. It works and is fairly cheap. Harmless only to mosquitos......
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mo...trol-117-6/206940251
forgot to add that this is readily available at many places besides HD.

Try a bat house. Bats will eat a ton of mosquitoes every night

Bug Zappers are totally ineffective - merely a passive/opportunistic removal system. If the bug happens to fly in/by it'll kill it.

The true attractant for mosquitoes is heat and CO2. Mitigation of these two are problematic for warm blooded animals. These bugs have chemo receptors that are highly sensitive to CO2. Theories about other attractants such as body chemicals or colors is pure bunk.

Control of mosquitos mostly centers around breeding grounds and incubation areas.....standing water. Removal of this is about the only want to help control. But mosquitoes can deposit eggs anywhere there is water holding. Think about house gutters, leaves on a tree that pool water, other landscaping or flowers that hold water. You can't control all of this.

The latest and greatest - Spartan Mosquito Eradicator is a total waste of money. Tested and proved to be ineffective.

One of the best effective treatments - DEET. That's mostly it.

All this info comes from doing Mosquito research at the Florida Medical Entomological Lab in Vero Beach, FL during one of the mosquito borne encephalitis outbreaks in the 90's.

So what did we do as researchers exposed to mosquitoes all the time.....stay covered up or used DEET containing products.

Andrew

I say we nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...

Or, try healthy amounts of vodka. It won't stop the mosquitoes from biting, but after a few belts, you won't care!

Seriously, living in a state where our state bird is the mosquito and you have to tie down your pets to the ground, less the Skeeters carry them off, I have tried everything you have mentioned.

Bug Zappers only attract skeeters from your neighbors yard. Tiki torches are less then useless, especially if there is any breeze at all. The Fogger devices I have used do not last long, and I find the fumes from the fogger to be most unpleasant. Pest control companies will only disperse pellets around your yard or where water may accumulate.

I would recommend bug spray, particularly one with DEET. Deep woods OFF seems to be effective for me. Now I know this is not the perfect solution, and spraying yourself down with poison seems counter intuitive. But, it is the least bad option.

H&K-Guy

Smoke cigars when outside. Will keep most living things away.

Bifen IT 3/4 gallon from Amazon. Works great. Other brands are Talstar and Wisdom

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

The first post to the thread was the correct answer.

Talstar P or the similar generic Bifen IT are good mosquito killers.

The pressure washer nonsense is just that, nonsense. It won’t be the correct ratio and will water down the concentrate too much, and basically wash the insecticide concentrate away.

Get yourself a 5 gallon backpack sprayer. Spray all the leaves and shrubs on the perimeter, paying special attention to the bottom of the leaves where mosquitos sleep and rest during the day.

Get a hose end sprayer (Chapin G362) to spray the lawn and grass. You spray the entire yard if you want or just around the perimeter of your yard. I like Dominion 2L in the sprayer as it’s the cheapest per gallon insecticide that you can buy and kills a lot of ants and mosquitos.

Honestly I thought spraying the yards and trees and bushes was pointless, since they fly and can just fly over from your neighbors yard. But it does work. My pool area used to be infested with hundreds of mosquitos if you used the pool area at night. Now we see just a few mosquitos. Spraying drastically reduces their numbers.

If you don’t want to buy the backpack sprayer, at least buy and use the hose end sprayer above. It’s adjustable so that you can spray the correct amount of insecticide. And it doesn’t burn gas and is easier to use than the power washer idea.

Spartan mosquito Erradicators

https://spartanmosquito.com

If you are spending time on a deck or patio, we've used the patio egg in the past with really good results. But we have a fairly small balcony patio that is only open on one side. About the size of a average extra bedroom, just more rectangular. I was skeptical at first but if you are always in a limited, defined area, it works. Never tried it in an open area but I would suspect it might take more than one to serve as a repellant in larger areas.

Skeeter traps, LP based traps collect and kill the bastages by the hundreds, tested by the USA Military on islands to control heavy populations.

https://insectcop.net/5-best-p...squito-traps-tested/

Essential Oils.
Eucalyptus, peppermint, Lavender Vera, Cajeput, and Citronella.

Those are all unfriendly to bugs. They really don’t like them.
Application would be a sprayer.

None are easy on the pocketbook. Lavender Vera will run you about $0.80/oz. Eucalyptus is right around $0.94/oz.

All the others are considerably more.

You can buy Polysorbate 20 and one part poly with one part essential oils. When those are thoroughly, thoroughly mixed, you add two parts water. That will save you quite a bit, however it won’t be as strong.

We use Eucalyptus and Cajeput to repel bugs at work. It works pretty well.

Good luck, and if you need any help or advice on how to rid your yard, I can give you some ideas on what to mix and quantities. Just be forewarned, it’ll be expensive.

Change your username.

I didn't see propane-based mosquito traps on your list of options.

https://insectcop.net/5-best-p...squito-traps-tested/

They are expensive, but seem to be one of the best choices for something that is effective outdoors and doesn't indiscriminately kill off non-mosquito insects.

I second the Spartan Mosquito Eradicators!!!

Like you, no standing water, just woods and brush. We've been plagued for over a decade by Asian Tiger mosquitoes, tiny and vicious.

This has worked very well for us, cheap, effective and safe. An application lasts about a week and a half without rain.

Cutter Backyard Bug Control



Just bought two yesterday at Walmart, $7/bottle.



Hooking to hose doesn't clear the bottle well, using this does, about 1oz. setting on the dial. Works great!



Ortho Dial 'N Spray

A cheap and easy way to go, see if this helps.

quote:

Originally posted by pessimist:
I've been spending a lot of time in my yard this season but the mosquitoes are sucking all the enjoyment out it.....

I seldom ever see or feel a mosquito around here and I can't offer anything that hasn't already been suggested but just curious where you are located that they're that bad? (it's not in your signature) Not exactly but maybe what area of what state?