OT: Mosquito Magnet or other mosquito traps?

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

Not sure how I spray my surrounding area when I'm moving around several acres every day. I mowed most of the yard Tuesday in jeans, long sleeved flannel shirt and hooded sweatshirt, sprayed with Deep Woods Off. Sitting here scratching bites on face, legs, hands, and back. I will try to explain the drainage issues later.

Try Deet. Spray it on you.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

Not sure how I spray my surrounding area when I'm moving around several acres every day. I mowed most of the yard Tuesday in jeans, long sleeved flannel shirt and hooded sweatshirt, sprayed with Deep Woods Off. Sitting here scratching bites on face, legs, hands, and back. I will try to explain the drainage issues later.

Stay inside and do yard work in the Fall.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Try Deet. Spray it on you.

You're right it's the only thing that really works.

[smontanaro]

Not sure where in Northern IL OP is. I live in Evanston and have had no trouble, however... around the bottom of Lake Michigan, in heavily wooded, Covert, we have been inundated with skeeters this year. Deep Woods Off works, but has its own drawbacks. I wish we had bats. Might have to investigate getting some bat boxes.

[carpediemracing]

Mosquito magnets and similar will simulate an oxygen breathing mammal. It emits heat, CO2, and scent (you buy scent cartridges). Insects are drawn to it because they think there's a moose or something. Ticks can't get to them, that's about it.

They attract flying bugs that feed on mammals, so mosquitoes, flies, etc. You very rarely find other bugs in the trap, like butterflies or other nectar feeding insects.

(Zappers kill everything except mosquitoes it seems - the light draws in night insects but it has no allure to a blood sucking mosquito.)

MM are not immediate, although they clear mosquitoes pretty quickly, within a couple days. They are most effective in the first few days - after that the population usually dies down, so to speak. As females die off (they're the ones that feed) they can't reproduce, so the population drops.

However.... Mosquitoes can't fly more than 2 mph. Although they tend not to wander, what will happen is if you have a nice 10 mph breeze, it can blow in mosquitoes from another area. Then you have a mosquito problem again - often people blame it on the ineffectiveness of whatever device you're using, but in reality it's just another swarm that has been pushed to you.

If you're in a wind protected area (wooded) then you should see pretty good effectiveness with a MM. Someone I know says that when they see a mosquito fly by they know their MM ran out of propane.

If your'e in an open area with higher winds (like near the beach) then it will help but you'll still need repellant.

Obviously any standing water will help increase mosquito population. There's one product, I forget what it is, but you basically make a standing water trap with whatever the product in it, the mosquito lays eggs, the eggs don't hatch, but there's a "safe to lay egg" pheromone left by the mosquito. Other mosquitoes pick up on it, lay eggs there too. I don't recall the product though, if it's poisonous, etc.

Unless you have power nearby (50 feet?), you'll want a (rechargeable) battery powered one. You'll want to place any MM type device far enough away to attract mosquitoes away from wherever you are. if it's too close then the mosquitoes will home in on the other "MM" out there, i.e. you. It's like in the movies when the bad guys launch a homing missile, the good guys evade it, and the missile goes after the other target in the area - the bad guys.

I'm a human mosquito magnet, except when around my sister. Then she's it.

[cmbicycles]

Eat bananas. I was told it helps

[Toddtwenty2]

Attract Dragonflies - apparently they eat more mosquitoes than anything else (both as larvae and adults).

How to attract dragonflies?

Apparently, if you have any water nearby, ensure there are nice roosting plants along the shoreline.

Also, plants that will bring small insects into your garden will create a nice food source for them to stay for things other than just mosquitoes. Per a google search, Swamp milkweed, Joe Pye weed, and Black-eyed Susans are great for attracting the small, out-of-the-way insects that won’t bother you but will attract the dragonflies to feast on them.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by cmbicycles

Eat bananas. I was told it helps

When I was working on my PHD in entomology I spent a year in Holland doing research. The lab next to me was doing this experiment looking at what odors attracted mosquitos to humans. Basically they gave you a special pair of socks which you wore for a day and then they would take the it’s volatiles, separate them and subject them to mosquito antenna to see what volatile caused a response. The conclusion was certain detergents attracted mosquitos.

[zap]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

Obviously any standing water will help increase mosquito population. There's one product, I forget what it is, but you basically make a standing water trap with whatever the product in it, the mosquito lays eggs, the eggs don't hatch, but there's a "safe to lay egg" pheromone left by the mosquito. Other mosquitoes pick up on it, lay eggs there too. I don't recall the product though, if it's poisonous, etc.

Mosquito Dunks. Short of napalm, the most effective means of reducing mosquito population. Can be purchased at hardware stores. I have been using dunks for years.....mostly in drain pipes (ends) were water tends to stay for day's. I also sprinkle dunk bits over soil that stays damp for day's.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by cmbicycles

Eat bananas. I was told it helps

I eat bananas EVERY day. Mosquitos pick me out of a crowd while ignoring others. Including my wife.

[oliver1850]

It's really hard to drain land of excess rain in this area, so it's good to know about Mosquito Dunks. I have written checks for over $12,000 just this year for drainage work in the 80 acre field across the road from my house and I wouldn't be surprised if my dad spent 10X that amount on it since we purchased in in 1994. It was so wet last year that the field never got planted.

Some of the standing water from last week's near daily rain is only a few yards from where I mow. Only a certain amount of water will percolate down to the tiles in a given amount of time, the rest is going to sit in any low spot on the surface. I could have taken some pictures of typical field ponding on yesterday's ride if I'd taken the time to. Picture a 100' diameter circle of water in a soybean field that's perhaps a foot deep in the center and the temperature is 90 degrees. I'm guessing that would be perfect conditions for producing thousands of mosquitos. The situation is the same in the village. I mowed there yesterday through standing water 3" deep that stretched for a 3' band along the street for 100' or so and extended uphill into the yard at the lower end in about a 20' x 40' square. That water is stagnant and won't move until it quits raining long enough to evaporate/percolate through the soil.

It's not like we don't understand the importance of drainage and aren't trying to do what we can to accomplish it. In areas not too far to the north of us (10 miles or so) the drainage problem was more widespread. Drainage districts were formed and ditches/canals were dug. Farms in that area have electric or ICE powered pumps that take the water from the tiles and pump it into the ditches. I don't know how the drainage districts were funded, but I'd guess they were voted in by tax referendum. Where I am it is hilly enough that most folks are not much affected by excess rain, so there will never be much incentive for tax funded drainage. So I take all the runoff from my neighbors' land on higher ground and have no practical way to get rid of it. I'm not complaining about that, just trying to explain why "get rid of standing water" is more complicated than it might seem.

[tuxbailey]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Bats, lots and lots of bats.

This. I live at the edge of the state park and there are no mosquitos around my house because of the bats there. Compared to my neighbors who live closer to the main road there are a lot of mosquitos in their yards.

As a result, my wife is very happy because mosquitos goes for her and she has more reactions than me.

[fignon's barber]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

Go outside after drinking beer. Mosquitoes can't do anything with alcohol in the blood. They smell it, and go for sober people.

This seems to be the only logical solution.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by tuxbailey

This. I live at the edge of the state park and there are no mosquitos around my house because of the bats there. Compared to my neighbors who live closer to the main road there are a lot of mosquitos in their yards.

As a result, my wife is very happy because mosquitos goes for her and she has more reactions than me.

Thats nifty. Ive heard of people putting up bat houses near their house for this reason. Is there any downside to having bats around? Luckily we have screens on our windows, otherwise, if a bat flew in my house id be calling animal control!!

[redir]

Originally Posted by gasman

The problem as I understand it with any mosquito traps is that they kill not just mosquitos but all bugs that are lured to the trap. I seem to remember a study where an entomologist counted the bugs killed in a trap overnight. Less than 1 % were mosquitos and many beneficial insects were killed.

It's called source and sink. The source in this case is the state of Illinois, the sink is the vortex created by a trap that kills them.