Mosquito Control

Seeing how no one likes these pests and how they carry disease. I decided this year to try and control these pests we call mosquitoes. Most airfields have some sort of standing water or water flowing through said property. Here we have two good size ponds and a couple very small ponds. All stop flowing if the rains stop and become stagnant water or really close to stagnant water.

In years past we dealt with these pests as most did. Spraying the stuff on one's body. Then these little pests would be everywhere. We have barn swallows and purple martins all over the place. I have seen the side of our home covered in so many mosquitoes you could not see the color of the house.

This year I decided to take action against these pests. I started treating all standing water and all bodies of water with what is call Mosquito Dunks and Bits. The Dunks are a time release deal and last for one month. the Bits last two weeks. The dunks treat 10x10 area of water no matter how deep. I use a package of 20 dunks per pond. These do not hurt any wild life. They only kill mosquito larvae and fly larvae.

These dunks come in packages of 20 if purchased in bulk. I believe they are 20 bucks per twenty or 100 dunks for 80 bucks give or take a few bucks and depending on where you purchase. The bits come in 30 oz bottle. These get shaken out over any areas you want to cover. I cover a lot of wet grassy area's with these.

I also take some of these bits and put them in a small can and fill with water. I let this sit in a cool spot out of sunlight in my house for a few days. This then gets poured into a sprayer and I mix another gallon of water with this. I spray the grass around my hangar using this.

Just last evening the people next door had some friends over. They said they noticed they have not been bitten by one mosquito and they were outside for a few hours from dusk until way after dark. They told them what I had been doing. They said everyone should do this.

I have spent a few hundred bucks this year on this pest control, but my daughter-in-law is pregnant and I thought I should do something to control these pests. I just never expected the results to be so positive. We can sit outside and not one bit. I have not been bitten once this year from a mosquito. I also noticed no Purple Martins or Barn swallows. they have moved on for now there are no mosquitoes.

I wanted to share this in case anyone else is having a bad time with these pests.


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Attachment 5588

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370479675692...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mosquito-Bit...3D121370279890

Thanks for the tip, being that I live in south Louisiana, a.k.a mosquito central, I might try this out!

We had some other friends over yesterday. They were from town. They could not believe we have no mosquitoes here. They told me in town they get ate up but not out here. They were amazed. My son calls this a mosquito free zone..lol. It is amazing how this stuff works. But I do use a lot of this product. I stated maybe three months ago. To date I have used around 200 dunks and 4 bottles of the bits. But it has been worth every effort or all the work and money spent. I just the other day treated another pond with 20 dunks. They say they last 30 days. I retreat at the 3 week mark to overlap the treatments.

Here is a couple pics of the ponds I speak of. These are from 150' - 500' away from my front door.

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Attachment 5590

Here is a video showing these ponds and what goes on under the water of said ponds. The one with all the moss is full and I mean full or turtles. I have seen some bigger then wash tubs.

If you look at this first pic. That thing sticking up in the water in the middle of that pic or close to the middle on the right side, is a nose or head of a turtle. He had his neck and head sticking out of the water and his neck was the size of my arm or as big around as my arm.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCdIz9fkRgc

Outstanding, thanks for this! Do you have any tricks for horseflies? Incidentally for years we've used dish soap in standing water for mosquitoes. It biodegrades if you buy the right kind and is harmless, pretty cheap. It works by disrupting the surface tension of the water. The mosquitoes go to land on the water to lay eggs and can't and drown. The existing larvae can't climb out to become mosquitoes and they drown and die too. Very effective.

Also I believe Fish and Game and Land management will give you mosquito fish if you ask for them a couple times a year. These are just little minnow's that eat mosquito larvae.

I doubt any fish live in that pond with the turtles in it. I am going to stick a G0-pro in that pond and see just what fish are in that pond if any. The other pond does have minnows in it to eat larvae. But this treatment goes a lot farther then those ponds. I treat the ditches along the road that holds water and any standing water on the property. We have 100+ acres here with a lot of standing water. One drainage ditch that runs the length of one of the corn fields. This ditch holds water and its stagnant water. I treat all this. I will post some pics of these ditches and the nasty water in them. The county owns some property across the street from us. They also have one pond that is stagnant. Its about 60x60 so small I almost do not call it a pond. I also treat this area.

Doing all this has made a huge difference in the mosquitoes. A huge difference.

Tony

We had a family get together with family traveling in from out of state. I received many complements on how there was no mosquitoes. Everyone wanted to know what it was I was doing to keep these at bay or away. They all were amazed to hear how I dealt with this problem. We had a very good time and not one complaint of being bit by a mosquito. Not one.

Tony

We had a few hundred people out here yesterday. I never heard one complaint about mosquitoes.

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Originally Posted by 1600vw

We had a few hundred people out here yesterday. I never heard one complaint about mosquitoes.

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Goes to show how a little (or a lot) of proactive work can have a big impact.

It's amazing how this stuff has helped. I will be doing this every year during the warm months. We love sitting outside and not being bitten.

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Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

Goes to show how a little (or a lot) of proactive work can have a big impact.

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It's not really a lot of work. It takes a little time but not a lot of work. It's the expense. But it is worth every penny. But the people who live around me get to enjoy a mosquito free zone and no cost to them. I don't understand how people just live with problems like this. I want to attack a problem like this and not with mosquito spray. What a waste of money. Nip this at the source.

Tony

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I also take some of these bits and put them in a small can and fill with water. I let this sit in a cool spot out of sunlight in my house for a few days. This then gets poured into a sprayer and I mix another gallon of water with this. I spray the grass around my hangar using this.

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This is a really big deal. Little b----rds will breed in grass if there's enough rain to hold water above the soil. I don't have any standing water around my house (I'm pretty obsessed with it), and still had them in the back yard. Spraying the grass with insect control really cut down on them.

My wife gets annoyed at the barn swallow family that comes back every year and nests near my front door under the eave, but they cut down on the mosquitoes as well.