191–200 of 320 posts
Anyone else use mosquito fish? I got some from the pet store, put them in our small koi pond, and the mosquitoes really died off dramatically.
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The issue is that it's hard to agree on where the line is and (without a HOA) impossible to enforce. Wildflowers? Generally good. Tall grass that allows rats to thrive and spread into adjacent yards? Bad. Most people don't want to have to go to court to battle pedantic neighbors who confuse the two.
If it comes to it, cops, 311 and probably other means are available. It's possible to enforce and court is not needed.
Unless you're a decamillionaire (or a cop), the cops in America don't care about you.
The comments saying that other sources of water need to be removed are spot on. Another technique I've tried which works (observably) well is described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ tl;dw: Get a big drum fan with a screen on the back, attached with small/powerful magnets. Mosquitos are such poor flyers that they get pulled against the screen and can't escape, and they pretty quickly desic…
Unclear from the video: do you need to use any sort of bait or lure to attract mosquitoes upstream of the fan?
The comments saying that other sources of water need to be removed are spot on. Another technique I've tried which works (observably) well is described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ tl;dw: Get a big drum fan with a screen on the back, attached with small/powerful magnets. Mosquitos are such poor flyers that they get pulled against the screen and can't escape, and they pretty quickly desic…
Unclear from the video: do you need to use any sort of bait or lure to attract mosquitoes upstream of the fan?
In general though, if there are enough mosquitos around they will get caught in it without any additional effort.
The key to this working is ensuring that the buckets are the only standing water around. If even 10% of the females decide to use your clogged gutter, broken water fountain, or forgotten livestock waterer instead of your buckets, you will still have a mosquito problem.
In other words, the real tip is to eliminate standing water . This matches my experience. Building these buckets did nothing, and maybe made it worse. Putting 1/10th as much effort into eliminating standing water is what actually fixed my problem. Remember, mosquitos can breed in a puddle the size of a bottle cap!
How could it have possibly made it worse? Even if it only prevented a small fraction of the mosquito population from reproducing it'd still be helping.
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Not sure how redlining comes into this. Everyone in my neighborhood provided no fewer than 3 signatures in a contract agreeing to abide by the well-documented community standards for use and upkeep of their property.
I’m sure those community standards don’t suggest in any way that they might impinge on the freedom of expression of any minorities who might consider moving to the neighbourhood…
I don't believe that it is a constitutional right to live in a neighborhood that will permit you to operate a chop-shop in your overgrown yard.
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Bingo. We did these buckets, were very diligent about it. They appeared to work (at least in terms of attracting Mosquitos, which they're meant to do) but had no real effect generally. House next door is a rental, with a rotating cast of 20-somethings that do not keep up the yard and its filled with nice little habitats for Mosquitos. One thing that an HOA might actually be good for - I would love to see what happens…
I would love to live in a neighborhood full of meadow style gardens, where native plants are allowed to flower and feed bees, with bug habitats instead of neatly cut astroturf looking golf green lawns chock full of pesticides. I can't understand the people that think the artificial look holds any beauty whatsoever.
Put some cloth in a bucket, fill it with water and wait. Once in a week, remove the cloth. This removes all eggs and larvae.
Apparently this is quite effective as mosquito "pheromones" (?) build up in the bucket. This makes the bucket a preferred breeding ground .
For those asking - a bucket of sticks and leaves gets stagnat pretty quick. My guess is that it's so attractive that it just manages to attract most the mosquitos? I put one near the shore in two places, and two near the corners of my property. Our lake has just enough surface distrubance that the bucket might be better for them.