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Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

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Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#261

Post by ElijahLynn »

foobarian wrote: post #232
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One thing that an HOA might actually be good for I've gotten nothing but benefits from living in neighborhoods with HOAs. Basic stuff like funding for landscapers to keep up the shared grassy areas along the streets, to plowing the access roads in winter time. But the main benefit has always been that it provides a legal mechanism to force everyone to maintain their yards and property. No need to drop passive-aggre…

I think the next house I move to, I will look for an HOA that prohibits combustion-powered yard tools, and hires an all-electric crew for common maintenance, cost be damned.

Death to combustion powered yard tools!!!

So frickin noisy!!!!

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#263

Post by bink »

abakker wrote: post #234
pavel_lishin wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My neighbor's shed gutters are completely blocked. That definitely means that there's a limit on what I can do to help mitigate the issue.

you toss a dunk on their roof.

Or a small amount of diesel fuel (the dunks are safer). People sometimes do this with abandoned pools.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#264

Post by Xss3 »

throwawaymaths wrote: post #216
Xss3 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

although meadow style gardens would increase bugs, i imagine they would decrease mosquitos?

More natural predators can't hurt. They don't predate other bugs.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#265

Post by EasyMark »

tqwhite wrote: post #18

Every time I have read science guys about things that you can do to kill mosquitos there is an analogy to putting a drain in the ocean. You can kill mosquitos at a fantastic rate but, unless you are also killing them in all your neighbor's yards for a mile around, they are just going to keep coming as fast as they die.

I have my doubts about this. I had my back/front yard sprayed for mosquitos and the population seems to have dropped by 90-95% while bbqing out back.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#266

Post by CommenterPerson »

We have a wooded area in the back, with small shallow pools of water that appear and disappear depending on rainfall. I tried mosquito dunks for a few years and gave up. Felt it needed too many to cover the area.

I will try again with buckets. The HW store actually has green buckets so it won't even look like a dump! Thanks for the posting!

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#267

Post by carlosjobim »

schiffern wrote: post #161
pavel_lishin wrote: post #129

One question - how does this prevent mosquitos from breeding in other bits of standing water that I can't locate? I have no idea where ours are coming from; I suspect they hatch somewhere, and then migrate to the shaded areas of my yard, which is where I typically get bit. Adding a bucket will prevent some mosquitoes from laying eggs elsewhere, but not all, right? Or is the bucket so attractive to mosquitoes that the…

After checking the obvious like old tires or stagnant ditches or tire tracks, the more hidden breeding sites include house gutters, French drains (under the gravel), buried yard drains, and garage floor drains. The general rule is that mosquitos need a pool of water the size of a bottle cap, and it needs to be there for at least a week. Good luck, and good hunting.

Water suitable for mosquito breeding in nature is probably three million times more common than the man-made.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#268

Post by ruralfam »

zokier wrote: post #257
ruralfam wrote: post #236

Mandatory if you have water troughs/tanks for animals such as goats or horses. Also a very good idea to encourage swallow nesting. Many an evening I watch a dozen or so swallows on our property dipping and diving in a sort or aerial mosquito feeding dance. Swallows are very cool btw. HTH, RF.

While swallows are definitely cool birbs, I would be very surprised if they had any noticeable effect on mosquito populations. There is even one study proposing that swallows attract more mosquitos! https://academic.oup.com/jme/article/39/1/115/879132 choice quote: > Cliff swallows occasionally eat mosquitoes (Brown and Brown 1996), but they represent an insignificant part of the diet https://www.mosquitoalert.com/en…

Well, these are barn swallows. They eat up to 1,000 insects per day, and up to 100 mosquitos per day (link below). We have at least a dozen, so perhaps 1,200 mozzie per evening (I hope). I think barn swallows are the most populous bird species. Again they are pretty cool. We also have lots of bats, but they are harder to track. HTH, RF.

https://worldwidebirder.com/what-do-barn-swallows-eat

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#270

Post by CWuestefeld »

telecuda wrote: post #255

Related, I've found this to be the most effective gadget to stop the itch of a mosquito bite: https://www.amazon.com/Vibis-Rechargeable-Mosquito-Chemical-... (Source: Floridian who has tried everything)

These sort-of work, but not in the way they describe. It doesn't work to break down the mosquito "venom" through heat.

What's really happening is that the heat basically overloads (I don't recall the exact biology, but this is the gist) the sensory neurons that would be reporting about the itch. For a short time, until the neurons get unscrambled, the itching sensation is blocked. But it'll likely be back again if you're sensitive to bites.

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