Dog,
I totally agree with you about the mosquitos this year, it has been really wet this summer.
I use spray and it does work.
Next year you might want to try it, they have spray now that is dry on your skin, and it works really good. The kids can use it too.
I have a small pond with fish and frogs so I can't spray like that, it would hurt my aquatic friends.
Just another alternative for next year, and you can take it with you in case you want to go out.

They are horrible this year!! At our new house, the builder had the county come out and spray some mosquito control to keep them away from the construction site. The crews were getting eaten alive by them. So far, much better. We had a lot of standing water where Duke Power didn't install their line in a timely manner. But to walk down the driveway, you have to use Off spray or something on yourself and you will still get bitten. Let's all hope for a little dry weather!!

Nanner,
Im surprised at this weather, I don't think I have ever seen this much water all summer long.
It's suppose to rain again tomorrow and over the weekend.
Will it ever end? LOL
The mosquitos are biting during the day, I spray every day.
I've never seen it this bad.

Go to wal mart and purchase a thermocell. That's the only thing I've found that really works this year. Even keeps them off of us at the river at night.

Please consider how many other insects you are impacting on the same land. Don't ever think that insecticide doesn't impact ALL of your insects, which includes butterflies, pollinators, and insects that mother birds are feeding to their young. I spray my clothing and especially garden shoes/ socks with DEET. It works.

Please consider how many other insects you are impacting on the same land. Don't ever think that insecticide doesn't impact ALL of your insects, which includes butterflies, pollinators, and insects that mother birds are feeding to their young. I spray my clothing and especially garden shoes/ socks with DEET. It works.

That is my quandary ... Spray DEET all over myself and my young kids every day and still get bitten, or spray the yard and kill some of the beneficial insects, but eliminate mosquitos so that I can actually enjoy gardening.

We sprayed 1 1/2 weeks ago now and I still haven't seen any mosquitos, even in the wooded area of the yard at dusk. I've seen butterflies and bees on a regular basis for the past 4-5 days. I guess they may have migrated in from neighboring yards or weren't killed by the spray.

Overall, I'm happy with spraying, but I still have some guilt over harming the beneficials.

Don't kid yourself. That spray gets all over bits of dust and stuff that gets airborne. Then your children are breathing it. Spray clothes, not skin. It's safer.

Our property is on a small artificial lake so mosquitos were at some point a concern that prompted us to research this issue, but it looks like they are managed quite well by the fish in the lake so it has never become such a high priority - being swamped with many other things to do - to act on this.

With the qualification that we never tested the selected solution, the Flowtron electronic zapper technology has many favorable reviews on Amazon and it appears to have significant benefits. It uses two types of attractants: UV light (in 3 different bulb sizes 15-40-80 W for a coverage of 0.5-1.0-1.5 acre, respectively) and a chemical bait, although many users state that the chemical bait is not necessary to obtain satisfactory results. The insects are killed by high voltage localized to the outside grid on the lantern-like device. There are no chemical toxicity issues and daytime pollinators are not affected since its operation is restricted to night time. It's operating costs are low, especially if no chemical bait is used - where they would be limited to the cost of electricity to power the UV light.

Has anyone here used it?

Casa,
Mosquitos are attracted by the carbon dioxide you exhale.
That's how they know to come to you.
I don't think UV light is a factor to attract them.
I guess you could stand right next to it, but they will go after you anyway.
My little fish sure got big this year from all the mosquitos they ate from the pond. LOL.

I'm always surprised to hear about mosquito problems in this area because we live south of Chapel Hill and have NO mosquitoes. Over the years, I've not been able to figure it out but we think it has something to do with our garden.

I grow a lot of rosemary, thyme, oregano and nepeta. In fact, we have a hedge of rosemary and our poodle loves to brush up against it and I wonder if she does so for some insect repellant reason?

We have a water feature (stream and waterfall) and frogs and dragonflies are drawn to it (they eat mosquitoes). We also have a salt water swimming pool and have no problems with mosquitoes.

I notice Barn Swallows and bats flying in the evenings.

We have no flies or gnats either...so...what's the deal? I don't know, but our neighbors (4 acre lots here) complain about flies, gnats and mosquitoes and they'd love to know why we don't have issues!

Cameron

Freda-

I'll bet that you don't have as many mosquitos as some of us because you live in a relatively open landscape with lots of sun. My lot is heavily wooded over about 1/3 of the property and has many mature trees and large shrubs. From my understanding the mosquitos feed on the undersides of leaves during the day. Your fragrant plants are probably not all that attractive to the buggers either.
You are a smart gardener to have planted all of those fragrant plants!

Of our 4.5 acres, 2.5 are wooded (behind the house). Our swimming pool is bordered by the woods (north side of house) and we thought we'd have problems back there and we don't.

The garden areas are all in full sun, so you're right about the lack of mosquitoes.