buy citrus plants. My friend lives near the water and she has huge citrus plants and doesn't get bothered at all!!!

Sounds interesting, what exactly do you mean by citrus plants? Thanks

Mosquitos don't like to be around plant species which excrete strong smells and oils, like catnip, lavender, and citronella. If you want to avoid being bit without using DEET just roll a handful of herbs on your exposed skin. There are definitely fewer mosquitoes around my large Lemon Grass containers in the outdoor seating area then the area immediately surrounding. You can also put up a few bat boxes to encouraged the little guys to hang around and decimate your skeeter populations for ya.
Peace,
Nate

Plants might help a little, but your best bet will be to stick to mid-day gardening, wearing long sleeved shirts, and judicious use of DEET. Windy days are a godsend in mosquito country. That's the one thing that really really helps.

We've had good luck with those stretch bracelets, I'm not sure what they're actually called, though, since we call them by the oh-so-original name 'buggy bracelets'... They have some sort of citrusy go-away thing in them, and they work pretty well - I didn't want to use sprays on the kids so we just put one on an ankle and one on a wrist and let them go. I've seen them at Wally World, and of all places, the dollar store!

If I see some when I'm out and about, I'll post the name.

The wipes put out by ?Cutter? aren't too bad either, they're easier to direct than a spray.

HTH,

Lynne

Shortly after reading this thread, I saw a skeeter buzzing around the house :( I grew up in Florida, we have them all year round. But the 3 months or so that they are here is worse than any day I remember in Florida. It's common to spray down there, and they treat some of the lakes to kill them. Do they not spray here because they worry about chemicals and the Chesapeake? Just curious, Christy :)

Christy, They did (do?) spray here in AA Co. Our community is made up of people who (including myself) are fairly strongly opposed to sprays, etc. so it's not done here. Older residents I've talked to, remember running behind the truck enjoying the cooling spray from the mosquito treatment!!!

Lynne, I would be interested in hearing about the bracelets, thanks.

I'm going to try some of the citrus plants, but I have a feeling that our mosquitoes will just laugh in derision at my feeble attempts to fend them off.

Has anyone tried those mosquito machines? Price has kept me from trying them, but if they worked....

I HAVE tried the zappers, and just to check I spread out a white sheet for a day underneath it. I had dead insects by the thousand, however hardly any mosquitoes, grrrrrr!!

Just saw the bat box suggestion - I like it! I've also heard that purple martins are great, but difficult to attract.

I am fairly generous with Deep Woods OFF for myself, since we go hiking, and you don't really want to get any more ticks on yourself than is absolutely necessary. However, it can't be used on the dogs, and there are a couple of things that have worked fairy well on them. They work on people too.

Boil water. Stick big sprigs of rosemary in it, turn off heat. Add lots of thinly sliced (paper thin) lemons. Let steep overnight, pour into spray bottle and store in refrigerator. In addition to being a bug repellent, it also smells quite good.

I have an old bottle of Avon's Skin So Soft bath oil sitting around. It is pretty effective against bugs as well.

I bought the Mosquito Magnet several years ago. It killed lots of mosquitos but there were still plenty left to bite me. Then it stopped working. It was very expensive and I don't think it was worth the money. Has anyone tried those mosquito traps that are like a big jar with something in it that attracts and kills 'em?

I've been researching online, and I think that Collectordi's experience is typical (my neighbor bought one also). This is very disappointing, especially as they are so expensive.
The new latest thing I've discovered online is the CO2 and heat combo. machine which is supposed to protect up to 1 acre, (huh, sound familiar?) This thing is $600 PLUS, gulp! but if it worked, and my property was mosquito-free, you can bet I would pay. THAT'S how much these pests bother me! I'm pretty sure noone's tried it yet, but if anyone's interested here's where I found the information.
http://www.arcticproducts.com/mks.htm