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agressive mosquitoes and not enjoying gardening this year
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Posted by susanzone5 z5NY (My Page) on Sun, Jul 24, 11 at 9:14
| This has to be the worst gardening summer in my entire life. There are documented new mosquitoes that attack in daylight, called asian tiger mosquitoes, that swarm at me as soon as I walk out the door. My usual (non-deet) bug repellents don't work.
The voles are tunneling non-stop and I've lost many plants to their tunneling/root eating. I'm sick of setting traps all day long. I have a giant burial site in the woods for all their dumb carcasses. My fly jar needs emptying (really gross) every week now. Those triangular shaped flies aren't fazed by the jar and bite me all day.
A baby rabbit has entered my fenced-in garden and it's too damn buggy to spend any time in there to set a trap to catch it. I run in there fast to harvest what I need and run out even faster, swatting mosquitoes all the way to my door.
The weather is either too wet (lost all rose leaves to black spot and green bean plants went into water shock), or it's too hot to even go outdoors. The drought had me watering container plants twice a day in 104 degree heat.
I give up this year. It's the first year I don't like gardening, and I've been passionate about it for 40 years. It is painful to not be able to garden and I'm getting cabin fever even with my indoor hobbies.
Anyone else feel this way? Do you have these daytime mosquitoes?
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: agressive mosquitoes and not enjoying gardening this year
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| I certainly feel for you Susan. It has been a weird year for our gardens. Loads of water, then heat and no water. I haven't noticed any daytime skeeters here. Deer flies but no skeeters. Have you always had mosquito problems (I assume you haven't moved)? I'm sure you know to eliminate standing water (breeding grounds). Do you have any new neighbors who might have inadvertently created new breeding grounds? The asian mosquito could well be in your area. Switch to DEET repellents. I spend time in the "outback" of our state and DEET is the only thing I've found that is reliably effective for many insects. |
RE: agressive mosquitoes and not enjoying gardening this year
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| Those awful mosquitoes have moved on. Other people nearby have had them, too. I live in the woods by a reservoir. The only way I have been gardening at all is to wear long sleeves, long pants, and a bug net and sweat band over my head. Yesterday was the first day I could be out there with no repellent/bug clothing at all. Thank goodness! Now I have the build-up of weeds to deal with, but at least I can relax and enjoy it a bit. The rabbit disappeared after I turned on the weed whacker and bought a havahart trap. Those two methods worked for the previous ground hog. They hate the noise and also must have sensed that I bought the traps. haha. |
RE: agressive mosquitoes and not enjoying gardening this year
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| Agree with you Susan- this has been a rough year to be a gardener. Have we had any days at all that were 78 degrees or so? I've found one way to thwart those horseflies/sweat bees. They seem to like to circle my head-within 20 steps of me stepping outside the door!! I put lotsa bug spray on the top of one of my husband's baseball caps and when the bugs come, I put it on my head. They leave me within a minute then. Then I take it of and carry it until the next one tries:) Lori |
RE: agressive mosquitoes and not enjoying gardening this year
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| those mosquitoes sound terrible! I'm grateful that we are pretty bug free during daylight hours, and I just come in at night when they come out. Too darn hot and too darn dry though! I don't feel I ever have time to water. |
RE: agressive mosquitoes and not enjoying gardening this year
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| :O maybe you want to try one of those electric mosquito traps... New York Forum |
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