Mosquitoes ummmmm

Health Care & Carte Vitale
1

Well, after not seeing many mosquitoes over the last couple of weeks, I was rather hoping I wouldn’t be so dogged with the beasts this year, but oh no, yesterday saw a resurgence. The whole mosquito situation isn’t helped by the fact that there’s some form of partially open well/source near the house which they seem to love. And so, I’d be really interested to get any feedback on:

a)how I can prevent/minimize the mosquitoes coming from the open well/source and

b)any effective mosquito repellant that folks have used, as I spend alot of time outside and really don’t fancy walking around in a full body net suit :grin:

Inside the house I’ve got the situation pretty much under control with mesh on the windows that I open and plug in repellant devices at night for sleeping :+1:

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Could you make a mesh screen for the well? Personally not used it for mozzie’s but look up Neem Oil as a repellent, it smells a bit so you can add an essential oil, I use it as a slug deterrent and it seems to be working.

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Yes I was considering some sort of screen to the well - it’s just a really strange shaped gap to fill and between rock and soil, so need to see how I could fix it. The other thought I had was whether there was anything I could add to the water that would somehow create a long lasting surface of the water that the mosquitoes wouldn’t like :thinking: I’ll take a look at he Neem Oil - thanks alot for the suggestion :+1:

4

Does it get sunlight? If so, what about a small solar-powered fountain? Mosquitos like still water. I have two, in two water butts that I need to keep open and they seem to work quite well.

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I think God was having an off day when they made mossies

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6

Now that’s a creative solution :+1::+1:

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Or the Devil was having an ‘on’ day :grin:

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Glad to think our dragonflies, bats and birds are being so well-fed… :wink: :+1: :roll_eyes: :rofl:

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How about traps??

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Also, keep a look out for their larvae in the house. They like white walls and ceilings.

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11

I painted off white which had no titanium dioxide in the paint as that bounces the UV around and seems to draw them in unlike chalk paint for example. Definite reduction indoors.

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I’ve put mosquito net over my open water butt. Tied it round with string, and rolled the edges up under the string to hold it reasonably taut. Seems to be working so far, might have to get a finer mesh when the little blighters resurge.

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13

Put a goldfish into the waterbutt. It will eat any mosquito larvae. Bit of dried goldfush food ever so often to keep it healthy and of course never empty the butt completely.
Our ‘Henry’ lived to 10 years. Once it warms up I shall get a replacement.

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14

What an interesting idea, thank you, Bettina - it had never occurred to me :smiley:

15

The fish poo acts as a fertilizer as well, excellent idea Bettina

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It was only one fish in a 300ltr water butt. Any fertlizer produced would probably be on a homoepathic level.
But Henry was happily swiming along, eating whatever fell into his tank…

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And all the more potent for it. How do they cope when the temperature overnight is minus 5 and there’s ice all over the top?

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As long as the whole waterbutt is not frozen solid they are fine in a state of hibernation. Dont feed if water temperature falls below 10C as they stop digesting food.

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