What's bugging you, Mid Atlantic? summer 2014

ewwww! :-b

What do you have against flies Sally?

A mayfly derecho! Ew!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/07/24/bug-derecho-swarm-of-mayflies-caught-on-radar-in-upper-midwest/

you're kidding right Jeff? can I just knock them down enough to keep them out of my house, my workplace, and any food establishment? in a non toxic fashion, no less

ACK EW ssgardener! I've been to La Crosse, that's where my dad grew up , and seen mayflies, but not anything remotely like that. Normally, I think, it's more like our periodical cicadas in number, but with a much smaller bug.

I think of going north as getting away from a lot of bugs, but they seem to make up for it with epic events like that, and blackflies, and mosquitoes...

I never seem to have a fly problem. I wonder why they love you so much. Does your perfume smell like carrion? LOL

SSG--that's quite the bug storm! :-b

Did I miss something (he asks out of ignorance)?

HAha

Consider yourself bopped--though Sally may want to add hers. ;-)

This message was edited Jul 25, 2014 9:13 AM

Oh, I took it as a completely humorous remark, any bopping would be most gentle
;^)

That's good! It was a joke :)

Saw a bug today that kind of resembles an elongated fly (same coloring--gray)
but its wings flutter like a hummingbird's.,,,very fast Seen several of these...

It did not seem to be interested in my Rose bush--but was lurking around
the wood supports to my shed.
Because it was in the sun--the pictures are not crisp.

What is it? G.

It looks like a Tiger Bee Fly.
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2012/07/05/tiger-bee-fly-10/

Catmint, no other symptoms on the deformed lilies. I need to post pictures so you all can see... I'll try to get to it this weekend.

I had never even heard of mayflies before reading that article. It's a strange looking one!

These mosquitos are beyond annoying. I can't figure out where they're breeding since there is no standing water anywhere. I have some water I'm keeping in a bucket as a trap (and emptying it out every 2 days), but it doesn't seem to be working.

I know! The Deep Woods Off worked well for me today. I also got a botanical repellant which works well and doesn't have a strong smell, but it doesn't last as long as the Deep Woods Off. I really hate the smell of the Off when spraying it on, though. Blech.

Yuk! Those Mayflies are disgusting. The article makes it sound as if a huge uprising of Mayflies is a common occurrence, but I suspect it's an unusually large hatching or else they wouldn't be writing about it. At least they die after a few days.

A coworker of mine says that mayflies don't actually eat anything after they hatch. I found that to be quite interesting. He's a fly fisherman.

I made the yeast-mosquito trap bottle last night. No real action yet. And as with japanese beetle traps, I'm wondering if it would be best to have it near the deck or away. I think I'll put it in the vegetable garden, there always seems to be lots of mosquitoes on me there.
It's funny that when we take the dog to the river, we are NOT beset by clouds of mosquitoes. DO the natural predators get them in the woods there?

Well, my thought is that if you can see a swarm of them on the radar, then that's way too many of them! :-b

Sally, let us know how the trap works! It sounds very interesting. Was it easy to make?

In my yard, some areas seem to have more mosquitoes than others. E.g., the lawn area where the bird feeder is, and the area right in front of my backdoor have a zillion of them and I can't even stand there for a minute without getting multiple bites (hence the Deep Woods Off). Other places in my yard they are less troublesome.

The basic insect trap is- take a half liter water bottle, or soda bottle, any plastic bottle with narrow neck. Cut off the top few inches or a third, turn it upside down and you have a container with a funnel opening that is easy for bugs to get in and hard for them to get out (too dumb). Add some bait and some water to the bottom, they go in, get exhausted, and drown. Keep the funnel part on with tape or staples or clothespins. I use black electric tape, it sticks well but can be removed and replaced too.

I'm sure this is something really obvious and I'm just having a hard time visualizing it, but if it's upside down, how do you keep water and bait in the bottom? 8-/

CatMint, after you cut off the top third of the bottle, you turn it upside down and put it back in the bottle. I also had trouble picturing it at first.

Sally, there might be less mosquitoes by the river because the bats and frogs eat them and the fish eat the mosquito larva. That was one of my daughter's main selling points when she was trying to convince me to buy goldfish for our pond.

Now that I think about it, having fish probably greatly reduces our mosquito population. Most of the mosquitoes probably lay their eggs in the pond, and the fish gobble up the larva.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2014 8:29 PM

okay, Muddy, now you have me thinking about a fish pond for my yard... ;-)

I'm still not able to visualize the bottle thing. Would love to see a photo of it sometime if you get a chance!

Sally, trip to river I would assume is not during peak hours for mosquito activity, dawn and dusk.
Trap placement info to consider.

"Knowing where you're likely to be (deck) in relation to where you think mosquitoes are breeding (your garden? wet side of house?)) is a must when establishing an insect-control regimen.


Setting the Trap
Now you're aware of the places you want to prevent bugs from getting to and the places where they're living and breeding. The next part of the process is to look to a few simple guidelines that will help you position your trap in the simplest and most effective manner. These guidelines are listed below, after you read them we'll run through a quick explanation of what each means and why it's important.

1.Place the Mosquito Trap 20 to 30 feet away from the area you're planning on using, the area where you want to eliminate insects.
2.Place the trap upwind from the place where you think the bugs are living.
3.Position the trap in an open area, not an area impeded by bushes, tall grasses, fences, or other obstructions.
4.When possible, choose a well-shaded area to place the trap in.

All of these guidelines have pretty simple explanations. First of all, you want the trap positioned 20 to 30 feet away from outdoor spots you're likely to use because IT ATTRACTS INSECTS! That's what it's designed to do. So, if you place the trap too close to you and your friends, you're pretty much inviting bugs to the people party - when they come closer to investigate the trap, they'll find you and your guests, too. 20 to 30 feet is a safe distance to keep insects coming to your trap, but keep them away from the humans.


The second guideline is slightly less obvious. Mosquitoes tend to fly upwind from their breeding areas to find meals (in this case, you and your friends). They prefer to do this because after they've fed, their body weight is essentially doubled. As you can imagine, hauling around a body that has recently doubled in size is no fun, so biting insects generally prefer to drift back to the nest with the wind. This means that placing the trap upwind from the breeding area attracts insects looking for a meal, and offers them (they think) an easy trip home.


The last two items are have to do with a little basic science. Placing the trap in an open area has to do with the fact that CO2 is heavier than air, so the CO2 plume the trap produces tends to stay close to the ground where things like tall grass, fences, or bushes can keep the attractant part of the trap from doing its job. On the other end of the equation, choosing a shady area for trap placement has to do with the insects themselves. Put simply, most biting insects don't like direct sunlight or the excessive direct heat it can produce, so bugs are more likely to investigate a trap placed in an area protected from those forces. "
http://www.pestbegone.net/placement.htm

Yes, fish, frogs, toads and the best sketer eater in my yard, BATS!

Here is pic of soda bottle trap

thanks for the photo, Coleup--I finally get it! :-) So do you put regular old yeast in the bottom as bait, with a little water? Like, Brewer's yeast? This looks like my style of DIY project! :-)

Thanks for filling in on all the trap information, coleup. Silly me, scrolled WAYYY back to my previous post with a link, before I saw yours!!
So now I think I will put my yeast trap under a picnic table which is away from the deck. And more than one could be good- if they work.

I'm delighted to report TONS of little fishies in the river when we went yesterday. I just keep thinking there would be puddles where the skeets would breed unmolested, but then, those puddles would be great frog and toad hunting grounds, so...between all that, AND we are there mostly mid day ish...its no wonder after all! In fact, comforting to think nature is in healthy balance there, bugwise. (Invasive plants a whole nuther thing in that spot)

From Sally's link on soda bottle Bug Trap:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Quick-and-easy-homestead-uses-for-Plastic-Bottles-/

"Add 1 tsp yeast and 1/2 cup sugar to some luke warm water, and pour the mixture into the bottle.
Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide that you exhale. The yeast feeds off the sugar and emits the same gas, so the mosquito enters the bottle, thinking she will find food there. She cannot then get out.

You can use the same bottle design for a fly trap, but fill it with a putrid smelling liquid. For wasps, use a sugar mixture. For fish, put under water, and add a bit of cheese or bread."

hm, I used a tiny sprinkle of yeast and a 'shake ' of sugar, pretty wimpy bait I got here.

I had read once that success with bat houses was hard to come by. Anybody have one, successful?

Mark showed us how to attract bats at dusk by winging a stick up in the air. Throw a stick up in the air (then cover your head lol) Bats come and see what the heck the 'noise' is about. Its fun! When the kids were smaller we'd usually see a bat or two near dusk, then we'd use the stick trick to play with them. They swoop in and investigate the stick as it falls.

Sally, good to hear about that pond complete with frogs and toads! :-) Now why can't we get 'predator plants' who eat all the invasives? ;-)

Coleup, thanks for the info about yeast/sugar amounts! I'll put yeast on my grocery list, and I think we have a 2-liter size bottle that's nearly empty now.

LOL Muddy about the bat house! :-) Sally, neat trick about the stick. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous around bats--it makes me uncomfortable how they fly straight at me until their radar detects me. :-(

SSG, Catmint, et al Try wearing real vanilla to repel skeeters as Wendy suggests on the Five Gallon Idea site where they discuss whether the soda bottle bug trap really works!

"The best DIY remedy I’ve ever found for mosquitoes: Apply a drop of pure vanilla extract (not imitation) behind your ears, and at the elbows, knees and ankles. I thought it sounded ridiculous when I read it, but figured it was worth a shot… I swear, it works better than any store-bought repellent I’ve ever used, and it certainly smells better! I was afraid it might attract bees and flies, but I haven’t found that to be the case. If you’re out and about in the woods, this would not be an effective substitute for products that repel a variety of pests, but for enjoying an evening in your backyard without being eaten alive, it works great!"
http://fivegallonideas.com/easy-mosquito-trap-work/

Sally lol, your bait is probably only ten or twelve breaths worth of CO2! Maybe you should get
some 'concentrated essence of human sweat' Octanol also discussed same site:
"Octanol is a type of mushroom alcohol which mimics the human body sweat odor that attracts mosquitoes. When made into tablet form it’s effect can last up to 30 days and when combined with carbon dioxide (yeast and the brown sugar water) extracted by the trap, the efficiency of the trap is increased significantly.
The problem is that I was only able to find one location that sold these tablets outside of the U.S. in a three pack from Estonia (http://www.euronics.ee/t-en/53844/climate-control/octanol-tablet-for-maxi-catch-mosquito-trap/octanol).

Lots of different trap attractant recipes to try.

Catmint, the yeast is regular yeast,used for baking, not Brewers yeast.

Seems mosquitos hang out where they breed and where they feed. Certain areas need to be made less attractive. Last year I suggested crushing leaves of Lemon Balm and rubbing it on skin and clothing to repel. Am thinking Catmint that you could do the same to your back door area for a little relief. (I have plenty of Lemon Balm plants to share!!!)

Here is another idea from the 5 Gal site for problem areas

A mosquito infestation on a lawn can make your time spent outdoors unbearable. Keep them away from grassy areas with 1 cup each of lemon-scented dish soap and lemon-scented ammonia in a 20-gallon hose sprayer, filling the rest of the vessel with water. Spray the yard every few days. Mosquitoes do not care for lemon fragrance. Spray in evenings when mosquitoes are most active (http://homeguides.sfgate.com/homemade-bug-repellents-using-beer-dish-soap-74748.html).

Someone else keeps a spritzer bottle of vinegar and H2O

The bats here still have dead and decaying trees to hunker in. I've never seen any of them lower than 15 - 20 feet (about the height of a street lamp:their favorite open all nite diner!) and never flying at me.

Sigh, our house in Hawaii had House Geckos !

Thanks for the tips and ideas, Coleup.

Sally, thanks for bringing up the yeast/sugar bottle trap!

This message was edited Jul 27, 2014 10:40 AM

I do think I have good , if maybe short term, results by rubbing stems of Catnip on my skin before working in the vegetable garden. But the catnip grows in big bushes in the same area so why are there mosquitoes there in the first place? lol
I'd think you could easily make a skin lotion with vanilla essence added. Would vanilla extract (alcohol) mix with baby oil? Gonna try it!...

I'm afraid none of the "natural" mosquito repellents work on me. In fact, if I miss one little spot with the DEET, I get bitten repeatedly on the bare spots. Even with DEET, I tend to get bitten on the hard-to-reach spots, like the back of my leg, on my elbow, upper back, etc.

Do you remember the article about mayflies? It turns out they signal the return of cleaner lakes and rivers!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/07/29/mayfly-swarm-or-bug-derecho-signals-cleaner-environment/

well, it's good to hear a silver lining for a change!

SS--

Did you read the link coleup posted on how to prevent being bit by mosquitos?

Dab GOOD vanilla extract in the scent spots---NOT imitation...

Back of neck, ears, elbows, behind knees, ankles. Try it and let us know
if it worked for you.

You can ask coleup to re-post it.... G.

Oh yes, I saw that. I literally need to cover every inch of exposed skin with deterrent. Nothing else works. It's actually pretty amazing to watch them swarm around me. I was once talking with Happy, about 3 feet from her, and I was literally covered in mosquitos. My hands were bloody from squishing them and getting my own blood all over me (sorry about the gross imagery). And Happy hardly got bitten.

Wow, SSG, that's terrible; it's got to put a huge dent in your gardening pleasure! I wonder whether you could get some sort of mosquito netting outfit and cover yourself from head to toe, or find some spice or food to eat that will repel them?