I did some research last night on natural repellent/exterminator products and found a really interesting one. It's called Mosquito Barrier and it's made with some super-duper strong garlic juice that disolves their exoskeleton and kills the larvae. Anyone have any experience with this product??? I read their testimonials and none were from Washington state. Several from Texas and Arkansas though and they seemed very pleased.
After some of that research, I also read that cinnamon oil works quite well so I went running to my spice cabinet and grabbed my big Costco container of cinnamon. I know it's not cinnamon OIL, but I was freaking out over the sheer number of mosquitoes outside. So I went running outside at 9pm (being bitten in the process) shaking cinnamon all over the beautiful, newly spread bark. Smelled wonderful! LOL And to my total amazement, it seems to have worked a little - I was able to go outside for an hour this morning and didn't get bitten once without any repellent on! So it must have killed some of them, although I could see more swarming where I hadn't put cinnamon.
I'm not desperate enough to use DEET though... I'd rather get bitten and risk getting West Nile Virus than spray neurotoxins anywhere near my body, yard or children.
Suggestions please!!! :)
7 comments:
How much soil was delivered? I wonder if the soil provider was aware of the appareent infestation. Is it possible that they are breeding elsewhere in your propety at this point?
Mosquitos in the east (NJ are exclusively nocternal and I think that the Garlic solution may work but I haven't really found the need to do anything since they don't seem to be a problem where I am.
Id call them too - that cant be normal???
thats neat about the cinnamon. the only problem with natural treatments is that they dont last that long. i hope you figure something out quickly!!!
10 cubic yards of bark was delivered, along with 10 cubic yards of garden soil. The garden soil was fine. It was just the bark. What was really creepy was to look at the pile closely and the itty bitty things were literally swarming it.
The interesting/funny part about all of this is we've certainly attracted more dragonflies and "hover" bees. They're having a FEAST on all of these mosquitoes.
It is possible they're breeding on my neighbor's front lawn. It's extremely soggy, but fixing that would be a major underground piping project. We were actually talking about this yesterday. She can barely mow that side of her yard, it's so soggy.
I couldn't get that Mosquito Barrier product. They won't ship to Washington state. :-( Something about EPA labeling. For GARLIC OIL??? Anyway, I begged them to ship it to me "secretely" but was denied.
So I found an organic, garlic spray at Fred Meyer yesterday that I sprayed this morning. It's not nearly as potent, but it was worth a shot.
....now to find someone to ship me a gallon of Mosquito Barrier!! :)
ferbit - till what time hae the mosquitoes been coming over ? and the damage/terror :) has been caused due to bark soil ?
Well, we've always had a good number of mosquitoes out here. But the huge majority of them came with the bark delivery. I saw the little baby mosquitoes SWARMING out of the bark pile they dropped in my driveway. And I've now heard it's not uncommon at all for bark to be infested with mosquitoes. *sigh*
This is probably the last time I'll ever have bark delivered. I know it's pretty, but it's not actually that good for your yard or plants. I think next year I'll just go with a nice, dark topsoil that looks just as attractive.
Nature does have a wonderful way of balancing itself out though... Since this blog, the dragonflies and hover bees (not sure what they're actually called, but they hover and stare at things) have been devouring the mosquitoes. So our population is back to normal levels. Still annoying, but manageable with natural mosquito body spray.
I'm still looking into a natural pest control company though... :)
If you're looking for a natural way to get rid of mosquitoes, I personally recommend a mosquito trap. They are incredibly effective and completely safe.
Good luck!
Tam
I don't really blame you, harsh chemicals seem hard to justify ! That picture is grossing me out just looking at it, too close ! !
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