Sorry, but bugs is bugs and if we lose a few extra to knock down the mosquito population, so be it. I'm in the garden all day long and so are the mosquitoes. I must have a dozen bites on each leg and even the better quality repellants seem to be failing. DEET is not an option, so I'll just leave it up to the county and their aerial spray program.

That has been one of my constant concern here in Marion county. What the county has done in the past is aerial spraying. My guest is that beneficial insects that eat
mosquitoes are also being killed. I had three bee hives
on my property. One,very strong and two not as strong
but the population was growing. Now,I lost the two
and have been left only with the strong one. The
two that were collapse has been the classical death.
I could not find any remains of the dead bodies.
the honey left contaminated by spiders and roaches.
To my understanding mosquitoes has not been sprayed here
since before I got the bees.
Those of us that say we are organic gardeners are deceiving
ourselves. Sure, We do not put chemicals in our garden,
the government does it for us.
The harm that the spraying does to our health,directly and indirectly is another concern of mine.
Felix

Amen, Felix. Unless we are being seriously threatened by West Nile, Yellow Fever, or Malaria, the only excuse for spraying is our own comfort. Frankly, not only do we lose many beneficial insects, but never forget, we are breathing in that stuff ourselves! I have been out in the yard and nearly choked half to death when the sprayers went by. Call me crazy, but frankly, I'd much rather scratch than choke.

I've never seen them spray the area where I am now, but that doesn't mean the stuff isn't floating around somewhere close by.

And Felix, I'm so sorry to hear of your bee loss. I will never forget our tour of your hives and all the information you shared with us. Even if the loss was not connected to mosquito control, it is very sad. I saw a bit on the news last night about colony collapse, and now they don't think the virus they suspected last year is the culprit. It's a mystery. I've only seen one honeybee in my garden this year.

Kristi, thanks for voicing your concerns. I'm right there with you.

Marcia

That is HORRIBLE! We are not just talking about bugs here. Felix you are right. The poison goes right up the food chain and guess who is on top of the food chain.

I work for hours in the garden nearly every day in the early evening, which is swarming time. I use a plain bug repellent on me and I don't get bit that much. I also periodically spread a mosquito larvicide containing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis bacteria (Bti) in the watery parts of my garden. This kills the mosquitoes and nothing else. Heck, I burn citronella candles if I'm sitting on my patio. There are enough organic methods of control that don't kill beneficial insects or threaten the rest of us.
We have many lakes and ponds near us, so I know the mosquito populations are high, but I can't see how the county should be drenching my neighborhood with poison, unless maybe there was some outbreak of deadly viruses. Mosquitoes are a part of living in Florida. Honestly, I have more problems with lubbers, aphids and spider mites.

Thank you Marcia!
The One colony of bees that I have left is very strong.
I went to harvest the honey about a month ago and I was not able do to their activities and the weather. It was either raining or windy. The hive was totally full. I decided to add
another "super" on top of the full one.Because my bees had no where to store the excess honey.The colony looked like a Bee
condo. LOL! A couple of weeks ago I took the super that was full of honey to harvest. I left the top super where is getting full of honey. I harvested about 54 little plastic bears plus two mason jars. I kept on eating honey as I was harvesting. It's a fun activity.
Now I'm melting the wax to make candles.
I'm sure you all, also, know that Bats are disappearing.
First was the honeybee now is the bats. Bats eat allot of
mosquitoes. We are living in very strange times that's for sure. *(correction on my previous post-It is my "guess"
not my"guest") My brains are fried!LOL

Felix

This is something that I have never been able to understand......... if the bugs get real bad , I go in the house .

That simple. We don`t need to deal with snow, so if I am chased inside for a few weeks out of the year.,so what ?

In the the twenty five years since we bought here the dragonfly population has dwindled down to nothing.

We would go out to the dirt road and stand there looking in both directions and see hundreds of thousand of lighting bugs

flitting around............. now we a lucky to see one or two........ And I don`t think it is because we don`t have enough land.

We live in an area where lots start at 1 1/4 acres and go up. Its the fricken stuff they spray.

Rant over,
Sincerely,
D`Ann LOL !

YES, YES AND YES!!! the dragonfly populations have been diminishing ever more rapidly for decades. And I've only recently learned about the fading bat populations. 'Way back in the 60's Mother Earth News tried to warn us, but only a few actually heard her. I guess this is sort of a round two/ second call. Maybe we will all get the message this time. There are other bees that can be used for pollenating. They don't make honey, but they do a most importantjob. What say you?
cora

All I can say is, it just stands to reason that wholesale spraying of pesticides over a large area cannot be good for anything in the long run. It might solve a problem short term, but it surely will create other problems that may linger long after the effects of a few mosquito bites are gone. And there ARE safer ways to deal with mosquitos in our own gardens, such as the BT mentioned above. Much better idea, to my mind, than spraying nauseating stuff around that I have to breathe, and that may kill insects we really need. Not only for pollination, but because they fit into the natural scheme of things in ways we don't even know yet.

I'm not a "purist" by any means, and I know that in today's world, it is not likely we will EVER get the earth back to the pristine state it was once in. But some things are just over the top, and this type of mosquito control is one of them.

As always, merely my own opinions, but I'm for swatting, wearing long sleeves, and as a last resort, applying a small amount of personal insect repellent, preferably a natural one. Sure seems kinder to the earth and to my neighbors.

Marcia

Thanks guys for the encouraging words. I try to be responsible by using dunks in any standing water and I have mosquito eating fish(thank-you veronika). I mean I know the pests are bad now but I agree, I can wear long sleeves or simply stay in the house.
(And as for you Mr Ricky, I will never be on your side, ever, unless you take me with you guys on your next vacation.)

Along the same lines: I just got back from the vet with the new puppy, and Doc wants me to treat my yard for fleas because the pup is really having a hard time, despite regular baths and Frontline. I've refused a couple times and the adult dog doesn't suffer nearly as much as the puppy does (he may have an allergy.)

Has anyone found anything that only kills fleas? It seems to me that even Diatemaceous Earth would kill good bugs along with the bad.

Natives_and_veggies: my older kitty, who passed away in December, was severely allergic to chemical flea treatments. She almost died from a flea dip treatment before I knew this. The only thing that worked on her was bathing her with Ivory soap and water solution.

In addition to the Advantage/front line stuff, the Ivory soap kills fleas and is not toxic. Something to think about any way...

Does Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis bacteria (Bti) harm the birds at all? I want to put some in my new fountain but don't want to harm the birds in the process?

Well, if any of you want respite from the mosquitos, I'll come over and stand next to you. If there is one mosquito in the area, it finds me and will bite me 200 times and leave everyone else alone. Must be why everyone invites me to BBQs....

I'm allergic to DEET and other mosquito repllants, but wear it anyway. It's so buggy outside with all of this rain, I can't go out for 5 minutes without getting bitten.

I have found good success with citronella spray. We used it in Bolivia for the mosquitos and biting flies...the teeny tiny noseeums that marked my legs out without it. I have become a bigger proponent for no spraying.

It's just a bad year. The past three weren't too bad, and it just hit us this year. I'd rather they didn't spray.

How many people here have the Asian Tiger mosquito in their yard? I am sure they have been in my yard for a while but they are now the dominant mosquito. This mosquito is not effected by wind and bites during the day. These things are so aggressive that when you step into the grass you'll have 4 to 5 on you immediately. I have never seen it so bad.

saintpfla,

Bti is supposed to be safe for everything except mosquito larvae.
According to what I've read,
it is safe for birds, plants, animals and most other bugs.
Check the link if you want specifics...

Here is a link that might be useful: Bti fact sheet

I live in N. Fl. and the skeeters are brutal right now. From my experence, our county Mosquito Control Board is fairly disfunctional. I do my best to eliminate the standing water in my yard, but my neighbors yards are a breeding mosquitos dream. Between the defunct "water garden" on one side and the pile of old tires on the other, Deet is my friend. Deep Woods Off is the smell of summer to me, I hose down with it every time I leave the house. (Thank the garden Gods that I'm not allergic.) I have called the local MCB and they will gladly come help me eliminate the standing water in my yard, but there is nothing that can be done for the neighboring swamps. I have seriously considered lobbing mosquito dunks over the fence. I'm with Fawnridge on this one, wholesale spraying of pesticide is starting to seem like a reasonable response to irresponsible home owners.
I have found a neat gadget to repel mosquitos though. It's called ThermaCell and I bought mine at Wal-mart in the camping department. There are a couple of lantern styles and a very cool portable device with a holster that you can carry while gardening to provide a 15' X 15' mosquito free zone. I have found them to be quite effective.
Happy gardening to all, stay cool. Cindy

I've only seen one spray truck around here lately in S. Sarasota Co. The year W. Nile was so bad, they were bombing us with spray and running up and down the swales spraying with oil all night and day.

Skeeters aren't half bad this year. I usually have quite a few under my oaks, no matter what time of day you go out, but not so much now. Of course, there are a lot more frogs (mostly cubans...eck! But they eat the larvae) than usual, so that's probably why. I would kill the Cubans, but they've killed all the toads and other frogs, so they're the only tadpoles we have around to eat the skeeter larvae.

It's a sad world, isn't it? I used to have so many toads and other frogs, even an occasional green anole, and now, nothing but those ugly, noisy cubans. They wiped out everything in the space of 5 years.

Ditto on ThermaCell!!! It works fantastic! I buy mine at Home Depot. Lowes does not carry it. If I am going to sit out on the patio, I crank it up for 15 minutes or so, then go out to the chaise.

MusicMan: thanks much for the info on the Bti. I'll be trying it out in the fountain.

We lived for several years in Singapore, 25 miles from the equator. Could have been mosquito heaven except the government had mosquito inspectors that went to EVERY home or business and inspected the property for standing water. Mind you, most of the population lives in high rises apartments and they went to EVERY single apartment. The penalty for standing water in a saucer under a plant? $100 Sdollars for every saucer. Puddles were swept up after the daily rains. NO one left water standing in anything and there were no mosquitos, no malaria, no spraying. Subsequently, we moved to Manila where blue tarps and old tires comprise alot of the roofing materials. I'm sure the tires were designed as mosquito breeding farms. It was terrible and mozzie born diseases were common.

I too have Asian Tiger mosquitoes here in Miami. When I lived in the Dominican Republic, I told my brother about them, and that you could identify them by the stripes on their legs. He was amazed that we had a mosquito so monstrously big you could see stripes on it's legs. And he was living in Africa at the time!

I was obsessed with them then because they carried dengue, which I've had. Dengue is no joke. It's known as break-bone fever, and that's what it feels like.

I hate the idea of spraying, but I'm a bit torn. My grandmother was born in Florida back when Orlando was the freeze line and below that was a "malarial swamp." And she got malaria as a child. Lots of children did. She got polio too. Lots of kids got that too back then. She obviously survived (or how would I be around to write this?) but her stories of pre-mosquito-control Florida weren't always happy ones. She saw a baby die from malaria.

And I lived in Third World countries long enough to see what malaria does to children and adults and whole economies and societies.

Just rememeber, before mosquito control, this was truly a malarial swamp, as were parts of Italy and New Orleans and all kinds of places I personally love. And malaria is far worse than West Nile.

I do worry South Florida will end up with malaria again, and dengue, if we're not careful, or even if we are. But I still hate the idea of carpet-bombing our wildlife.

If we could just pool all the money used for that and find a vaccine for malaria and dengue (and the fleas tormenting my puppy).... we'd be better off and the natural world would too. We did it with polio, wiped it out in most countries and we're close to wiping it out in the world.

But I'll stop now.

natives_and_veggies,
Re: Fleas:
Ask you vet if he carries Revolution.
Advantage, and Frontline and flea dips never
did a thing for my 2 cats or my daughter's 2 cats & 2 dogs.
When we adopted our cat from the SPCA,
they gave her a dose of Revolution.
It's the only flea product my vet carries.
This stuff kills fleas, larve and ear mites
in a matter of a few days.
None of our animals have had a reaction to it.
It's a really good product.

As for the mosquitos,
I still use cedar chips or rosemary.
Doesn't kill them, but they seam to not like the stuff.
I also haul my fan out to where I'm working in the yard.
Ok, the neighbors laugh, but the
mosquitoes don't like wind and I love the breeze!
I also keep my trusty green bottle of Off pump
when it's real bad like today.........cheryl

Re fleas. I have to agree that Revolution is the best flea preventative on the market as well as the safest. I got a new puppy about a month ago. She was born and raised in a barn. She was 6 weeks old when I got her. The poor baby was crawling with fleas and worms and bare scaly spots. I bathe her with flea soap three days in a row and still loaded with fleas. I used Revolution on her (we use it on our other dogs) and no more fleas in 1-2 days. After worming, her coat shines like silk, no more itching and no more bare scaly spots. Oh, it also prevents heartworm.

I found that rubbing your skin with raw apple cider vinegar helps keep mosquitos, flies and gnats at bay. Works on dog's ears too when flies and gnats are tormenting them.
Jo

How about Bounce? Has anybody tried it? I heard that it was supposed to repel mosquitos. You tie a sheet to your belt loop or somewhere.

What is the Revolution? A spray? a dip? a pill?

Revolution is a once a month liquid, topical (between the shoulder blades) application. I never heard about Bounce for Skeeter prevention. I'll give that a whirl. The only other useful suggestion for Bounce (or similar) was to soak badly burned cooking pots with a fabric softener sheet to make clean up easier. (That worked.)

I think my county cut down or eliminated spraying for mosquitos due to budget cuts. Bees and butterflies are still buzzing around, thankfully.

Ok, thanks I'll check it out. ;o)