Off the top of my head, mosquitoes tend to like the shade, and the bromeliads hold water after it rains, making an ideal breeding ground. Sounds like you've got the ideal situation for the buggers!

Maybe this'll help...

http://mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/

That's what I'm talking about, Carolb. Thanks! And I'll say it again, peeps very often don't realize the numerous ways that varying species of mosquitoes reproduce. To merely cite the presence of some standing water is to miss this entirely. It ain't that simple!

+om

Yes, mozzies will bread in the Bromeliads, but even if there weren't any there, you would likely still get assaulted there.

As Echobelly mentioned, the mozzies like to be in the shade. As tiny and terrible as they are, the hot sun will dry them out pretty quickly, so they like cool, humid areas. When I tak my dogs out, I make sure to stand in the sun, because if I take three steps to the side under the shade of my own (borrowed) oak, I get bitten a lot more. If I am working in my beds, I tend to stir up the mozzies quite a bit as they are hiding under the foliage of the plants or mulch. I make sure to dump my birdbaths every other day, my ponds have running water to dicourage breeding and my rainbarrel is screened off, but the mosquitos still find places to breed. But at the end of the day, both figuratively and literally, I am thankfyl for Off! and other repellents.

Oh, and don't bother getting things like cintronella torches. They have an effective range of 3 ft radius, so unless you plan on standing between two of them, you still get bit. I oce had my chairs surrounded by those tiki torches, but my and ankles were still getting attacked.

Heh, glad to see your mention of birdbaths, Michael. Can't tell you the number of well-intended publications that simply state-'don't use birdbaths' or some other bit of nonsense. I too "water the birds" as I like to call it, and all one need do is freshen up the water regularly. I'm not a bird feeder in the sense of putting out lots of non-native weed seeds for them to eat. I prefer providing as much natural habitat, including fruit-bearing plants, etc. but not that feeding thing, which I don't consider to be beneficial in the long run. But put out a couple birdbaths and you will really be helping these wild animals! I do believe in that.

+oM

Florida and Mosquitos go hand in hand because it' swarm and humid pretty much year round. In my area we also have to content with no-see-u so. Luckily, Novdmber- February we don't have no-see-u so and less Mosquitos. Like Michael, I'm thankful for Off! If I plan to do gardening for more that about 5 minutes I spray up.

If you don't mind the smell of wintergreen, I use this :

I'm the type who never uses insect repellent. And much of my life takes place "out in the bush" if you will, both at my job and when tending to my tree farm "up north". Very, very buggy area. I just have the rare ability to put up with a lot of bites, etc.

So, a while back, we had to do some heavy work on a large deck up at our trailer in the swamp. It was a weekend that featured Florida-like humidity and roughly ten mosquitoes per square inch. The deer flies were lovely as well. I'm telling you, before we got through with that project, I was spraying Off right in my face. I remember the taste, lol! That was nuts. But we got our project done.

+om

Thank you for the stories and suggestions. I oil up with Avon's Skin-So-Soft oil (also an evergreen fragrance) if I am doing any serious (more than 5 minutes) work in the backyard. It seems to help. I don't know if it's the fragrance or the oily feel. Mosquitoes--a fact of life in Florida :)

You know, the only times I've ever been in Florida have been winter months, and I've never experienced any bugs at all really. And I always visit places like Corkscrew swamp, etc. Not one mosquito ever. Granted, I'm sure things change in the rainy summers.

+om

Before someone suggests using lemon scented dish detergent as a skin repellent against biters - and it does work! - let me say, "don't, except now and then". (After a week or two, I thought I had resident but invisible bugs tickling me - dry skin.)