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Seldomski

All words are made up
Skier
Joined
Sep 25, 2017
Posts
3,052
Location
'mericuh
Citronella - doesn't really work in my experience
Yard fogger - make a big difference on still nights. Good for a couple hours of protection.
Fans - helps a lot, makes it hard for them to fly. Getting a patio fully covered with wind may not be practical.
Water bags. I don't have these in my yard, but see them at some outdoor restaurants. They seem to deter flies to a degree: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/water-bags-repel-flies1.htm . May be worth a shot if you have fly problems. We don't get biting flies here.
Bug zapper - useless, but fun. We tried hanging these in a perimeter around the patio with no real effect.
BBQ - smoke from pit seems to deter all bugs.

Things you can do to thin the bug population:
-Yard work. The more your yard looks like a jungle or wild grassland, the more places mosquitoes can hide/perch. Thin out your bushes/hedges, keep grass short.
-Standing water. Doesn't take much for them to breed. We used to have a bird bath/fountain. After getting rid of that, mosquito population went down considerably. Go through the yard and look for anything that collects water and flip it over or throw it away.
-Dog poo - pick it up. It attracts flies, other bugs.

Our general recipe:
-Trimmed yard.
-Remove all standing water.
-Spray fogger around the yard perimeter, especially hitting all bushes
-Fans, or at least congregate where there is a breeze
-Still need to apply repellant on the people that mosquitoes really like... others may not need anything.
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,453
I worked with someone who used to take a tablespoon of vinegar everyday. She thought this helped on her Army Reserve weekends in the woods. :huh:
 
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Tricia

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
Admin
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Nov 1, 2015
Posts
27,298
Location
Reno
I worked with someone who used to take a tablespoon of vinegar everyday. She thought this helped on her Army Reserve weekends in the woods. :huh:
I drink lemon juice and apple cider vinegar every morning.

What I did find that seems to be working is this little spiral thingy
I've used them twice with decent success.
https://www.amazon.com/W4W-Mosquito...ocphy=9030901&hvtargid=pla-442329889093&psc=1

As for standing water. We really have none around here with the exception of the dog water bowl, but I dump it when visiting dogs aren't here, so that doesn't seem to be the issue here.
 

David Chaus

Beyond Help
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Team Gathermeister
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Nov 12, 2015
Posts
5,529
Location
Stanwood, WA
We don’t typically get a lot of mosquitoes here, but this year has been really quiet as far as bugs of all kinds, which is a little worrying. A lot of insects are pollinators. I was able to keep a sliding glass door from our bedroom to the deck open on warm evenings. Sadie (our canine quadruped family member) likes sleeping out on the deck when she can.

Regardless, we had some serious rain the last day or two, including a thunderstorm with several thousand lightning strikes the other night, which is pretty rare around here. Summer is over.....
 

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