Help! How do I get rid of Mosquitos???

We live in mosquito country. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do if it is a bad season for mosquitoes. If we get moisture, we get mosquitoes- and lots of them. A few things you can do to try to lessen the population are to make sure that there is no standing water in your yard. They will use any still water to reproduce, whether it's a pond, bird bath, or a bucket left upright that has collected rainwater.

Bat boxes will also help. Bats eat mosquitoes, so they are our friends! If you attract bats to your yard, you will have less mosquitoes.

Burning citronella candles while outside helps to keep them away, but it will not get rid of them. It can help to make sitting outside a little more pleasant though. Also, like other insects, mosquitoes don't like smoke, so if you have a firepit, getting that going might help a little bit too.

Lemon Joy dishsoap in a white styrofoam bowl attracts and kills them. Don't know why, but it majorly worked for us at the beach in NC.

Thanks guys!!

We bought a "mosquito magnet" last year. It was really worth the investment. Prior to that we couldn't even enjoy the yard the mosquitos were so bad. Now, we still have some, but not enough to deter us.

the mosquito magnet sounds cool...i will have to look that one up.

thanks for the joy tip danica...and we need to get together and WALK! take advantage of the nice cool mornings and let the kids play!

i suggest making sure there is NO standing water anywhere around your home because the mosquitos will breed like crazy if there is. water the lawn first thing in the morning so there is no water left by nightfall. burn citronella if you are going to be outside. you can also take garlic or brewers yeast tablets...mosquitos hate the stuff...course your dh might not want you anywhere near him afterwards! lol

The American Chemical Assn. or whatever jsut released a report that says that catnip repels mosquitos better than DEET. I'm starting seedlings a little late since I can't find it in plant form. I'm not sure yet how I'll use it once it turns to plants. You could get EO of catnip and make your own candles.

I've found that putting a little essential lavender oil on my clothes and my daughter's clothes (and you only need a tiny bit) keeps them away pretty well.

I'm thinking of trying to "water down" the oil with a bit of olive oil. The scent can be rather strong.

My dh wants to know if taking garlic pills will make him smell like garlic?

Thanks guys! It seems that Burts Bee's Lemongrass repellant works the best of all I have tried. I tried RUBBING juiced garlic all over me (i was DESPERATE!!!) and they STILL attacked me! It didnt work at all! Last night while watering my flowers I put on the burts bees on my legs but not my arms and I got bit on my arms but NOT my legs! So it does work! I put it on pretty thick. I have heard about the Lavender as well but havent tried it. Thanks for all the tips!

You can always wear bug clothes for chores, too. I've been swarmed so horribly in some areas that I invested in some nice lightweight bug clothes.

For normal stuff, though, we use Buzz Away and it works well.

We also have a mosquito magnet...it rocks! We live in mosquito purgatory. In otherwords, it isn't as bad as, say, living in a swamp; but it isn't pretty either. The mosquito magnet made short work of them.

Lori

We use a combination of things. Lots of citronella candles and incense. Lavendar oil mixed with witch hazel (used as a spray for skin and clothing) and personal repellers that we bought from our local home improvement center for about 15.00 each. They take care of 100 sq feet and use a replaceable pad soaked in gerinol. We also hook a fan up on our patio and have that running to create a breeze so the little buggers have a harder time landing.

Heidi