skeeter poison

The house next door to me that was formerly just in ill repair has finally started to come down - at the beginning of this winter, the back wall collapsed, taking a portion of the first floor with it, so it's open into the basement. Aside from all the issues of living next to a now-condemned building, I'm most immediately concerned with nipping mosquito breeding in the bud. With all the junk in their yard, the mosquitoes were so bad last year that my yard was almost unusable. Now with the basement open and full of standing water, I can't imagine how bad it will be.

I absolutely intend to take matters into my own hands here because in dealing with the city thus far, I can tell nothing is going to happen in a timely manner.

So, I'm looking for mosquito population control solutions for their yard. I'm thinking that I can find something at one of my local farm supply shops for the standing water int he basement - just treat it like an irrigation pond, basically. But I'm also looking for recommendations for the yard in general. Short of cleaning it up myself (which I may wind up doing), does anybody have good recommendations for...I dunno, a fogger maybe?

Any recommendations for medium-scale skeeter control would be greatly appreciated.

My dad has a pyrethrin fogger. It puts out a very impressive amount of smoke. It may even kill bugs.

Bonus.

Diesel fuel squirted onto the water surface.

I've heard this. Is the idea that the fuel (I've also heard motor oil) films over the surface and keeps the skeeters form laying eggs? Does it work?

I have to say, I'm not too keen on dousing the neighbor's property with hazardous fluids, since I'm also trying to work with the city on this property.

Anybody know of a 'safe' poison, maybe used in agricultural applications?

Napalm. I suspect my former hometown used the "Hire a drunk to sleep there overnight" method of old building removal.

We have that policy, too. Here, though, it's brick thieves. They set a fire in a hard-to-water place in the house, then the heat and the water loosen the mortar enough to bring the structure down. The clever/nefarious bonus is that the fire department does a good job of cleaning off the bricks, too.

But that's neither here nor there. (Of course if the house weren't so close to ours...)

I'd find out the status of the property and try to acquire it through legal channels so you can tear it down. It would likely raise the property value of the neighborhood, and now you have a clean lot to build on or sell to the next guy. Maybe a Garage Mahal.

Working on that. Currently condemned, but in city limbo. They're up on their property taxes, so the city doesn't care much about it yet. I'm looking into demo costs and thinking about just making the owners a (very lowball) cash offer, and not trying to wait for the city to move.

Any oil that coats the surface and keeps the skeeter larvae from putting their breathing tubes out of the water will work.

Even canola oil should work. Hell, five gallons of that isn't any more expensive than gasoline or diesel these days.

Look up "summer horticulture oil." That's another option.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Any oil that coats the surface and keeps the skeeter larvae from putting their breathing tubes out of the water will work. Even canola oil should work. Hell, five gallons of that isn't any more expensive than gasoline or diesel these days. Look up "summer horticulture oil." That's another option.

Used deep fryer oil? or would coons and opossums like that and make it their pantry? Maybe change the ph of the water with lye?

Oil lamp oil.

.

.

...and a match.

Bleach?

I worked in mosquito abatement for a few summers. There is a grain-like pellet called Bactimos that does the trick nicely. I'm not sure if you can buy it at hardware stores, etc, but it is non-toxic, and effective. Basically the larve feed on it, and it blows their stomaches apart, killing them.

We also used Malathion, but I'm pretty sure that isn't available to the public.

Make sure any unmounted tires in the yard are covered, or empty of water. Skeeters love to breed in tires.

Also, mosquitofish.

Thanks, Joe. That's exactly the sort of info I'm looking for.

Yeah, the yard is a minefield of standing water in various junk: open trashcans full of empties for recycling, tires, old lawnmowers, I think there's a kiddie pool... It's a disaster. Not to mention no one's living there to keep the vegetation at bay.

I'm trying to make contact with the owners to offer to clean out the yard if they'll pony up to have the junk hauled off. I'll do the work if I have to, and I get the feeling that's going to be the quickest solution.

Any suggestions for my yard, closer to where I'll be hanging out?

Go get some lizards from the other guy that wants em out of his garage.

Then when the lizards become a nuisance I'll need rodents to eat the lizards. Then when the rodents become a problem I'll need hawks to eat the rodents. Then foxes to eat the hawks. Then tigers to eat the foxes. Then bears to eat the tigers.

Next thing you know, I have a bear infestation, which seems much more of a nuisance than mosquitoes. Hard to swat a bear. Well, hard to live through swatting a bear anyway.

alex wrote: Then when the lizards become a nuisance I'll need rodents to eat the lizards. Then when the rodents become a problem I'll need hawks to eat the rodents. Then foxes to eat the hawks. Then tigers to eat the foxes. Then bears to eat the tigers. Next thing you know, I have a bear infestation, which seems much more of a nuisance than mosquitoes. Hard to swat a bear. Well, hard to live through swatting a bear anyway.

My grandpa kept a bottle of bear repellent at his cabin. It is amber colored. He would drink some and we never saw bears near him.

Dish detergent kills bugs pretty damn well. Don't know how it would work on Larva, and I'm not sure how safe it is for the environment, and it probably isn't a good solution for you. But it has worked for indoor bug infestations in these disgusting buildings that we college students live in.

My uncle has one of those propane powered Mosquito traps, like this: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&q=propane+mosquito&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=687&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12133094462424000501&sa=X&ei=65usTa3XMunZ0QGS96ToCw&ved=0CB4Q8wIwAA#

It works well enough in the middle of the woods in Wisconsin (with a scum-pond about a 1/2 mile away) that he can work in his garage with the door open all summer.

alex wrote: I've heard this. Is the idea that the fuel (I've also heard motor oil) films over the surface and keeps the skeeters form laying eggs? Does it work? I

When the mosquito larve come up ot the water surface and stick their siphon tube out to breathe, they breathe in petroleum. Duke Power used to spray the lagoons and inlets on Lake Keowee years ago with many gallons of the stuff. Ha. Try that now! Stupid thing was there weren't no mosquitoes up there, just a butt load of midges.

I have 20-30 pounds of an old insecticide named Dimilin in my crawlspace. It works wonders on mosquito larvae. We used to do a lot of research on it. Very non-toxic to mammls etc, but pretty tough on non-target species with chitinous exoskeletons (think crabs and other nice crustaceons).

alex wrote: Thanks, Joe. That's exactly the sort of info I'm looking for. Yeah, the yard is a minefield of standing water in various junk: open trashcans full of empties for recycling, tires, old lawnmowers, I think there's a kiddie pool... It's a disaster.

Joe is right, control is all about water control. Remove it and they cannot breed. Well they can breed but they can't complete the life cycle. There are some mosquitoes that will rear in tree holes full of water. First thing is to empty the pool (and turn it over) and remove any tires, five gallon pails etc.

That magic gut exploding stuff sounds like the ticket. Otherwise, if cooking oil works, I'd try that next. Farm supply stores carry specific products for this as well. Try Tractor Supply or your local Farmer's Co-Op. Otherwise, gosh, did I spill a cup of my used motor oil in that basement? Naw, I think it was there already. Really, a cup of oil would probably cover an entire basement and then some. If you've ever seen how far a gallon of oil spreads in a harbor ("No, that's not from OUR ship. I don't know where it came from. It was here when we got her. Really") you would be really amazed. Yeah, a cup should do nicely....

Malathion used to be available. I used to get it at the local Lowes/HD. Used to live next to some RR tracks that pooled water pretty bad and Malathion kept the mosquito population down. Used some other stuff to that worked well, started with a P but can't remember the rest, it's been a while since I've had to use it. My place here I just use a fogger once in a while. Plus the city/county sprays regularly.