Spraying for skeeters?

[300UGUY]

I am thinking of having my yard sprayed by Terminex. To go out into our yard is tough, the skeeters are literally in clouds. A friend of mine had his yard sprayed, and he can actually go outside without wearing a long sleeve shirt. I cannot. I have a couple of concerns:

1) How toxic is this stuff? Do I need to worry about my animals - dogs, chickens, and goats?

2) What about the local birds?

3) Is it going to be effective on a couple acres surrounded by woods?

Cost is going to be approximately $150 per month. Steep, but if I can use my property more, worth it.

What do you guys think?

 

[Gem99ultra]

I am thinking of having my yard sprayed by Terminex. To go out into our yard is tough, the skeeters are literally in clouds. A friend of mine had his yard sprayed, and he can actually go outside without wearing a long sleeve shirt. I cannot. I have a couple of concerns:

1) How toxic is this stuff? Do I need to worry about my animals - dogs, chickens, and goats?

2) What about the local birds?

3) Is it going to be effective on a couple acres surrounded by woods?

Cost is going to be approximately $150 per month. Steep, but if I can use my property more, worth it.

What do you guys think?

I don't know what your local environment is like, but I can relate my personal experience with mosquitoes. Spraying is a very expensive and short term solution. I've lived in two places that really had mosquito problems - and in both cases the long term and best solution was BATS.
Even at my present location in Georgia, neighbors are complaining about swarms of mosquitoes this year. We have none even though we have two 3/4 acre ponds very near the house. But - we do have bats and they don't.
For $1800/year I think I'd get real busy building some bat houses and add anything else to your property that would invite bats to come live there. That probably would take a year or more to build a bat population, but you'll definitely benefit. Those little guys can eat their weight in mosquitoes almost on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, killing off the mosquitoes with spraying isn't going to attract the bats. But as soon as you have added the bat amenities, you'll have to stop spraying - otherwise the bats will not come in to your area.

 

[dave1949]

It depends on what is being used.

I see the Terminex Co. has these natural repellents: Product Manuals/Additional Information | AllClear Mister

There is a link to the MSDS pdf for Geraniol, which is apparently a synthetic geranium oil.

If you are talking about insecticides, as opposed to repellents, then you have to know what insecticide(s) are being used to know the pros and cons.

 

[dave1949]

The white nose syndrome has taken a toll on our local bat populations. USGS National Wildlife Health Center - White-Nose Syndrome (WNS)

I used to commonly see 4-5 bats feeding every evening in our yard, now maybe one, once in a while.

My best skeeter control is dragon flies. I think it also helps if you open up the tree and shrub cover to get more sunshine and airflow. Skeeters tend to like shady, damp areas with still air.

The skeeters were horrible here when we bought our lot. Making openings with trails, yard, some small clearings here and there has provided ideal feeding conditions for the dragon flies, plus getting some sunshine and breeze that makes things drier in general. It is less skeeter friendly overall.

 

[Deere Dude]

I would consider doityourselfpestcontrol and get chemicals to spray with your own sprayer. It should be a lot cheaper. Of course it would probably kill the good bugs to, if there is such a thing.

 

[oosik]

I can firmly state that bats will seriously deplete the mosquitos. I have about 20-25 every night patrolling the yard around my house. They roost & rest in the eves at night and spend the day in a special "bat house" I built. Spraying your yard is only temporary, kills many bugs that other birds depend upon and causes most mosquitos to simply move out of your yard until the toxic affect of the spray is gone.

During the day I have 200-300 swallows that help the nighttime bats reduce the mosquitos. The swallows build their nests on the cliffs around my lake and are active from early in the AM until well after sunset.

I know there are a lot of mosquitos because of all the water (two lakes on my property) around me but the combo of bats & swallows is extremely effective.

I think your most effective solution - both cost & environmental wise - is to build a bat house, hang it on the shady side of a tree and observe how it attracts the local bats and how very effective they can be. It will save a lot of money over continual spraying, the local bird population will thank you because they don't have to avoid the sprayed areas and it will put a serious damper on mosquitos.

 

[charlz]

Bats are supposed to be really good but I have read to be careful where you put the bat houses due to the guano that will be below them. Comments from those that have bat houses?

I have a decent size pond in my backyard and almost no mosquitoes... but if you go out into the garden area which is basically rough lawn they come in swarms. I do have some ducks and while they don't eat the mosquitoes directly I think they possibly keep the larvae population down? This time of year the swallows are also around the pond as are Dragon Flies and Damselflies but none of them spend much time in the garden area.

Bats might be your best long-term option whereas spraying or putting down something yourself might help break the mosquito life cycle and reduce the population some.

 

[zzvyb6]

I bought a used Burgess propane fogger at a garage sale and Cutter fogger fluid at Home Depot. I fog a 1 acre area around the house at night when the area is dead still. I also had first bought a new Stinger bug zapper at Home Depot. Traditionally these do not kill mosquitoes, but this one uses a bait to attract them. With both systems going, I am completely free of mosquitoes around the house, patio and lawn. We used to have barn swallows nesting under the eaves (crapping and nest mud an stones all over, too. Yes, they feed in swarms 3 times a day but the evening mosquito density was unbearable. After fogging and the zapper in operation, it's nice here at all hours of the day and night (around the house).

The swallows are now all down by the barn and machine shed. Crap everywhere. And still, the mosquitos in the morning and night time are enough to drive me back inside.

My oldest dog wants to go out to pee and poo at 3 am and I accompany him to make sure he doesn't fall. Not ONE mosquito around to hassle me.

BTW: the bug sapper has to be hosed out every other day, otherwise the UV light disappears there is so much mosquito, moth and fly wreckage around the electrodes.

I'm in Brighton township (OLD-23 and Hyne Rd area if you want to see and experience the effects and watch a fogging operation.

You can buy a new Burgess fogger at Home Depot for $60. Hope you are enjoying BalloonFest !

 

[8N Ren]

The propane hand diggers work great if it's very calm and no rain in the forecast.

 

[farmer2009]

Martins also work. Adding Martin houses near the water source works here. But can take a couple of years to get a good population.