In article ,
Steve Manes wrote:

- Last summer, my backyard was a mosquito rock concert. From July
- through late September it was almost impossible to use my yard, late
- day or night.
-
- There's no standing water. I'm told that it's because of all my
- tomato plants, which attract male mosquitos, which attract the biting
- females. Whatever, I'm growing even more tomatoes this year and I'd
- like to be able to go outside without being an insect feast and also
- without dousing myself in Deet.
-
- I'm looking for something to kill the little buggers. I'm told that
- conventional bug zappers don't work well with mosquitos. Some
- neighbors have built bat houses but I'm also told that mosquitos
- aren't a favorite dish for bats either.
-
- Any reasonable ideas?

Since you're growing tomatoes the foggers are out of the
question (garden foggers in a spray can - Raid, etc.). I've
had success with them, though, in keeping the little buggers
away for a few hours.

You could try the mosquito coils (Off!, I think, makes them).
You burn them and they sort of smolder for a few hours, keeping
the mosquitoes away. There are also those new lantern-type things
that are supposed to be mosquito repellants. There's a candle inside
and you put this little thing in the lantern above the candle so
that it heats up and repels mosquitoes. Again, I think Off! makes
it.

As far as killing them, you'd have to use something that would likely
make your tomatoes inedible, and it probably wouldn't be effective
for long.

Best thing is to remove all standing water after a rain so they have
no place to breed. Take a good walk around your property and look
painstakingly for standing water.

Hummingbirds eat mosquitoes, so put up some feeders and attract them
(www.hummingbirds.net is the best place for info). Bats eat them, too,
but I don't know if they're a favorite food! I've also heard that
purple martins eat them, so put up a martin house (those big multi-
bird house units on top of the tall poles).

That's my uneducated advice! I hope it helps.
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

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