Mosquitos !@#!

One of my friends on Facebook posted a picture of a sign in front of a church that said “I wish Noah had swatted those two mosquitos!” I’m sure most would agree with that sentiment. I am one of those people that get eaten alive. I have to spray myself down with nasty bug spray if I want to enjoy sitting on my deck in the evenings. Is it possible to repel mosquitos without toxic chemicals? I found a few interesting ideas, or possibly urban myths:

1.      Eat garlic. It’s used in many mosquito repellents for landscaping. The problem is that you have to eat a lot of garlic every day for it to be effective. Mosquitos may not be the only thing you’ll be repelling.

2.      Fabric softener sheets. Rub the sheets on your skin and supposedly the skeeters will stay away. You may get an itchy rash anyway though if you’re allergic to the dryer sheets so be careful.

3.      Dish soap. Squirt the soap into some saucers and place them around where you’ll be sitting. The mosquitos are supposedly attracted to it and leave you alone.  Also, because bubble machines use soap, they can also deter mosquitos away from your seating area. Your back yard may look like the set of the Lawrence Welk Show though.

4.      Fans.  Place a rotating fan and set it on high. Mosquitos are supposedly not as active when the wind is gusting higher than 10mph. The fan also lowers body heat and helps to dissipate the carbon dioxide that is exhaled, both of which are said to attract the blood suckers.

5.      Bats. Install some bat houses in your yard. There is some debate about whether bats eat enough mosquitos to have any positive affect. However, there is a species called the brown bat that supposedly eats between 500-1000 mosquitos an hour.

I’m not even convinced one of those expensive bug zapping machines works in the war against mosquitos. There’s just too many of them. We are outnumbered. Even though I hate the chemicals, I’m not going to throw out the bug spray just yet.

 

(Sources:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/get-rid-of-mosquitoes_n_3384793.html , http://www.rodalenews.com/chemical-free-mosquito-control)