Mosquitos everywhere

willzza

We have just built some lovely decking, but have found that the decking area is plagued by mosquitos that bite!

Looking online, people seem to recommend getting plants such as marigolds and lavender to get rid of them. Has anyone had any success with this method? 

We have so many that I think I would need to get hundreds of plants before the mosquitos took any notice!

lydiaann

I'm thinking you must also have a source of standing/fairly still water around too so get rid of that if you do - I seem to be having problems around my 2 water butts (way down the garden at the back of the shed under some trees).  Also, even in the day, sit a citronella candle/tea light near each chair...they're pretty good.  But the marigolds and lavender would look good in pots too so you could have a mix of all those things and have a fairly peaceful relaxation session.

purplerallim

I also use mint plants for mosquitoes and flies near my conservatory doors in pots,  seems to keep them away as rarely have any flies inside and few mosquitoes on the patio.

floralies

If you are getting bitten during the day it may be gnats that are biting you, some of these bite as do some of the black flies.

mrtjforman

i seem to remember someone recently lifting their decking to discover it was the perfect moist habitat for a bunch of frogs. I know decking has a big hollow area underneath it and if it is built well the water will drain out. Otherwise you might have a new little stagnant pond underneath your decking that is providing shelter for the mosquito larvae and a perfect breeding ground. Just a thought. If that is the case I should think that a few bags of sand should fill any pools of water

PeggyTX

I use Artemisia (also called Wormwood) 'Powis Castle' for repelling wasps and it has proven to actually do so.  One plant placed on the front veranda (in June) at our getaway cabin in Central TX has caused all the wasps that once built their nests constantly under the roof eaves of the veranda to vacate......and in just under a month of pot placement!  So I'm planting this one and 3 more plants at the cabin four corners directly in the ground.  And I think they are so pretty, too:  https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=images+of+wormwood+'Powis+Castle'&fr=opensearch&imgurl=http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/2002/07/27/darius/58cf5c.jpg#id=7&iurl=http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/2002/07/27/darius/58cf5c.jpg&action=click.  Don't want to kill the wasps, just to move them elsewhere on the property.  These plants are said to generally repel other flying insects as well, though I haven't been down at our cabin long enough in this scorching hot summer to know about the impact on mosquitoes or flies yet.  We have 12 Brangus heiffers grazing on the 40 acre pasture, so if the fly population on the veranda goes down this year, I think it'll be safe to say the plant lives up to its reputation.  I'lll try to post backk my findings this Fall. 

Fire

Yes, get rid of the standing water and the mozis will disappear. If it's buckets in a neighbour's garden, ask them to deal with it. They are not good fliers, so they will be breeding somewhere close by.

willzza

Thanks all for the useful advice!