Mozzies
sunflower888
Posts: 50
Hi,
Does anyone know how to erradicate gnats/mosquitoes?
Is there something like fly paper but an industrial equivalent. I have 14 bites from them from yesterday.
I think they are breeding under 3 massive neighbours sycamore trees.
0
Posts
I'm sure they're looking for a way in south America and Africa. In the meantime, make sure there isn't any standing water about the place. You can avoid getting bitten if you use Avon skin so soft . It works. There are a number of threads on this site where you can get useful advice and opinions.
Insect repellent suggested on here several weeks ago - which I bought and it works - Avon Skin So Soft. The zika virus hitting the headlines has every chance of being carried easily throughout the world because of ease of travel and in most people it is a relatively minor infection but malaria is a recurring intermittent disease as the protozoa that cause it infect red blood cells and it can flare up many times. Sadly, as we know from the news, zika can have a devastating effect on developing foetuses causing the birth defect microcephaly and the more worrying thing is it can be sexually transmitted.
Sunflower - mosquitoes and gnats need standing water to breed in, so check your garden for things containing water - pots, buckets, pot saucers, uncovered water butts, even yoghurt pots, the tiniest amount of water will do - tip it out and cut down on their breeding opportunities.
Last edited: 02 August 2016 07:09:04
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
With water butts, a spot or two of vegetable oil on the surface will stop the breeding of mozzie larvae.
As dove says, tip out all other standing water, pot bases, bird baths need tipping out and cleaning regularly.
Hover flies are breeding in my comfrey water. I leave them.
Ah i had bird baths down there, but they are hanging around under some huge trees overhanging from a neighbours.
Oh dear, I didnt even think about zika. And I am trying to get pregnant, so this is super dangerous for me.
How long does the bite poision stay in your system?
It is only one particular variety of mosquito that carries the Zika virus and I believe we don't have it in the UK as the climate is unsuitable (similarly malaria).
My daughter became pregnant shortly before we had a trip to Borneo which included some jungle treking and I spent the entire holiday nagging her about using insect repellent because of the concern about malaria. All was fine fortunately.
The zika spreading mosquitoes are different to ours. No need to panic on that score. Mosquitoes breed in the water but probably lurk under your sycamores when they're adult. If I want to leave empty pots outside, I turn them upside down - neater gardeners would put them away
It's been a particularly bad year for them. I used to get badly bitten but now I keep the repellent by the back door and spray every time before going out into the garden.
Actually when you say about the trees, I've just realised that in prior years I remember seeing the trees leaves with lots of little bumps on the underside I thought it was a disease but its must be the fly larvee That explains it, its a whole breeding area and I believe shade helps.
Sunflower, you have absolutely no need to panic as B3 says. The only way zika could get into the country is by some innocent carrier who got infected whilst abroad and the chances of that carrier being bitten here and transmitting zika has got to be millions to one. Malaria was quite widespread in the UK in the early 1800's especially in the marshy areas around London where the Anopheles mosquito bred. Nowadays its extinct in the UK. Interestingly - well to me as a scientist - it is only the female that bites as the males feed on nectar.
'Twas ever thus, ladybird