I mean really. It's winter now. Everyone is wearing there thermals, and I've got a mossie in my bedroom.
That's global warming for you.
Gnats are worst. In cold weather when plants don't drink their water so much and the bloody heating hasn't started yet, gnats will drive me nuts. Mosquitos don't ever bite me, no idea how that happens.
Yep - I didn't see any all summer, but have been well bitten now for the last fortnight!!
As I am cr@p at aiming, I find a wet cloth helps - and thrown from any distance - it is very effective.
It is also quite handy for getting rid of the blood splats at the same time.....
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Having worked in hectares of Lemons, I can assure you that mozzies don't give a shit.
This is most likely due to over surrounding supply of water from the leaf litter and undertree irrigation, and me being the only carbon dioxide breathing sucker for about a square kilometer.
The best plants I know of to keep mosquito's away are Citronella, Neem, and Daisy's (the pyrethrum in the flower)
Both do little to nothing though.
The best thing you can do with mozzies is to check around your building for any sources of still water (look for old buckets, toys, pots, etc, all which may catch water from rainfall and offer a protected breeding environment).
Yes you are right about the still water. Thanks for the information on the plants.
Had read a few years back that marmite was good, that was in relation to people going on holiday to destinations that might have them, it was suggested one should start eating it a couple of weeks before as well as being on holiday. Dont know if true, something it had in it - personally am not a marmite fan, but did have fun on a holiday taking some for people to eat who were getting bitten!
Makes sense, as I live in Lutry and they finished the harvest not long ago...
Any idea how to get rid of them?
It's gross, but here's an idea
Get a jar big enough to put an orange inside.
Rub the inside of the jar with vaseline, including the sides.
Put a small amount of water and orange juice in the bottom of the jar.
Also rub the orange in vaseline and then place inside the jar.
After a day or so (if not immediately) the fruit flies will be attracted to the fruit.
The will stick to the vaseline and get trapped.
Remove and discard the orange and jar once it is clearly just gross
There are many different types of fruitflies and they are attracted to various stages of fruit development.
Typically the smaller fruit flies are called "Vinegar" fruit flies as they are attracted to the rotting fruit where they can breed and lay their eggs.
It's therefore IMPORTANT to regulary discard the jars with the fruit juice etc so as to remove any eggs.
In a warm environment (22 to 25 degrees) a fruitfly egg will take around 3 days to hatch.
A colder environment (12- 15 degrees for example) an egg will take around 5 days.
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My place is plagued by fruit flies... I don't know where they're coming from. All my fruit and verg are in the fridge/in a covered place.
And they even are in the bathroom, they seem happy on my mirror there... WTF?!
I have an old glass jar with a paper cone taped to it (big opening at the top, tiny opening at the bottom inside the jar). Every now and then I put a slice of banana in it. It hides behind the fridge so it's out of sight as it gets pretty gross. But, all the fruit flies end up in there and can't get out so they don't bother us and we can leave the fruit bowl out no problem. Every week or so we spray it with fly spray (as they breed in the glass otherwise). The silly flies will still fly on in the the next day though, even though it's a fruit fly cemetery in there. Then at the end of summer, I just throw the glass (and a summers worth of dead fruit flies ) out.
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I have an old glass jar with a paper cone taped to it (big opening at the top, tiny opening at the bottom inside the jar). Every now and then I put a slice of banana in it. It hides behind the fridge so it's out of sight as it gets pretty gross. But, all the fruit flies end up in there and can't get out so they don't bother us
The paper cone idea is genius !!!
(Obviously a small detail is to ensure that the paper fold down 'into' the jar as a funnel.)
I would also recommend experimenting with different types of fruit.
eg. Vineyards have been mentioned, so grapes would be a logical suggestion to try.
I would still advocate removing the trap every so often though.
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I've still got the mosquito netting hanging over my bed..! Had one of them buggers chasing me around the kitchen table this morning.
youtube link?
I need to see the video of you sitting at your white kitchen table, reading your morning paper, gnoshing on your toast and enjoying a glass of OJ, when a mosquito comes and joins at the chair next to you for a nice cuppa.
You jump up, shriek, and begin running around the kitchen table. The giant mosquito starts chasing you with a persistent grin on its face.
You with your arms flailing in the air and screaming like a girl, turning to look over your shoulder and seeing the determined mosquito, quicken your pace just a bit, crying, "But it's Octoooooobuuuuur!!!!!" But still, you continue to go in circles around the table, until finally, it stabs you with its beak just as the camera pans away to see the blood spatter onto the white cabinetry.
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Right now we use one of those blue lights that is suppose to attract and kill mosquitoes.
We leave it on all night, and it works very well in the room it's in (it's full of dead flies stuck to it in the morning). But it doesn't solve the problem in the other rooms...
Right now we use one of those blue lights that is suppose to attract and kill mosquitoes.
We leave it on all night, and it works very well in the room it's in (it's full of dead flies stuck to it in the morning). But it doesn't solve the problem in the other rooms...
Night lights only work for insects that are 'Noctuids' like moths for example.
Mosquito's follow carbon dioxide gradients in the atmosphere. They have chemical receptors and they fly towards the increasing CO2 levels.
They don't give a shit about light, which is why they are SO BLOODY ANNOYING when you are trying to sleep.
There are some electrical devices that plug into a normal power socket that heat up a scent strip. This also attracts mosquito's in the darkness and lures them to their imminent and miserable death.
Mosquitos, fruit flies and moths, we've fought them all!
Mosquitos, we just deal with - I thought it was light they were attracted to but good to know that's just an old wives tale.
Fruit flies we get mainly I think because our neighbour insists on leaving their 'green' box out on their balcony. But we trap them with a mixture of white wine vinegar and washing up soap - trust me, it's their favourite place to commit suicide.
Moths have been the most recent intruder, lebensmittalmotten to be more precise. They infiltrate your food supplies (open or closed) and lay eggs, which form into maggots and then moths. You can only get rid of them by clearing out everything and putting the new stuff in containers. Terrible experience though, I was even dreaming about them at the time.
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Re: Mosquito in October
Fruit flies: Take a little jar; a 180 gr yoghurt jar will do. No gadgets such as funnels needed. Fill 1/3 high with vinegar (wine vinegar, cider vinegar, maybe not the most expensive Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale), add a few drops og bees honey, maple syrup, raspberry syrup or the like, just something that smells sweetish, so plain sugar obviously won't do the job. Now stir, then add another 1/3 water. Finally add two or three drops of dish soap. Put the jar somewhere in the area where the fruit flies gather, but in a manner that hides it from the human eye because it will be full of dead flies within two or three days.
The dish soap lowers the surface tension of the liquid to a degree that makes fruit flies drown instead of walking on the surface. The combination of vinegar and sweet scent is because there many kinds of little critters we humans call fruit flies; some love vinegar, others have a sweet tooth.
If you leave the trap for weeks, add some tap water once a week or so.
Grapes often are very efficient fruit fly carriers. Shaking them before buying doesn't help much. There still can be eggs attached to the fruit that will hatch very quickly.
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I mean really. It's winter now. Everyone is wearing there thermals, and I've got a mossie in my bedroom.
That's global warming for you.
This is NOT winter but autumn/fall. And mosquitoes and other such insects who have survived now search for a refuge. Your bedroom apparently was the place of choice
Fruit flies: Take a little jar; a 180 gr yoghurt jar will do. No gadgets such as funnels needed. Fill 1/3 high with vinegar (wine vinegar, cider vinegar, maybe not the most expensive Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale), add a few drops og bees honey, maple syrup, raspberry syrup or the like, just something that smells sweetish, so plain sugar obviously won't do the job.
Grapes often are very efficient fruit fly carriers. Shaking them before buying doesn't help much. There still can be eggs attached to the fruit that will hatch very quickly.
take a wine-bottle, not cleaned/washed out, add half a decilitre of grapejuice, fill the bottle up with water until half full, and put up the bottle in a good place. It worked for many years for my grandmother
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