It's Wednesday April 17, 2024
News From The Village Updated Almost Daily
October 19, 2011
They swarm, they bite. We slap, we swat. It’s usually not an issue, but in these weeks since Hurricane Irene, it’s seemed that the mosquitoes have been winning in many parts of Pamlico County.The Town of Oriental has been spraying to counteract them in town. Pamlico County government has also sent mosquito trucks out spraying county roads (that, after a plan for one $200,000 aerial spraying was scrapped in September.) The spraying has helped, if only temporarily. Repeated sprayings have been necessary because while the chemical kills on contact, it doesn’t leave a lasting insecticide on the ground. In other words, still more mosquitoes can zoom in.
The buzz. The occupation continues for a large percentage of Pamlico County residents. (Design by Paul Sligh).Oriental and Pamlico County residents have come to know some idiosyncracies about our county’s mosquitoes. In most other places, a forecast for a north wind may sound like it will bring relief in the form of cold air which mosquitoes don’t like.
But unless it’s freezing, north winds only make matters much worse. Our little low-lying peninsula sticks out in to the Pamlico Sound and by some cosmic joke of geography, provides a landing ground for mosquitoes airborne from swamp lands to the north. So until temperatures really plummet, north winds are sometimes the bane of our existence (at least right after a hurricane). And when they come on the heels of a good rainfall, the mosquito misery index spikes even more.
The swarms in the county these days have been especially bloodthirsty, working as tag teams. Some types are out at dusk and dawn, others in the middle of the day. They trail us in to our homes. They hitch rides in our cars, creating a new road hazard: Driving While Swatting.
They’re here until the weather gets cold enough to freeze them out. In the meantime, what can we do to deal with the mosquitoes? We put that question to readers. The solutions included turning a garage in to a death chamber, making some additions to your diet, a science experiment involving the mosquitoes diet and some fashion tips. That’s where we start….
What To Wear, What To Wear….Wearing more clothes usually works. The more you cover up, the less skin surface area you leave for the mosquitoes to bite. Long pants, long-sleeve shirt. If it has a button-up collar, have it do just that, right up to the neck. And down there at your feet… as dorky as it looks, wear socks – with your Keens or other sandals. Your ankles will thank you.
Deb Iannitto models the outfit she puts on to walk her dog in Arapahoe. Deb accessorizes her thick foul weather jacket with a bandana and a “Buzz-Off” cap designed to repel mosquitoes. Her fragrance she says, is Ben’s Max Formula.But in these post-Irene days, the mosquitoes are biting through our clothing. So much so that in Arapahoe, TownDock reader Deb Iannitto has taken to wearing a foul weather jacket when walking her dog. (With the air foul with mosquitoes, this makes a perverse kind of sense.)
The hat is treated with some kind of insect repellent. I think it’s good for 3 years but I douse it with Ben’s before walking. The Ben’s formula is 95% Deet. ( I purchased it from Cabela’s when we went to Alaska.) Deet, as obnoxious as it is, is the lesser of two evils. I haven’t seen mosquitoes this bad since a bike ride I took in the Everglades about 8 years ago. Let’s bang the drums for an early frost. Our property escaped the wrath of Irene but Mother Nature always wins…
[page]
Part of the TownDock staff has been wearing a Polartec jacket over long sleeved shirts, even when it’s in the upper 70’s. It works for making a clean break from the house to the car and back but gets a bit warm if you’re outside for more than a few minutes.
For those who plan more extended time outside and who don’t want to bake, there are some other options.
Cathy MacWilliams at Nautical Wheelers shows some of the clothing already treated — and good for 70 washings — with mosquito repellent.One reader mentioned the effectiveness of a shirt that has mosquito resistance woven in to its fabric. Camilla Wheeler at Nautical Wheelers confirms that “both ExOfficio and Columbia have long pants and shirts with an insect block in them. We sell both brands.”
Meanwhile, TownDock reader Juergen Miller pointed out the Mombassa Mosquito Net Body Suit, as depicted in the REI catalog.
“Don’t laugh,” Juergen wrote, “I’ve actually worn this out in Merritt.”
The Mombassa Mosquito Net Body Suit with separate “head net, jacket and pants, all made from fine polyester no-see-um mesh. Elastic at the waist sleeve cuffs and ankles ensure bugs don’t get inside your clothing.”We’re not laughing — well, much — because we have heard of other residents who don the netting suit too. Just don’t go to the bank wearing it. (By the way, a teller at FIrst Citizens on Broad Street says mosquitoes have followed customers in to the bank. But as of yet, no mosquitoes have sneaked in via the drive-thru window slot.)
Oriental resident Joe Mattea has changed his clothing habits, too. After reading that mosquitoes are more attracted to dark colors, he’s been wearing lighter ones.
Joe’s wife, Lynn, says it’s time to try anything to keep the mosquitoes at bay. The other day the Matteas tied fabric softener sheets to the collars of their dogs.
Before Andy moved to Oriental with Joe and Lynn Mattea, fabric softener sheets stayed in the laundry room. The dog was sporting one — done up in a bow tie — around his collar last week after the Matteas read that having one on your person — or canine form — kept the mosquitoes away.“The Lure: Here, Skeeter, Skeeter, Skeeter.”Meanwhile, on his Mildred Street front porch and elsewhere in their yard, Joe has been setting out trays with a sweet bait of juice, brown sugar and boric acid.
It’s a science experiment that several other readers wrote in to suggest, based on a New York Times report of a few weeks ago. The Times had noted that while the female mosquitoes flock to us for our blood — needed for them to lay eggs — their main diet and that of other mosquitoes, is nectar from fruits. Some scientists in Israel reported success in simulating that nectar by mixing up juice and then lacing it with a pesticide or with simple, cheap boric acid. The kill rate was over 90 percent.
Joe Mattea on the porch of his Mildred Street home where he hopes to recreate the success of a mosquito-killing lure reported in the New York Times. Juice, sugar and boric acid solution is poured in to a tray and set out.With that in mind, Joe bought a few trays and some boric acid and laid out some traps on his porch and in his yard. When we visited Joe, the nectar he’d set out seemed to be attracting other insects.
(It should be noted that in the Israeli study, the mosquitoes went off to die somewhere else. So without using a fancy tracing dye, it may be difficult to determine if this Oriental experiment works.)
[page]
Fruit Flies A Problem, TooOther area residents have been making potions as well. Pamlico resident Eloise Brown writes that she’s been fighting not only mosquitoes but fruitflies. “Lots of them in almost every room of the house…” She wasn’t the only one beset by the annoying — but seemingly non-biting — insects. Fruitflies were showing up in many homes even when there was no fruit or food laying around.
Eloise offers a non-toxic (to humans) antidote to bring the fruit fly population under control.
Small dish/cup pour in 1/2 C vinegar along with two drops of liquid dish soap.. cover with plastic wrap. Puncture plastic with one small hole. Stand back and watch the flies go in and then do the back stroke! VERY effective.
Veterinarian Sherri Hicks says she’s seen many more dogs with flea problems coming in to her Oriental VIllage Veterinary Hospital since Irene. Her explanation for the sudden explosion is that the fleas may have been thriving underneath some homes that flooded in the hurricane. Wet insulation and ductwork and other debris was taken from those infested homes to the street to be hauled away, which is where dogs likely came in to contact with the fleas. Sherri’s tip is to keep on top of the flea treatments. And, because heart worm can be spread by mosquitoes, be sure to give your dogs their heart worm preventative medicines as well.
Garage BannedAmong the more vigorous attempts to rub out the mosquito population was one sent in by Charles Fetzer of Pamlico:
Mosquitoes are attracted to fluorescent light. At night, after garage use is complete for the day, open garage doors and turn on overhead fluorescent lights. In an hour or so, garage will be filled with thousands of mosquitoes. Close garage doors. Spray garage with Cutter (readily available supermarkets and hardware stores). Next morning, sweep out thousands of dead mosquitoes. Repeat as necessary. Doesn’t seem to dent the population but provides tremendous satisfaction.
The only good mosquito is a dead mosquito? There are thousands of them – swept up in to small piles — on the floor of Charles Fetzer’s garage in Pamlico. He lures them in with light, traps them, and then sprays Cutter.In effect, Charles has turned his garage in to a mosquito magnet. There is of course a trademarked product called Mosquito Magnet, which works on a slightly different principle. Instead of relying on the mosquitoes’ attraction to fluorescent light, it plays off of the stuff we breathe out every time we exhale. With a propane tank heating up an attractant, this device, the literature says, “mimics a large mammal by emitting a plume of carbon dioxide, heat and moisture.” Combined with another attractant, it lures the mosquitoes, traps ‘em in a bag where they die. They can cost several hundred dollars.
(And no, not exhaling is not an option.)
[page]
SprayingOut in Merritt, on the shores of the Bay River, the infestation of mosquitoes has been especially severe. Larry Jones says that a few weeks ago, he did a mosquito count in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control’s guidelines.
“In one minute,” he writes, “114 mosquitoes landed on my skin and clothing, and that count did not include many on my back and head.” To put that in to perspective, a count of 20-30 per minute is cause for concern for public health, especially if they are the type of mosquito that can spread disease.
Noting that the mosquitoes found here can spread both West Nile Virus and Triple E — Eastern equine encephalitis,“Larry Jones went in to action after the county announced it would not be spraying aerially.
He took the usual precautions – getting rid of standing water, raking up pine needle debris. He also has sprayed insecticide and sent along “information about an inexpensive and safe mosquito insecticide that can be applied with a hose sprayer.”
“The best hose type sprayer that I have found,” he says, is the “Gilmour 362 Pro Pre-Mix Sprayers. Ace Hardware stores sell them for about $18.”
Into that sprayer he puts Permethrin SFR 36.8%, a “Permethrin product that is safe and effective.” A quart, Larry says, is $39.95.
As You Live And Breathe, Take Care Of Your LungsMeanwhile, many people in the area say they are resorting to mosquito spray on themselves more than they have in other years. But you may not want to do that at the expense of your respiratory system.
Susan Koepp of Partners in Health medical practice in Oriental suggests not simply spraying it on yourself, but a more mindful application.
If using spray, put on a mask and then spray clothes, hat, gloves. Let the air clear then put on your clothes. Avoid spraying directly on the skin, many of these products are toxic and are definitely absorbed through the skin. Inhaling it is not a good idea either!”
Blowing Them OffJust as winds blow them in, winds can also blow them out. Or at least can keep the mosquitoes away from your personal space. If you don’t have a good breeze coming through your porch, Bob Miller suggests that you can create your own:
Dr. Mike Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, suggests using an electric fan when sitting outdoors to keep them away. A mosquito can fly about 5 miles per hour, and most fans move the air faster than that.
A much smaller fan is involved in another approach. Claude LaFleur writes from Louisiana in praise of Thermacell mosquito repellers:
No, I don’t work for them nor do I sell them.. but I find that they are very good at keeping the little buggers away. I am a Lake Pontchartrain/Gulf Coast sailor and find them to be the only thing that can keep the skeeters away. We have lots of mosquitoes in the salt marsh and before I found the Thermacells, anchoring out in the bayous around here was almost impossible because they’d drive you below deck at sunset. They emit a scent that mosquitoes and gnats don’t like. I use one in the cockpit on the floor and one in the companionway to keep ‘em out. The scent is a derivative of chrysanthemum flower scent.. Check them out and report for your red splotched readers!
[page]
The Mosquito DietOriental resident Bill Michne suggested there were so many mosquitoes that someone should come up with recipes. While we wait for that, there are some in town who are in effect on a mosquito diet, eating supplements to discourage the mosquitoes from feeding on them.
Kathy Kellam suggests going “Italian or maybe Romanian.” In a word: garlic.
“I do eat tons of garlic and give garlic to my dogs,” she writes. The pills she gives her dogs, she says are touted as a “natural systemic insecticide.” It keeps them free of ticks and fleas. “Their garlic says for mosquitoes too, so I can only believe.”
Kathy says she knows some people who won’t take the garlic out of concerns it with make them “smell bad. But I don’t smell anything from the pooches.”
Meawhile, Oriental resident Nol Engel says he takes a dose of brewer’s yeast every day and typically doesn’t get bothered by mosquitoes.
Do Something, AnythingWe humans seem incapable of standing still when mosquitoes are around, and that may well feed our determination to not just stand there but to do something. Anything. David Pugh writes:
When I was a boy, I went to Canada canoeing. I can still hear the mosquitoes buzzing around my head as I ran though the forest with a canoe on my shoulders. An old Indian told me to strip the leaves from a bracken fern, roll them in my hands until a liquid forms and spread it on my arms and neck. I still do that 40 years later when I’m around those creatures however I don’t know how much good it does, but it makes feel like I did something. Oh and by the way, where I live in west central Wisconsin, I can count on one hand the number of bites per year so I ask myself again,‘why am I moving to Oriental?’
Picking up on that point is a reader in Vermont. That state was hit hard by Irene, but not in this way. Jeremy Schrauf has a suggestion for dealing with mosquitoes in Oriental:
And TownDock reader Marshall Tyler points out that while you may be able to break down the word Mos-quit-oes in to three syllables, “quit does not seem to be their middle name.” Rather than cures for the moment, Marshall posed a few questions aimed at dealing with this problem in the future.One remedy is to come to Vermont. You can count all the mosquitoes on the fingers of one hand.
Long term reductions in Oriental must include Lowland and our other upwind neighbors. A science-based approach should be used. Where is the best information now that our NC State Vector Entomologist position has been de-funded?
Where do mosquitoes breed? Salt marshes? Will larvicide disks help or do they just hurt the fish which naturally eat the eggs and nymphs? Will mowing and cutting up leaves reduce mini breeding pools?
How about bluebird houses if you have a lawn or field to have the houses overlook? And last but not least,… bat houses might foster more of these little mosquito eating friends to feast on the mosquitoes in stead of mosquitoes feasting on us. This might be a great fundraiser for a local (environmental) group or a farmers market woodworker. Where can we get information on methods which will optimise approaches for our area? Let the discussion begin!If you have a solution or remedy (or recipe) for mosquitoes, you may send them to us here at news@towndock.net.
Here’s one, involving wine and flies, sent in by Maggy Sargent:Sorry, I can’t offer a good remedy for getting rid of mosquitoes, but I’m loving that “OccupyOriental” design by Paul Sligh .. maybe you could put it on T-shirts and sweatshirts and sell it, with benefits going towards post-Irene efforts. Put me down for 2, or maybe 3!We haven’t had a huge problem in the Triangle with the little blood-suckers, since they were too busy concentrating on all of you east of us, but I’ve talked to several neighbors who, like me, have had a real issue with fruit flies this year. I love Mrs. Brown’s suggestion, and would like to offer another one that has been working for me … cheap sweet wine!
Clean out a plastic food jar (peanut butter, mayo, etc) and pour some sweet wine in the bottom. (I tried apple cider at first, but my flies apparently enjoy the stronger stuff). Make a very tight funnel out of a heavy cardstock (a cereal box will work just fine); cut a tiny hole in the tip (or you can stick a toothpick in the tip; that’s about the right size of hole you want) and tape the funnel firmly in the mouth of the jar. Set it in the area(s) that you’ve seen fruit flies, and voila! Within a couple of hours you’ll have them all bellying up to the bar. Depending on how many you catch in a day, you can take the jar outside and empty the dead (or barely hanging on) fruitflies, wash it out and repeat.
Thanks so much for your continued coverage of life post-Irene; I’m very glad to hear that things are getting back to normal in your corner of paradise.
Jaycee Banks shares an adaptation:
I use a small battery powered bug zapper inside the house at night. If not a battery powered then use electric. I cover my bar counter with cloth and set it there….all the mosquitoes and bugs head straight into it while I sleep……a little mess to clean up and bleach but, I am NOT the supper for the mosquitoes at nite and fruit flies stay away from my bananas.
And Bob Townsend at World Wide Marine Training on Hiway 55 wrote back. About a month ago, when it looked as though there’d be minimal spraying by the county where he lived, Bob sent a plaintive email asking for a solution. He’s since found one — and sent in a photo and rave about a product called, ‘Mosquito Barrier’.
Mosquito Barrier, which is 99% garlic. Bob Townsend says it’s brought results in his yard. Fans of garlic may think of it as the ultimate aromatherapy.I’ve seen all the “stuff” people are using, this “stuff” really seems to work. Taking into account the cooler temps, the area I have sprayed is so much better, fewer blood suckers, than elsewhere. I have neighbors who go outside and sit in the evening and they have thanked my for spraying. There is a smell of garlic (Italian perfume?), it is 99% garlic, but it, the smell, only lasts about 2-3 hours. It works for about 3-4 weeks or thru 2-3 heavy rains. This bottle cost about $24. Mix 3oz per gallon. You can get the details online.