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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.)

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Posted Wednesday October 19, 2011 by Melinda Penkava