New Ways To Eliminate Mosquitoes

New Ways To Eliminate Mosquitoes MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals 33-4-28 Nothing can zap the fun out of a summer evening in your backyard like hoards of biting mosquitoes. Here are a couple of new ways to eliminate them. The Mosquito Deleter trap takes advantage of mosquito behavior. When females drop eggs, they look for dark places and smell for stagnant water where algae will grow to feed their babies in the larvae stage. The traps provide a perfect egg-laying environment with their black attractor cones. Inside, algae grows on water with the help of a couple of algae-based tablets. The female lays her eggs in the cone and they drop in the water. Then she flies away and dies within a day. The offspring (1,000 to 4,000) never make it out of the trap. "We suggest you don't empty the trap because the dirtier it is the better," Shaffran says. The traps can be hidden in shrubbery, hung on fences or placed anywhere on the ground. Just add water to the fill-line every 7 to 10 days and add one tablet each month. It takes two to three weeks to take full effect, but because mosquitoes live their whole lives within a 150-ft. radius, it's possible to get rid of most of the mosquitoes in your yard. Culex sells four traps and tablets for two months for $29.95 to cover up to one acre. Mosquito control is most effective when there are no other stagnant water sources for the mosquitoes to hatch in. "People like this system because all you do is add water to the traps. You don't have to spend any more money, and it's not harmful to people or the environment," Shaffran says. Skeet-R-Gone Inc. eliminates mosquitoes by injecting a chemical into an underground sprinkler system. Barbara Howard, general manager, says the system is simple and effective. She knows because she is using it for the third season on her Horace, N.D., yard. "It takes less than an hour to install," Howard says. "After that it takes just 5 to 10 minutes once a week." Skeet-R-Gone has a control panel placed next to the irrigation panel and hooks into the irrigation lines with a saddle valve or T-fitting. Liquid concentrate is injected with a 160 psi pump. The system comes with instructions to calibrate it for your water pressure and the size of your irrigation zones. While the system can use any chemical, the company sells Bug Slug with the system. "It's eco-safe using natural oils and has a lemon scent," Howard says. The ingredients act as suffucants, which kill adult mosquitoes and larvae, gnats, no-see-ums, spiders, fire ants and many other insects. Bug Slug is aquatic safe and doesn't harm pets - in fact, it kills fleas and ticks. The $699 system has a one-year warranty. Two 32-ounce bottles of Bug Slug at $69 each are enough for one season. Local dealers can be found on the Skeet-R-Gone website. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, My Mosquito Deleter, Culex Products, Inc., P.O. Box 5391, Niceville, Florida 32578 (ph 888 327-3353; www.MyDeleter.com); or Skeet-R-Gone, 159 8th Avenue N.W., West Fargo, N. Dak. 58078 (ph 866 599-7410; www.skeetrgone.com).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.