Mosquitoes and flies...

[Peter H.M. Brooks]

I have seen quite a few suggestions about how to deal with Mosquitoes,
and I would like a solution that also deals with flies - I am something
of an optimist! Here are some ideas that I have seen and some questions
about them:

- Garlic Oil mixed with water and sprayed about
 - I eat a lot of garlic, and I still find that they seem to like my
blood, so I am not sure about this one. Does it really work?

- Citronella plants. Nice smell, are they easy to grow and do they work?

- Dragonflies. Can one cultivate them in a small pond [1 sq yard by
around eight inches deep]? If so, how?

- Oil on the water. I have put oil on the pond, but we seem to have tons
of mozzies still. Have I been using the wrong sort of oil?

- BTi. What is this? Where do you get it? How poisonous is it? Does it
work?

- Bacillus thurengensis israelis. Can you get this in South Africa? How
exactly does it work? How do you apply it?

- Bats. Do bats really eat mosquitoes? If so, how do you encourage them
to visit?

- Birds. Swifts eat mosquitoes, but I don't think that they are that
keen on living in cages. Are there any caged birds that would do the
trick and are easy to look after? Canaries or budgies are decorative and
can sound OK, but I thought that they only ate seeds.

- Tablets on electric pads. We use those. They seem to work for a while
if all the windows and doors are closed  - which makes it pretty hot.

- Chemical coils. Horrid smell, and if they have an effect, it only
seems to last a day or two at most.

- Electric zappers. I think that these are probably best for flies. Is
it worth getting a small cheap one? If so, are there small cheap ones?
How do you evaluate the effectiveness of zappers? How do they attrack
the insects?

- Other essential oils. In Thailand I used a mixture of Bergamot,
Menthol, Camphor and others. They seemed to work if worn as a thick
layer everywhere - a dab behind the ear was useless.

- Mosquito nets. I don't like them. Not only that, but they tend to
become untucked during the night and you then end up with the mosquitoes
trapped inside with you!

- A mosquito robot that attracts the mosquito into a little cage using
sound, smell, heat, carbon monoxide, gorgonzola or whatever really
attracts them and then kills them. Has anybody invented such a beast? If
not, why not?


--
Peter H.M. Brooks

'Use Hume, the brain conditioner that will give your brain more body
bounce and lift, banishing the nasty wrinkles, snags and frayed ends


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