Insects and what to do about them

[highdesertranger]

haha popeye that doesn't work in the summer. highdesertranger

 

[rvpopeye]

Yes it does, IF you go far enough

 

[Gary68]

 

[rvpopeye]

Gary68
Now , THAT might be somewhat more effective than cold !

OK , I'll get serious about this.
I spent my younger days doing lots of back packing , climbing mountains , canoeing and building houses.
There were always lots of bugs-a-bugging.
None of those things allowed for spending much time swatting.
WE TRIED EVERYTHING
The only things that really worked well was Deep Woods Off and Repel
23%+40% DEET respectively.
Even Ben's 100% DEET wasn't as good.
I know , nobody likes DEET .
I've been happily using it for over 40 years and I'm still not swattin'',
I don't have skin cancer , I haven't melted , (but the occasional hammer handle has , just use a baby wipe on your hands after applying and that stops too).
I did do some bicycle touring and learned that those buggers could go up to 25 mph and so wonder about the fan cure.

YMMV
This works for me and may not work for anyone else , I'm not telling you what to do , just what I do. This info is either worth 2c or may save your sanity (and blood). And all of that other disclosure stuff..........etc. etc. etc.
( I may be making it all up and really pour the liquid from spinach cans over myself for relief from bugs !)
Skuh kuh kuh kuh kuh

 

[eDJ_]

Grand Dad had a close friend who was always going up into Canada to fish and hunt.  He spoke of these black gnats that were as bad as the mosquitoes.

One of the Guides explained to him to go to the Drug Store and get a jar of "flowers of sulfur" and a week before  coming in consume 1/2 tsp of it in food each day and while there do the same until leaving.

He claimed that the bugs wouldn't come near him when he was there after that.

I don't have any verification of this other than hearing him tell this story.  If there are any Canadians
on the Board who have heard of this I'd like to know if this is so.

On another note there is a Dr Myles Bader on these TV infomercials here who pitches his books on getting rid of insects and varmints with natural counter measures.   He suggested putting pennyroyal around inside of the home to get rid of spiders.  I tried it and it worked.

http://www.amazon.com/All-Natural-C...51&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27:Dr.+Myles+H.+Bader

 

[bigsallysmom]

bay leaves repel ants

 

[GotSmart]

bay leaves repel ants

It also keeps moths and other insects out of corn meal and flour.  

When I was a kid, we had a problem with weevils.  My mother sent me out for a couple of branches of Bay leaves.  We spread them all over the pantry shelves, and no more problems. No bugs of any kind. 

They are great to cook with, and I do not have much problems with Mosquitoes.  They do not like the way I smell. 

 

[wagm]

Same with my mom, one leaf in the cereal, flour etc box.  So in the second week at the lake this summer I had a whole platoon of the very small black ants on the counter, I laid one on the counter by the wall and next time I went up there, no ants YEA.
There was an abundance of mosquitoes so I boiled a cup of water and made bay leaf tea with three leaves, put into a spray bottle and sprayed into the air return vent...no more bugs
Spray down the pets...no more fleas.

 

[GotSmart]

The only problem with this is it attracts Italians!     (I resemble that remark!)

 

[wagm]

It does not make you cough or your eyes water and the dog can lick it all he wants.  Kinda makes you want to start a stew.

 

[rvpopeye]

Thanks Got Smart
Now I'll have to remember not to read your posts,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
while I'm eating popcorn.

 

[highdesertranger]

hahahaha the Busch lite is classic. highdesertranger

 

[wagm]

Well, did all yall get your bugs runn oft, or did ANY of youns get em running? It seems like when everything is going smoothly there is no
wine. Just saying, have a blessed day, Warren

 

[LadyJo]

What works best for me are Mosquito coils.
https://www.amazon.com/Coghlans-Mos...qid=1467053050&sr=8-1&keywords=mosquito+coils

 

[eDJ_]

As a kid growing up I owned a couple of Carbide Miners Lamps.  Like this one.

When Dad and I would go camping he would never let me forget to bring this along.   I had a can of Calcium
Carbide I would buy at the hardware store and we would burn the thing all night most every night.  It was a dandy insect exterminator as the bugs would be attracted to the bright light and fly into the light to the reflector where they would encounter the 4 inch thin flame and be incinerated.    When we would go fishing at night on the lake,  the lamp always came with us.   Never much problem with mosquitoes. 

These lamps hold a charge of what look like black gravel in the bottom (that's the carbide)  and the top holds water  You adjust the lever to all a drop of water to enter the carbide chamber every few seconds and it generates acetylene gas that is lit by the flint striker wheel on the edge of the reflector.  These get kind of warm as the gas is generated but they are quite effective. 

We noticed that when we pointed it out over the bow of the boat so it would light the water,  that it would draw in the minnows and the big fish would come up to the edge of the light on the water.  That's where we would fish and catch the big ones.   So we killed bugs,  they dropped into the water,  the minnows ate what was left of them, and the big mouth Bass would occasionally charge into the light to eat some minnows.


We also found out that if we threw a piece of carbide into the garbage can at our camp site,  the raccoons that came around at night jumping in there to scavenge jumped back out as fast as they went in and just keep moving along.

 

[TrainChaser]

Net pop-up tent.

Magnetic screen to cover open van door.

A flock of bats.

 

[Ella1]

I was holding a package of the magnetic door screen in a store this morning, and a fellow customer stopped on his way past, and apologized for interrupting me, but his neighbor bought one and it doesn't work, she has it out of the way now, doesn't use it. He suggested I not waste my money.

 

[Kathleen]

At least you won't have to listen to the bugs coughing.

 

[Kathleen]

It also keeps moths and other insects out of corn meal and flour.  

When I was a kid, we had a problem with weevils.  My mother sent me out for a couple of branches of Bay leaves.  We spread them all over the pantry shelves, and no more problems. No bugs of any kind. 

They are great to cook with, and I do not have much problems with Mosquitoes.  They do not like the way I smell. 

We have families who lived here 400 years out in the foothills. They put bay leaves in flour bins, grains, counters like you said. I've used it since they told me. No more weevils!

 

[TrainChaser]

I wonder if the bay leaves work on ants?