We all hate those pesky little flying blood suckers that always seem to come to the party uninvited. The first thing people think is, " Get out the spray!" Then everyone's hotdogs have the after taste of bug spray!
The other day at Moore & Moore, I noticed one of our pots that had standing water in it, had mosquito larvae swimming around. I immediately drained the water and sprayed out the pot and, made sure the water was gone. Then I went to check all our pots to make sure there was no more standing water. Mosquito larvae can only survive in old standing water.
If you have something that you keep water in and are not able to dump it, you can pour apple cider vinegar into the water. Use a ratio of 15 percent vinegar to 85 percent water.
Or you can purchase non toxic Mosquito Beater. Moore & Moore sells the spray and pods to put in standing water that will not hurt birds or beneficial insects.
Even though most of us hate mosquitos, spraying a toxic spray in your yard kills the mosquitos but it also kills the bees, butterflies, spiders and caterpillars. You can plan ahead and plant plants that mosquitoes hate. Plants like lemon grass, basil, marigolds, citronella, lemon balm, catnip, lavender, rosemary and peppermint all repel mosquitos. I have all of these plants around my yard, in the ground and in pots. I also keep a close eye out for anything that holds water and I make sure to dump it out.
I also have bats that live around my house. Bats love to eat mosquitos. Every evening I can look up and see my bats flying above the yard diving around eating up the mosquitos flying around. I welcome bats at my house; I also welcome garden spiders. Their webs will catch all kinds of pesky little bugs.
I will not spray anything that is poison in my yard. I grow many varieties of milkweed to feed the Monarchs when they come around in August and September. I want all my plants to be free of poison so they can survive. So I encourage other insects to visit my yard so they will pollinate my vegetables and flowers. If you do some of these things to keep mosquitos out of your yard without using poison, you are doing yourself and all your garden friends a favor.
What about other pesky bugs that invade my garden? Like Aphids? Mealy bugs? Spittlebugs? I always use something non toxic. Dish soap and water, lady bugs, or Neem oil.
Happy Gardening!
~Wendy