s/o: how bad are services like Mosquito Squad for the environment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I live on a small lot in AU Park. My neighbors don't spray but we do (Mosquito Squad). It makes a huge difference. We can actually sit outside without being bothered by mosquitoes at all. Relax and just spray, you'll be glad you did.

Yes. The chemical kills mosquitos on contact. The insecticide has a fixing agent that allows it to adhere to everything it comes in contact with in your yard. It takes a few weeks for the insecticide to break down. So you are sitting in insecticide. It will contaminate your clothing and be absorbed through your skin.

Yeah - no worries when you die of cancer at age 50 Or your kids for gods sake. Why? Wearing DEET is better than that. I don't get. Wear long sleeve clothing, try to eliminate standing water, get a bat house, build a screened in porch. I find the mosquitoes are usually only bad for about two months - mid-July through August depending on the type of season we are having.

Sorry they were in my yard April to October before spraying. And no ,we do not wish to be confined to our screened porch (which we have) 6 months of the year.

Turn on an outdoor fan, people

+1

Exactly. It's that easy. Ever tried it? It works better than any amount of poison (which ends up in your water, btw).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in MoCo and I have one neighbor who has kept beehives for years. The house behind theirs sold a few years ago and the new neighbors use a service to spray for mosquitos. The bees have died and been replaced twice now. The only thing we can identify is the spraying.

+1

I thought everyone knew this. They should be held responsible. Call the EPA, or whoever you have to call. Stat.

[Anonymous]

To the person who claims her bees and butterflies are just fine in spite of her spraying: That is actually impossible. It's pesticide they are spraying. Pesticide that indiscriminately kills anything small enough and near enough to ingest it. I spend a lot of effort planting a garden that attracts pollinators; it's infuriating to think that one spray-happy neighbor could undo all that work.

I do understand that mosquitoes are awful. I do everything (short of spraying) I can to avoid them, including wearing bug spray myself. I love my yard but I'm willing to limit the time I spend out there in the summer to make sure it's livable for bees, butterflies, and birds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who claims her bees and butterflies are just fine in spite of her spraying: That is actually impossible. It's pesticide they are spraying. Pesticide that indiscriminately kills anything small enough and near enough to ingest it. I spend a lot of effort planting a garden that attracts pollinators; it's infuriating to think that one spray-happy neighbor could undo all that work.

I do understand that mosquitoes are awful. I do everything (short of spraying) I can to avoid them, including wearing bug spray myself. I love my yard but I'm willing to limit the time I spend out there in the summer to make sure it's livable for bees, butterflies, and birds.

You and science are wrong. Her's got a memo and don't die from her spraying pesticides.

[Anonymous]

i spray and use fans, works ok

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who claims her bees and butterflies are just fine in spite of her spraying: That is actually impossible. It's pesticide they are spraying. Pesticide that indiscriminately kills anything small enough and near enough to ingest it. I spend a lot of effort planting a garden that attracts pollinators; it's infuriating to think that one spray-happy neighbor could undo all that work.

I do understand that mosquitoes are awful. I do everything (short of spraying) I can to avoid them, including wearing bug spray myself. I love my yard but I'm willing to limit the time I spend out there in the summer to make sure it's livable for bees, butterflies, and birds.

birds aren't harmed. Please also move to the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who claims her bees and butterflies are just fine in spite of her spraying: That is actually impossible. It's pesticide they are spraying. Pesticide that indiscriminately kills anything small enough and near enough to ingest it. I spend a lot of effort planting a garden that attracts pollinators; it's infuriating to think that one spray-happy neighbor could undo all that work.

I do understand that mosquitoes are awful. I do everything (short of spraying) I can to avoid them, including wearing bug spray myself. I love my yard but I'm willing to limit the time I spend out there in the summer to make sure it's livable for bees, butterflies, and birds.

I appreciate this comment because you acknowledge that mosquitos are awful and force you to limit outside time. It is really annoying to read the comments that say "Just empty out containers and put out a fan!" because those things absolutely do not work in our neighborhood where Asian Tiger Mosquitos are eating us alive ALL DAY for months and months.

[Anonymous]

Just use garlic. It works better than any chemical!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the person who claims her bees and butterflies are just fine in spite of her spraying: That is actually impossible. It's pesticide they are spraying. Pesticide that indiscriminately kills anything small enough and near enough to ingest it. I spend a lot of effort planting a garden that attracts pollinators; it's infuriating to think that one spray-happy neighbor could undo all that work.

I do understand that mosquitoes are awful. I do everything (short of spraying) I can to avoid them, including wearing bug spray myself. I love my yard but I'm willing to limit the time I spend out there in the summer to make sure it's livable for bees, butterflies, and birds.

I appreciate this comment because you acknowledge that mosquitos are awful and force you to limit outside time. It is really annoying to read the comments that say "Just empty out containers and put out a fan!" because those things absolutely do not work in our neighborhood where Asian Tiger Mosquitos are eating us alive ALL DAY for months and months.

+1

I have small children, a large yard with a swing set, and mosquitoes absolutely adore the taste of me. I cannot be outside my house for more than 2 minutes without being bitten 4-5 times, at least. Even bug spray doesn't work reliably for me. I would love to sit in a screened in porch with a outside fan. I have neither of those things. I can't let my 2 year old run around the yard by herself and I'm not going to keep her inside all day because of mosquitoes. I get that it's awful, but at least for the next couple years, I don't really have a choice. I've tried sprays, those heater lamp things, dunks, getting rid of standing water, bug trapper machines, everything. I just sprayed for the first time two weeks ago and this is the first time since I've lived here in almost 3 years that I can go outside my house when it's warm and not get eaten alive.

I suspect people saying to just wear long sleeves or whatever both don't live in an area where mosquitoes are bad and aren't as plagued by mosquitoes as other people are, such as myself. For those saying to just put in a screened porch and an outdoor ceiling fan, it must be nice to be rich enough to be so virtuous.

[Anonymous]

The natural spray mosquito squad uses is garlic. It's not a pesticide, it's a repellant.

We use it and still have bees, in fact we have a pollinators nest of some kind that seems happy, as well as a bunch of bird and squirrel nests. And we also see a lot of bats.

If anyone has reputable sources that say the garlic spray is bad, please share and I will reconsider for next year. We do find out makes a huge improvement in the livability of our yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I live on a small lot in AU Park. My neighbors don't spray but we do (Mosquito Squad). It makes a huge difference. We can actually sit outside without being bothered by mosquitoes at all. Relax and just spray, you'll be glad you did.

Yes. The chemical kills mosquitos on contact. The insecticide has a fixing agent that allows it to adhere to everything it comes in contact with in your yard. It takes a few weeks for the insecticide to break down. So you are sitting in insecticide. It will contaminate your clothing and be absorbed through your skin.

Endocrine disruptors cause fat storage, weight gain, man boobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the person who claims her bees and butterflies are just fine in spite of her spraying: That is actually impossible. It's pesticide they are spraying. Pesticide that indiscriminately kills anything small enough and near enough to ingest it. I spend a lot of effort planting a garden that attracts pollinators; it's infuriating to think that one spray-happy neighbor could undo all that work.

I do understand that mosquitoes are awful. I do everything (short of spraying) I can to avoid them, including wearing bug spray myself. I love my yard but I'm willing to limit the time I spend out there in the summer to make sure it's livable for bees, butterflies, and birds.

I appreciate this comment because you acknowledge that mosquitos are awful and force you to limit outside time. It is really annoying to read the comments that say "Just empty out containers and put out a fan!" because those things absolutely do not work in our neighborhood where Asian Tiger Mosquitos are eating us alive ALL DAY for months and months.

+1

I have small children, a large yard with a swing set, and mosquitoes absolutely adore the taste of me. I cannot be outside my house for more than 2 minutes without being bitten 4-5 times, at least. Even bug spray doesn't work reliably for me. I would love to sit in a screened in porch with a outside fan. I have neither of those things. I can't let my 2 year old run around the yard by herself and I'm not going to keep her inside all day because of mosquitoes. I get that it's awful, but at least for the next couple years, I don't really have a choice. I've tried sprays, those heater lamp things, dunks, getting rid of standing water, bug trapper machines, everything. I just sprayed for the first time two weeks ago and this is the first time since I've lived here in almost 3 years that I can go outside my house when it's warm and not get eaten alive.

I suspect people saying to just wear long sleeves or whatever both don't live in an area where mosquitoes are bad and aren't as plagued by mosquitoes as other people are, such as myself. For those saying to just put in a screened porch and an outdoor ceiling fan, it must be nice to be rich enough to be so virtuous.

Whiny, ridiculous post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's about as bad as you can get for the environment. Many countries have banned Round Up, for good reason. In addition, there is a strong correlation between the diminishing bee population and "weed killers". Companies such as Mosquito Squad are under no obligation to tell you the truth (ethically, they should - but it usually does not happen).

Look around. One sees far fewer chemical trucks than in the past, for good reason. People need to educate themselves, especially in a geographic area that is supposed to be "educated".

http://www.glyphosate.news/2016-06-27-study-shows-honeybees-are-starving-because-of-roundup.html

WTF does Round Up! have to do with mosquitos?


How does one use an HERBICIDE kill INSECTS, Doctor?

For someone who probably considers themselves "educated", as you like to point out, you can't even process that NO ONE uses Round Up! to control mosquitos.

But you're a great example of the type of soft minded urban nitwit who knows knowing, yet insists they know everything, and assumes everyone else who disagrees is a planet-killing buffoon. Folks like you are why folks like me just CANNOT support the environmental movement, despite likely agreeing on many, many things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's about as bad as you can get for the environment. Many countries have banned Round Up, for good reason. In addition, there is a strong correlation between the diminishing bee population and "weed killers". Companies such as Mosquito Squad are under no obligation to tell you the truth (ethically, they should - but it usually does not happen).

Look around. One sees far fewer chemical trucks than in the past, for good reason. People need to educate themselves, especially in a geographic area that is supposed to be "educated".

http://www.glyphosate.news/2016-06-27-study-shows-honeybees-are-starving-because-of-roundup.html

you know mosquitos are not weeds, right?

Oh ok, right. Insects = plants. Gotcha.

Now please, tell us how climate change works. Skip the basic stuff, just get to the predictions about firey floods and red-hot nails falling from the sky


Same principle. Or are you really that dense?

[Anonymous]

I live in a salt marsh in Anne Arundel county. Y'all don't know what mosquitoes are. I get bit 100-150 times an hour, most of the time in peak season. I don't spray, it kills pollinators. I don't use deet, it's a neurotoxin.

I'll tell ya this though. I moved here 15 years ago, and after about 3 years, I stopped reacting to mosquito bites.

That's what happens. Your body eventually stops producing the hystamine reaction to something it recognizes as common.

I still get bit like crazy. I just don't itch or get bumps anymore.


So go out and build your immunity.