The yard of the new property that I bought is infested with bugs.  Between the mosquito, fleas, chiggers, and poison ivy I have had open sores constantly for the last 2 months.  Every time I start to heal something else tears into me.  The main mosquitoes are tiger mosquitoes and you don't feel them bite but you see them.  



I had the family at the new house helping, we walked outside to sit on the front porch and almost instantly two of them started complaining about being bit.  After two minutes we went back inside.  One daughter had 4 bites and the g/f had a couple bites.  On the drive back home we found fleas in the truck and one home the g/f pulled multiple fleas off of her.  So in 2 minutes the family was covered in fleas just by standing on the front porch.






Something has been going to town on my ankles.  I wear hiking boots, socks, and long pants, so it isn't like I have exposed ankles.  It can't be mosquitoes biting me as the bites are down the boots, under socks, and under the pants.  So it has to be chiggers, fleas, or something else climbing up the boot as I walk through the grass.






This shit needs to stop now and I'm ready for an all out war on whatever pest is causing it.  I plan on buying a pull behind liquid sprayer for fertilizing and weed killing.  I just need to know what type of chemical to get for the bugs.  I don't want to kill off the good insects in the ground, just the pests on top.  Also can anyone recommend a good sprayer?  The property is over 3 acres but only about 1 1/2 acres of yard, the rest is trees.




 

Guinea Fowl.

you need to figure out for sure what it is because fleas have a 2 week life cycle.
you kill them and the new batch hatches and bites, poison doesn't kill the eggs.

this continues. until all eggs have hatched and been poisoned.
live ones can live a year without eating also.

other bugs i had no experience with. I HATE fleas.....

Permethrin Fogging.  


Will kill just about any insect though, even the nice ones.


That'll win the short term.  Long term you need to change the environment.

I spray with malathion twice a summer and use a pre emergent in the area where the house dogs run is..and where the outside dog
sleeps..and I spray myself with out door off and that stuff from Avon...skin so soft??lmaybe..

the dryer it is the worse the fleas and chiggers are..and they seem to have their own 'seasons"

A tow behind sprayer is awesome for a large yard. I have a Northern Tool one. I spray the yard a couple times per summer with permethrin. I use the 36.8% and dilute to .5%. Something like 1qt per 20 gallons. I then use a hand sprayer and spray the foundation around the house with a 2% solution.

It's also a good idea to spray the edges or your property heavily with permethrin. That forms a barrier. I would start spraying every two weeks and the after three sprayings, switch to once per month. So, you'll probably end up spraying 4 to 5 times before this fall.

Google "tick tubes". I haven't done it yet but plan to try it. Basically you soak cotton balls in permethrin, stuff them in a toilet paper tube, and then place near the edges of any woods or near wood piles. Mice find the cotton and take it back to their nests. Ticks frequent mice nests so the permethrin kills the ticks.

Eliminate all standing water to reduce the mosquitoes.

I attacked the biting insects with permethrin and we have no ticks and chiggers in our yard. And, we live in the country surrounded by woods.

Post what you do and what you find works!

fire, light yard on

 

The property has a hand dug brick lined well and a hand dug cistern that goes about 20 feet deep into the bedrock.  I think those two things are responsible for a lot of the mosquitoes around the house.  No way to eliminate them but I will have to do something to cover the openings.  There is also a large creek about 600 feet behind the house.  It isn't really standing water though.


Has anyone used a propane mosquito killer?  The Mosquito Magnet MM4200 Patriot Plus Mosquito Trap Southern Accessories Bundle sounds like the best bet.  I'm just not sure if they are actually effective.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FYC5FB2

Dragnet pesticide buy it on ebay, mix at 1% spray everywhere, everything will be dead last for 6 months.

Here's some links of use.  

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/lawn-garden/how-to/g863/6-simple-tips-to-get-rid-of-ticks/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiowEzK1Ek

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/permethrin-sfr-368-p-445.html

Another possible choice to supplement pemethrin
http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/archer-igr-p-365.html

From the link:  What is an IGR?
1.Archer Insecticide is an IGR, or Insect Growth Regulator.
2.An IGR is a chemical that disrupts and impede the life cycle of insects in the egg and larvae stage of development.
3.The idea with an IGR is that if an insect cannot reach adulthood, it cannot reproduce.
4.In short, IGR is a form of “birth control” for pests which helps keep the populations of unwanted pests under control by preventing current and future infestations.



If you have a large fan, you can make this neat mosquito killer.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU2kbghz85I

The other neat thing about the fan is mosquitoes can't handle much wind.  So, if you're outside on a deck or patio, you can sit in the breeze, catch mosquitoes on one side, and prevent them from flying where you are with the wind.  

feed and grain will have some rings you can drop in your cistern to eliminate skeeters..which I think are non toxic to humans

Thanks for all the information.  I'll being doing research on everything provided.




Does anyone have experience with this brand of sprayer?  The brand that Tractor Supply sells gets pretty bad reviews.  The SMV brand is cheaper than the Tractor Supply brand but it seems like people like it better.  It looks like the 25 gallon sprayer will be a good balance.  Big enough to do half the yard at a time but not too big that it is difficult to get around tight areas.  




SMV 25GAL DLX Trail Sprayer  - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N6XDTII









 

This is the one I have:

http://m.northerntool.com/products/shop~tools~product_200646314_200646314?hotline=false

I like it and seems to be made very well. It's a bit cheaper than the one you linked.

 
Thanks for the tip.  I found them at Tractor Supply and dropped 2 into the well and 2 into the cistern.  They aren't supposed to go into drinking water but I don't plan on drinking from the well any time soon.

this, if your location will be good for it. We used to have all kind of tics and biting bugs,,,now we rarely ever see an insect. The guineas are fun to own too. Nature controlling nature, no chemicals needed.

Bifen IT.

Spray your clothes with permethrin the night before.  Run search on right mix to use for that.



Mow and weedeat around the house and structures and keep grass short.  Helps when applying chemicals and what not and also is not as attractive to bugs it seems.



I would use a few methods to get control of things and then I like the idea of keeping control of the inside and outside boundaries of the yard from there on.



I am doing this as well for the next week or three.  I have several different methods due to stuff I have used over the years and am helping someone out and using up my old stuff.  



Ticks are really bad this year in my area so I plan to just hit my yard somewhat as well.



I don't know about the rings for the water but depending on how it read I could easily see doing that.



Biggest thing is once you have control make sure you keep control.



Lots of threads on permethrin this year on here between general discussion and this section.  



Hope it never becomes ineffective on stuff, it is a heck of a thing to use if used right.

x2

Agreed.

 

You get used to the noise and tune it out.


But they REALLY like to find a place in a tree (or similar) to perch for the night, and then leave a half inch thick layer of shit directly below them

I use Sevin granules and spread with my hand-held seeder around my house and back yard, which is right at the wood line. This keeps the ticks & chiggers at bay - even with all the turkeys & deer that I feed daily hanging around. Chiggers tear me up but they don't get on my wife. Sometimes I'll pick one or two up when working around my fruit trees out in the field and they slip past the 40% deet spray I use. I usually spread 2 bags of the Sevin twice a summer to cover approx. 1/2 acre - I think the bags are 15 lb. Around the house and outbuildings I spray Tempo SC - this is the good stuff, just have to reapply when used outside as the rain will wear it away. Inside the house it kills for a year or two and is perfectly safe around people & pets, been using it for over ten years now. Fortunately I don't have too many mosquitos and the deet spray keeps them off of me while working outside.

Bomb the yard with Pyganic/Evergreen, and again two weeks later, if you are stupid enough to buy into the "organic" bullshit, lies and Rainbow shitting Unicorns.
Be prepared to cough up a lung, have a nasty Organic approved rash, and your Cat dying.

If not, just spritz the yard with Carbaryl, or Malathion, with a good sticker, every other week, until the issues go away.
You have to get inside the breeding cycle and interrupt it.

At the same time, consider that the cycle exists because it is successful.
Fleas need blood to feed.

Take a hard look at the rodents that are feeding them.
Eliminate the cover, and nesting areas, and the fleas will go with the rodents and other hosts.

Folks in the desert, don't have weed problems....funny how that works.

 


How safe is this when it comes to being exposed to the fog repeatedly?  I bought permethrin concentrate for a regular sprayer but I don't have my pull behind sprayer and I probably won't be getting  one until this winter.  The fogger is great for the couple months of warm weather we have left and would let me take out the damn Asian Tiger Mosquitoes right now.  I was outside working on trail cameras last night, stood still for about 30 seconds and had a dozen of them on my pant legs.  I was out there maybe 10 minutes, constantly moving, and still have half a dozen bites.  


I want to use the fogger just so I can witness it working on them.  I just don't know how healthy being exposed repeatedly to the fog will be.  It says everyone can enter the yard 5 minutes after fogging...well what about the guy holding the fogger?

No fleas here, and no ticks, but we could set records for chigger production.

Liquid seven seems to do the trick.

Great thread as i seem to have all the same problems. :(

Stay upwind and get a mask\gloves.  Read instructions for the rest.

 

I use goggles, gloves and a respirator when fogging. I have that same fogger and it works.

I just bought two of the foggers, on clearance at Walmart right now for only $15.00.  I'm not sure how much fogging spray is required but I loaded up on that too, also on clearance for only $2.50 a bottle instead of $9.  All sorts of lawn and garden items deeply discounted at Walmart right now.

The Black Flag fogger seems decent for a small area with little to no wind.  I've been using it and notice the mosquitoes will disappear for a couple hours.  After that they are back like I never even used it.  I used it twice yesterday and still ended up with 5 new bites.


I'm thinking I need to step up my game to something like this.  Anyone mix their own thermal fogging solution using permethrine, PBO, and diesel?

Anyone?  Will the mower type application give me cancer?  Also will fogging with permethrine work similar to using a sprayer when it comes to killing the chiggers and fleas in the grass?  Or do I need a higher concentration right into the grass for it work?


Yesterday I sprayed my arms in Deep Woods Off, the wind was blowing about 15mph, and I still ended up with 4 mosquito bites when working outside for an hour.  I've used the fogger 5 times in the last week around the property.  These Asian Tiger Mosquitoes are aggressive and determined.