Outdoor life minus bugs - how to?

April 2, 2023 1:02 PM

We're about to head into the great Outside Times. I have a deck and a pool and a hot tub out back and I want to spend time in and around them. But...

... I am a mosquito magnet, and also have a terrible reaction to mosquito bites (giant red welts, definitely several standard deviations outside the norm). I also seem to be the human equivalent of an overripe banana when it comes to all other types of insects. How do I live my best outdoor life, while being disturbed by nothing with more than 4 legs?

I'm already facing some steep challenges, in that I have an autoimmune condition that requires I stay out of sunlight as much as possible. For someone who likes to swim and bike and who is occasionally required to walk the dog, this seems like plenty of difficulty level to be going on with. When you layer on top of that the mosquitos and the bees and the wasps and the ticks and the ants and the occasional horsefly or god forbid some other unidentified flying weirdo that thinks I'd make a great edible perch... UGH.

What can I do to avoid all this? I don't want to just stay inside all the time, and I can't go outside in a plastic bubble. I worry about the chemicals in the best insect repellents. I already cover up in UPF 50 clothes and slather on sunscreen.

I'm looking for other suggestions from fellow wannabe outdoorsy bug-avoiders - what do you do? What has worked and not worked for you in the past? Help me learn from your experience and mistakes!

posted by invincible summer to Home & Garden (15 answers total)

I cannot believe how well the Thermacell works! I have a friend in Florida who recommended it and it is AMAZING. Depending on how much square footage you're needing to cover, you may have to get more than one. But seriously, it works SO WELL.
posted by cooker girl at 1:07 PM on April 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

This spray is not full of scary stuff and actually works! I'm a mosquito magnet and am also freaked out by chemicals and it's the only repellent that has worked for me. I buy it at my local co-op/health food store.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 1:15 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Something I've learned about mosquitoes is they're poor flyers and don't travel far. A bit of wind, like a fan, will keep them out an area because they are simply not powerful enough to navigate it. And a little preventative maintenance, like going around the back yard and cleaning up places where they might lay eggs in stagnant water, might help reduce the local population as well. You might even do a one-time hire of a pest control person who can be a bit more systematic about it.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:20 PM on April 2, 2023 [9 favorites]

Get mosquito dunks and put them in every bit of standing water in your yard. Put them in places where puddles form after the rain, put them in storm drains or other drains, put them where the water comes out of your downspouts. If you have plants with trays under them, put them in the trays. Everywhere water collects after the rain. Refresh them every couple weeks.
posted by OrangeDisk at 1:37 PM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I react strongly to some mozzies and antihistamines work magic for me. I hope you get good repellent recommendations, but this might be a good option to layer on top for the ones that (didn't) get away.

Costco loratidine is much cheaper than brand names (something like $15 for a year's supply, rather than $15 for a week); I think they have cetirizine too.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 2:51 PM on April 2, 2023

Ask your doctor if you can take a higher dose of antihistamines than what's printed on the label. I am very reactive to insect bites, too, and my allergist has me on a 4x dose. Game-changer!
posted by tinydancer at 3:14 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Something I've learned about mosquitoes is they're poor flyers and don't travel far.

These are basically folk tales. Mosquitoes do fly hundreds to thousands of linear feet and a ceiling fan alone won't stop them. (They fly around in steady 10 mph winds in real life, so this should not be much of a surprise.) If you want to stop them with wind it's has to be a box-type fan, blowing directly at you on high (cheap fan) or medium (expensive fan), which is really annoying to the person directly in the airflow, it's not quiet, and depending on the temperature, possibly not pleasant.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:18 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Have you considered getting a sun shade installed for your pool/hot tub so you can use it during the day? Not directly answering the question, I guess, but seems like another possible angle to explore to approach your problem.
posted by potrzebie at 3:42 PM on April 2, 2023

These are basically folk tales.

Damn... well, ignore that part. Guess I should stop propagating this notion.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 5:14 PM on April 2, 2023

Fascinating idea from this Reddit user - use co2 to lure the bloodsuckers into a fan.

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/b7b6x7/outdoor_mosquito_control/

Another suggestion to help get rid of all kinds of insects could be putting a bat house on your property, bats eat a TON of bugs!

https://www.popsci.com/diy/bat-house-diy/
posted by forkisbetter at 5:22 PM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Other suggestions I heard when I lived in a mosquito-dense place included (but were not limited to) getting enough B vitamins and eating garlic. Also you can create habitat for mosquito predators such as dragonflies.
posted by aniola at 6:47 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are super expensive Co2 traps with multiple fans and tanks, designed for large areas that I cannot personally recommend without trying, but lots of people seem happy and there are lots of similar products in the $200-500 range (eg this https://www.skeeter-vac-depot.com/skeetervac-sv5100.html). The science is sound.

I can speak from experience that I've used Tougher Than Tom brand mosquito traps and found hundreds of dead mosquitos (and seemingly nothing else) inside them. Some people make their own very similar traps with yeast, sugar, some soup cans and paint, which I plan to try next year.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:52 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

You want to make a Bucket of Doom
posted by oomny at 7:14 PM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

and I can't go outside in a plastic bubble.

Actually…In Florida I’ve seen gigantic screened enclosures that cover the pool and yard. Example
posted by soylent00FF00 at 9:07 PM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

If you're already covering up with high SPF clothing, you can try clothes with embedded bug repellent. BugsAway by ExOfficio is one example brand name you can try searching for. Usually the actual chemical is permethrin, which you buy in a form suitable for applying to the clothes yourself if you'd rather do that. The advantage is that the chemical ends up on the clothes, not your skin.

(I'm assuming you have the same issue as my bug magnet wife, wherein the mosquitos bite right through one layer of shirt/pants. )
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 8:52 AM on April 3, 2023 [1 favorite]