On another newsgroup someone - a person who constantly posts misinformation - posted a bit about Lemon Fresh Joy in a white dish magically killing mosquitoes. Snopes and bunch of other sites says it’s bunk. But I’m getting a reputation for badgering this person despite the fact that although she says she thoroughly researches these items before posting them, she clearly doesn’t.
Is there any validity to this mosquito remedy?
Re: Bugman, another question about bugs
Absolute proof is only 59 cents away. Why not just try it?
Scopes is crazy. The proportions are all wrong and the technique is misquoted but the science is there. Put a few drops of ANY detergent in a 55 gallon drum filled with water. Submerge yourself in the water and I can GUARANTEE that during your submersion period you will be insect bite free.
Mosquitoes suck.
Yes, they do.
Furthermore: use a 55 gallon drum filled with water. Submerge yourself in the water and I can GUARANTEE that during your submersion period you will be insect bite free. Most flying biting insects aren’t equipped with scuba tanks. 
I think harper is dead on. If you stay under long enough, mosquitos will never bother you again.
Seriously though, pure and utter bunk. Maybe she should try a copper bracelet, or a pyramid on her head. I have heard these work as well.
How about a plastic zip lock bag filled with water hung with a thumb tack at the front a back doors. Stops all flies from entering the house. I saw that one when a customer called me out to get rid of her flies.
Maybe she could get a sonic repeller. Hang it around her neck.
Chad-
You forgot to stress the DEAD.
DEET does a body good
DEET on.
that lemon dishsoap idea was from the show CornerGas
edit: the Cornergas guys probably didn’t make it up, they poster probably just saw the show
Windex kills ants. This was offered to me by a professional pest control guy who was in my house to help me track down the little suckers. He offered that Windex (or even no-brand window cleaners) do a great job on ants, without being toxic to household pets or, in this case, our kitchen counters where the ants were coming out.
I asked him if he’d seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which I’m not going to explain). He hadn’t. But the window cleaner works! I think pretty much any liquid soap as well. But that’s for ants, and I have no information about its effectiveness on other critters.
a shot of hairspray will sticky up a bee allowing for a sting free squish of it
I like the hairspray method except it needs to be shot through the flame of a butane lighter toward the bee.
I have always found that smoking a big fat cigar will keep the mosquitoes away. Might keep a lot of people away too…
But it does seem to work. Against the mosquitoes, that is…
I always try do this when I MUni on my mountain property in North Carolina - if the kids are not with me. In fact, I’m going up tomorrow morning. I can’t wait. But I need to get some more cigars. What do you recommend?
Sure it will kill the ants, but it won’t destroy the colony. It will actually cause budding. Budding is when a single colony under attack becomes many colonies. This type of “home remedy” can really make the job for the service tech almost impossible. This is probably the same Pest Control guy that tells you the special rat bait he uses will cause the rats to go outside and look for water, or when they die the dry up and don’t smell.
I am really thankful for these guys, because they create a lot of business for me.
I don’t smoke nearly as much as I used to, but when I did, I would always get these big bundles of fat cigars from either the Dominican Republic or Honduras. As long as they’re hand made, you can’t really go too wrong.
But, my favorites? I used to get boxes of:
El Rey del Mundo
Macanudo
H. Upman
La Gloria Cubano
Romeo & Julietta…
Actually, I can go on and on–I used to subscribe to Cigar Afficianado–I was really into it–but my kids make such a fuss whenever I light up (except for when the mosquetoes are around) that I don’t do it as much any more, and now there are a lot of new brands that I have no idea what’s new out there.
Actually, these days, I’d say Te-Amo’s are pretty good. Years ago, I used to not like them, but a couple of months ago I had a couple of Te-Amos (Mexican) and they were pretty excellent.
I would like to check out the dominican Cohiba. I was lucky enough to have tried Cuban Cohibas in the past when I was in Europe–an amazing smoke!
Still, now that we are discussing cigars, I think I will go up to J&R in midtown tomorrow, find me one of those bundles of 25 fat cigars, some brand name I’ve never heard of, but heck, it’s cheap, and hand made, light up and go chase some mosquetoes–on my unicycle!
More tolerant kids.
Ortho Marathon 50 seems to keep most of my in-laws away.