yes that's what i fear too, but i'll try it. don't really want to expose myself and kids to insecticide unnecessarily, so that will be my last option. what about dishwashing liquid? a teaspoon in a small sprayer definitely kills aphids. i wonder if it would work on mossie larvae?
Mosquitoes only bite certain people, so perhaps Paul you are one of those who have a chemical in your perspiration that deters them. I react badly to bites - they seem to love me!
Only use oil if you use a tap at the bottom of the butt. The oil is supposed to sit on the water at the top - no good if you have to take your water out that way.
oh i used to be one of those people that got bit by anything and everything.. nightmre as half garden is shaded and gets lots of little biting insect... but since i hve been taking garlic and vitaminb caps.. i dont get bitten. so lovely to be out and not end up covered in bites by end of the night.
oh and great info on the butts problems.. i have added oil to mine to day and will see how it goes.
Hi rosa, the oil trick works. you only need a little bit.attach a piece of hosepipe to the water butt tap to fill your can, it will stop the can being messed up with the oil.
how cruel of flowerdew to put a poor gold fish in the butt. my goldfish love the light.the thought of livinging in the dark till it die(i liked him too!!)
i can definitively say that dishwashing liquid in a water butt, a lot of it, does not kill mosquito larvae. i suppose you would not put a lid on the water butt if you kept a goldfish in it. but i wonder how happy it would be? well, why not, if you make it cosy! but i will try the oil next. thanks for all the tips!
As well as adding oil I tie a thick cloth (old towel etc)sprinkled with a little Deet Mosquito killer (optional) round the pipe and over the hole in the lid. This stops them getting in in the first place.
Learn from my mistake & PLEASE dont do what i did.
I put oil on the water but left the lid off. I really, really, hate myself because a green tit had tried to drink from the butt and drowned!!! (yes, i am ashamed at my stupidity)
Oh dear Paul it's nothing we haven't all done tho! I had an old bathroom bin that I used to use and after last winter found a dead squirrel in it!!!! Oil is what I use as well and we suffer badly from it here... But I love the idea of having a goldfish in it lmao
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I tried the oil thing, but I found it covered the watering can when I dipped it in the water and made it very slippy.
yes that's what i fear too, but i'll try it. don't really want to expose myself and kids to insecticide unnecessarily, so that will be my last option. what about dishwashing liquid? a teaspoon in a small sprayer definitely kills aphids. i wonder if it would work on mossie larvae?
Mosquitoes only bite certain people, so perhaps Paul you are one of those who have a chemical in your perspiration that deters them. I react badly to bites - they seem to love me!
Only use oil if you use a tap at the bottom of the butt. The oil is supposed to sit on the water at the top - no good if you have to take your water out that way.
oh i used to be one of those people that got bit by anything and everything.. nightmre as half garden is shaded and gets lots of little biting insect... but since i hve been taking garlic and vitaminb caps.. i dont get bitten.
so lovely to be out and not end up covered in bites by end of the night.
oh and great info on the butts problems.. i have added oil to mine to day and will see how it goes.
Hi rosa, the oil trick works. you only need a little bit.attach a piece of hosepipe to the water butt tap to fill your can, it will stop the can being messed up with the oil.
how cruel of flowerdew to put a poor gold fish in the butt. my goldfish love the light.the thought of livinging in the dark till it die(i liked him too!!)
i can definitively say that dishwashing liquid in a water butt, a lot of it, does not kill mosquito larvae. i suppose you would not put a lid on the water butt if you kept a goldfish in it. but i wonder how happy it would be? well, why not, if you make it cosy! but i will try the oil next. thanks for all the tips!
As well as adding oil I tie a thick cloth (old towel etc)sprinkled with a little Deet Mosquito killer (optional) round the pipe and over the hole in the lid. This stops them getting in in the first place.
Learn from my mistake & PLEASE dont do what i did.
I put oil on the water but left the lid off. I really, really, hate myself because a green tit had tried to drink from the butt and drowned!!! (yes, i am ashamed at my stupidity)
Oh dear Paul it's nothing we haven't all done tho! I had an old bathroom bin that I used to use and after last winter found a dead squirrel in it!!!! Oil is what I use as well and we suffer badly from it here... But I love the idea of having a goldfish in it lmao
It's about 40 years ago now but I haven't forgotten setting a mousetrap where it caught a robin.
In the sticks near Peterborough