Here in the Maryland/D.C. area, our summers are plagued by the Asian tiger mosquito, a black-and-white striped variety that is the worst of all worlds. Unlike indigenous skeeters (which have been outcompeted by these invasive pests), Asian tigers are impervious to full daytime sun, they're harder to swat due to their tiny size and skittish nature, they cause more painful bites, and they are unaffected by most repellents/attractants that work on other skeeters.
I know Asian tigers are repelled by DEET sprays, but in my experience, only the high-concentration ones like Deep Woods Off (25% DEET) work. It freaks me out to apply so much toxic chemical to my bare skin and have it absorbed into my body. It's also unpleasantly sticky. Whenever I use DEET, I have to take a shower immediately upon re-entering the house, so as not to get it on the furniture or on my little kids, who are constantly putting their fingers in their mouths. Most of the time, I just go outside without spraying myself, in the silly hope that I can avoid getting bitten, and that the bites I do get don't infect me with the West Nile virus.
How this usually works out is that I'll spend 5 minutes in the backyard watering my tomato plants and come back inside with literally 10 to 20 new bites on my legs and arms. This is every day of every summer, even during long, hot droughts.
As I said, the Asian tiger mosquitoes are not susceptible to most methods that are usually recommended for general mosquito problems. I've tried citronella candles and they do nothing. From what I've read, garlic sprays and lemongrass are apparently also ineffective. Avon Skin-So-Soft is supposed to do an okay job, but I've never tried it.
Mosquito Magnets and other devices that put out CO2 to attract skeeters don't fool the Asian tigers. There is some new, specialized attractant that does work on them, but you have to keep replacing the cartridges, and even then, you can never get them all. Experts seem to agree that these devices are not worth using, especially considering their extremely high prices.
I have gotten surprisingly good results with the Off Clip-on, but it bothers me that instead of having deadly chemicals on my skin, I end up breathing it in. What I want is a solution that's non-toxic.
The only "effective" method that the experts recommend is to eliminate the Asian tiger's breeding grounds -- anything that can contain water. Well, I've done as much as I can in my yard, but I can't force my neighbors to get rid of their birdbath or fix their broken gutters. Even if I could, Asian tigers can still lay their eggs in tree holes, leaves, and other natural rain collectors.
Another recommendation I've seen on a few sites is to mow your lawn frequently, pull weeds, and trim back bushes to reduce the vegetative shade areas that mosquitoes like to hide in. I think there may be something to this, as I have noticed I often get attacked while pulling weeds, especially near certain shrubs. But I have a lot of shrubs, so it's going to take me a while to implement this idea.
One thing that does seem to work when I'm out on my deck is to turn on an electric fan. I think this works because the buggers cannot fly against strong air currents, and the tasty smell of human flesh gets scattered about, making it harder to find me. I'm kind of surprised that I've never seen this technique mentioned on any website. Having said that, turning on a blower doesn't solve my problem when I'm out in the garden watering the plants.
I've been googling and googling to find something other than DEET that will protect me when I'm back there. So far, I've only found a couple products that show any kind of promise:
1. Repel Lemon Eucalyptus spray -- the original formula (HG-406T), not the weaker new formula (94109)
2. Bonide 5612 Mosquito Beater -- a granulated repellent to be spread throughout the yard every couple weeks
It turns out that lemon eucalyptus oil is actually recognized by the Centers for Disease Control as being as an effective alternative to DEET. Not specifically for Asian tigers, but for repelling insects in general. Some chemical called PMD in the oil makes it effective. Interestingly, "pure" lemon eucalyptus oil does not contain PMD.
The second product looks a little iffy because it's got garlic and citronella (among other things) and lacks lemon eucalyptus oil. I only found 2 reviews that mentioned Asian tigers and both were unclear on its effectiveness.
But I'm going to give both a try and see what happens. Stay tuned...
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