The Asian Tiger Mosquito: What has worked, and what has not

While not directly garden related, I have gotten more mosquito bites while working in the garden over the years than I can count.   I have resorted to wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt whenever I am out there, even if it is only for 10 minutes to pick some greens.  Even covered neck to toe, I still come back inside with at least a dozen bites on my face -- like to the point where my face starts to feel hot.

First let me start out by identifying the enemy: The Asian Tiger Mosquito, or Aedes_albopictus.

The situation

• Why Asian:  They apparently hitched a ride in the inner ring of tires that were being shipped from Asia to the US in 1985.  
• Why Tiger:  Their legs have black and white stripes.  If you look close, you will immediately see they are different than the mosquitoes we grew up with
• How are they different: They bite all day long, not just at dawn and dusk.  Also, unlike most mosquitoes, they bite multiple times.  One mosquito will bite at least 5 or 6 times if able.
• Where are they: All up and down the east coast by this point.
• What is being done on a macro level:  I'm pretty sure a few states (from memory: GA, VA, and NJ) have all tried to find solutions to this problem.  One project even went as far as to create a new mosquito that was designed to feed on the eggs of the tiger mosquito.  Apparently it didn't work though.  The advice remains to find areas where water is collecting and empty the water.  Kind of an impossible task if you live close to hundreds of neighbors.  

So what has not worked (for me, in order of use)

• Tiki Torch candles with with citronella oil
• Maybe they work a little, but even with 8 of these burning, we would still couldnt enjoy dinner outside without getting bitten a lot.  
• The propane based Skeeter Vac, similar to the Mosquito Magnet
• I was really hoping this would work, but I'm pretty sure the Asian Tiger Mosquitoes are just not attracted to this trap.  The amazon reviews show that for normal mosquitoes, these things can work great.   Luckily, Amazon let me return it, which was pretty awesome.  
• Mosquito Barrier - A concentrated garlic spray.  I had high hopes for this after neighbor said it worked for them, but it did not seem to work at all for me. 

So now, what has worked

• The BBQ -- This was a nice accident. I realized after a while that whenever the BBQ was on, particularly if it was hot enough to be making smoke, we could sit outside for any length of time and barely get any bites.
• Cigars -- Found this out in a similar way.  Not the healthiest way to fight mosquitoes, but it helped me come to the next idea
• Fire bowl -- Jumping on the theme of smoke, we finally got a fire bowl for the backyard (Actually it was a gift from my parents, which was pretty awesome).  Whenever the fire pit is lit, it drastically cuts down on the mosquitoes that are around.  You no longer get the swarms of mosquitoes if you stand in one spot.  I have even started to light a small fire in the bowl in the middle of the day on weekends if I expect to be doing a lot of gardening.   Hands down, I would say that it is the best (and most fun) way to keep the mosquitoes away.     

TBD

• ThermaCell - Another recomondation from neighbors.  So far this really seems to be working.  It costs $20 bucks, but the refills are where it starts to add up.  It has a butane cartridge and a poison pad.   Each pad works for 4 hours and each butane thing works for 12 hours.  The catch is that it costs about $20 more to get 12 new pads and 3 new butane cartridges.   I have used it 4 times so far, and I really think it has been working. It covers a 15x15 foot area.  For the party this weekend, the combination of the fire bit and the ThermaCell seemed to work pretty well.      

So there you have it.  I hope this helps someone, somewhere.