The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Finally got the mosquitoes under control

Because of all the rain we've been having here at the park, the mosquitoes have been really bad. There was one week in July where you pretty much couldn't go outside without slathering on the bug spray. But I think we've finally got them under control with our new heavy duty mosquito fogging machine.

It took me a while to figure out the proper formulation to use for the chemicals, and the right settings on the machine. But now, it seems to work perfectly and is very effective at doing the job.

It's not a cheap machine, at around $2,000 USD. But we figured that if it lasts the park for 20 years then it's pretty easy to justify on a per year basis.

Ready to go!

It puts out quite the fog!

Supposedly, it kills the little buggers instantly.

But for the fog to work properly, it has to be the right weather conditions. That is most likely to happen around 7:00am, so these pictures were taken at that time this morning. Very light wind, just enough to slowly move the fog in one direction. That way, you can start at one end of the park, and the fog slowly moves throughout the park, ideally with all of it behind me.

Also, at 7:00am all of the campers are still inside sleeping. The fog totally dissipates in about 10 minutes.

There are two different chemicals to use. One is permethrin, and the other is malathion. Both are very popular and common to use as mosquito fogging insecticides. The chemical itself is not cheap, at around $170 for 10 litres (about 2.5 gallons). You use only about 2 cups of chemical, and it's mixed with four gallons of diesel fuel, and water. You're supposed to alternate usage of the two chemicals because the mosquitoes can actually become resistant to them if you use only one of them time after time.

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And, it's on sale super cheap today. See where it says "Price Hidden"? Click on that and add it to your cart to see how cheap it is!!

And a fantastic deal for our Canadian readers. In fact, this is such a good deal that we just bought one ourselves!




18 comments:

  1. I hope you inform the campers before you spray as to what they and their pets are going to be exposed to while they are sleeping. See this. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/malagen.html

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    1. Yes, campers know the fogging schedule. I went around when the park was really busy and literally everybody was like "yes please, and do it now please"...

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  2. If the spray does not finish them off, the face mask should scare them to death:)

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    1. Thankfully the spray is working on them, yesterday was great for working outside. The first time in a few weeks that I haven't had to spray myself to death with bug spray. And yes, the ones that survived the fogging flew away fast when they saw Kevin! ;-)

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  3. That is one issue we just don't seem to have here on Vancouver Island. Yes, sometimes in the Spring in the grass you see the odd one but I don't think I have been bitten once this year! We have a lot more spiders and hornets. I don't miss being a smorgasbord for mosquitos as I am one of the "tasty" ones according to their appetite. I am sure your campers are more than ok with you fogging.

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    1. Hmm, maybe we should be moving to Vancouver Island! Spiders we can deal with, hornets not so much, seeing that Kevin is allergic to their sting but then again we have them here as well. Kevin is also high on the menu with the mosquitoes.

      Yes, the campers are very happy about it.

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  4. I don't think I've even SEEN a mosquito this year here in Ottawa.

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  5. We dont see tge hidden price just 15.99 plus 6.99 shipping Amazon uses different prices for different customers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you have to click on the icon "hidden price" and then move it to the shopping cart before you actually see the price. Then just remove it again from your cart, unless of course you love the price and want to buy it. :-)

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  6. Luckily we have really not seen any mosquitoes anywhere around here this year where we camp at least.
    Looks like a good machine.

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    Replies
    1. Then you are very lucky! I wish that we could say that.

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  7. No mosquitoes in Flagstaff either---they all hitched a ride on Sherman last time you guys came through here. That gas mask is hilarious!

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    Replies
    1. Yep, that must have been what happened! Although last year we didn't really have a problem with the mosquitoes at all. It was way too dry last year!

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  8. When we lived in Playa del Carmen (Mexico), they'd come around in the malathion trucks, spraying for mosquitoes in the early evening, on windy nights. They really had no idea about timing the spray so that it did the most good and the least harm. And of course, they didn't tell us when it was going to happen so we couldn't get our apartment windows closed in time to keep it out. Ugh! I understand the need, but at least do it right! You are, they weren't.

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    1. I remember them fogging at the resort we were at in the Dominican Republic. We were almost always up in our room getting ready for dinner when they went by so it never bothered us up there. We could always hear them coming though with the drone of the motor.

      Yes, Kevin makes sure he does it right, he is very conscientious about it.

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