All this is very interesting. Of course mosquitoes pose disease threat, and more than just the Zika virus, they always have. Heck, I remember way back when my boys were little they were asking people not to take kids out trick or treating due to mosquitoes spreading Encephalitis, and how many of us give our precious animals heart-worm pills?
I do have to say I have had less mosquitoes this year than in the past, and I have more bromeliads than past years, it's my newest craze
. However, that mosquito truck has been driving up and down the street more this year also. I honestly worry more about the pesticides being sprayed into the air then the pesky mosquitoes flying around. I think it is a far stretch to start closing down botanical gardens and ripping out bromeliads in gardens. In that case rip off gutters around the house, drain swimming pools, creeks, and retention ponds too.
Simply walking around the home and emptying water holding sources is the best prevention, especially if it has been a week without rain, since a good heavy rain is a natural source of flushing out old water. I have found mosquito larvae in the BBQ grill cover once, so just a wee bit can give them the breeding ground they need. I've used BTI but I didn't really notice a difference, seems just cleaning out water harboring sources works the best for me. You'd be surprised when cleaning all those leaves out of the gutters how many skeeters start flying around.
I appreciate the heads up on this issue, I like the coffee ground idea too. By the way I'm an outdoors person and we camp a lot and that is where I encounter the mosquitoes, not in my backyard. Just saying.
but my grandmother's best friend died from West Nile after visiting Minnesota so not all is safe for the folks up north. When she got back home my grandmother went to see her and she was washing meat in her bathroom sink and said she had to get the stains out. My grandmother rushed her to the ER knowing something wasn't right but she died 3 or 4 days later.
