Yard Work 3

Mosquitos are a problem here.  The Asian Tiger Mosquito showed up here in 1999.  The Authorities said it wasn't here yet.  It stunned one back then and kept it intact in a small jar in the refrigerator and tried to tell the Dept Of Natural Recources and the local University that I had one, but no one seemed interested.

So, naturally, a YEAR later the local newspaper headlined "Asian Tiger Mosquitoes Found In Maryland".  Yeah, I knew that. 

Anyway, I have been fighting them ever since.  The little bastards are active in daytime and are hard to detect on your skin.  I happen to be good at detecting them on me, so I have probably killed more of them than the average victim.

This year, I am fighting back.  I'm trapping them.  Well, not the adult females, the offspring.  They lay their eggs in water.  There is a bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis) that kills the larvae.  It comes in various forms, but I like the small Bt doughnuts of it that you just drop in standing water.

I  set out 5 pots of water with the Bt around the yard last month.  I set one pot without it.  When I see larvae in the untreated pot, I know the the females are laying their eggs in the treated water too.  I dump the untreated water pot every 2 days.   The treated water pots never have live larvae!

I found old black plastic pots that fit a gallon food baggie perfectly.  The dark pot makes the water look good to the female mosquito  The orange landscaping flag is so that I don't lose track of where they are.  The Bt has to be re-added once each month.

Getting the first few generations killed makes a BIG difference.  Already, I can go outside and find only a couple flitting around me and I swat them against my shirt very fast.  Fewer and fewer of them.  They don't travel far, so most of them here are from here.

Two years ago, I could hardly go to the mailbox without a bite.  This year, NONE! 

Mosquito Problems

This Zika virus problem reminds me of an event in the past.  In 1999, I was suddenly getting bitten by mosquitoes in the daytime.  I managed to hit one of the little blood-suckers against my arm with a cupped hand.  It was completely dead and completely intact.  The air pressure killed it.

It didn't look familiar when I looked at it under a magnifying glass, so I did an internet search.  It was an Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), only known as far north as North Carolina at the time (I'm in Maryland, 2 states north of there).  I put it in a small plastic container and set it in the refrigerator.  Then I called around looking for anyone who might be interested.

The University of Maryland Entomology offices weren't interested.  The Washington Post newspaper was not interested.  I should have called the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, but I didn't think of them at the time.  After a few months, I tossed it away.  After all, there were plenty of others around.

Then 2 years later, I read an article in The Washington Post about how Asian Tiger mosquitoes had arrived in our area.  Gee, I tried to tell them that 2 years before!  I keep wondering if it would have helped if they had listened to me then.

I have a mosquito-unfriendly yard.  I have some standing water (a 5' pond and a tub used for cleaning garden tools).  But I put Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) dunks in them that kill mosquito larvae.  I even have trap pots of Bt water around the yard.  But they are still here.  They don't travel more than a 100 yards, but I suppose my neighbors are less careful than I am.

My point is that that another mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is the most common carrier of Zika virus, but  is climate-restricted to the very far southern US.  Asian Tiger mosquitoes, however, have also been found now to carry it.  Asian Tiger mosquitoes survive as far north as New England.

And the June 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine has a cover article about how we can kill off mosquitoes using genetics.  The method seems convincing, effective, and relatively straight-forward.

Yet there are people in the article who question the morality of deliberately causing the extinction of mosquitoes.  REALLY?  We are killing off much more advanced animal species almost daily and they are worried about MOSQUITOES?

Sharks kill about 6 people per year, scorpions 3,250, snakes 100,000, and mosquitoes 725,000.  725,000!  Most mosquitoes don't transmit diseases.  KILL ALL THE DISEASE-CARRYING MOSQUITOES!!!

Sign me up to "push the button", "throw the switch", "give the order", whatever!  I'll accept the ethical blame...  With peace in my heart...

Zika Disease

Viruses never stop evolving.  The newest severe viral mutation to attacks humans is called "Zika".  It seems to have appeared rather suddenly in tropical South America, is spreading quickly, and is serious to pregnant women.  If this seems like the setup for a bad joke (like the old one about "di-hydrogen monoxide", it isn't.

If you haven't heard of it yet, the Zika virus is "spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon".

Most people who are exposed to the virus won't even know it.  However, in pregnant women, it can cause birth defects and failed pregnancies.   One serious result is "microcephaly" (small head).


It is mainly in the tropical areas now, but moving slowly north through Mexico.  There have been several cases in the US from people who had traveled to infected areas.  But I saw a report tonight that said one woman in Florida had become infected without travelling to the infected areas.  There is a possibility that it was transmitted sexually.

There is currently no test for Zika virus.  The news report suggested that blood supplies could become contaminated with the virus and that the US could become subject to direct infection from mosquitoes as warmer weather to come allows mosquitoes to spread slowly and infected (but not showing symptoms) individuals travel.

I wonder what the first report of serious influenza mutations looked like in the past?  For every major disease, there is always some first reports that don't realize the seriousness to come.

I explained THAT to write THIS...

Not to make light of something that could, in a year or two, be a serious medical emergency, I also heard a news report statement that just baffles me.  The statement said "men should abstain from having sex with women who are trying to become pregnant". 

Now, think about that.  I'll assume that most women who are "trying to become pregnant" are in some sort of stable relationship with a man.  If the man is abstaining from sex with that woman, just how is she "trying to become pregnant".  It takes two to tango...

If the man is abstaining from sex with his stable partner, there ISN'T going to be any "trying to become pregnant"!  I have to assume the news editor noticed the illogic at some point, because the news streamer at the bottom of the screen dropped it after some short time.

And also, the new viral disease "Zika" caused the Tata Car company in India to regret their new "Zica" car name (short for "zippy car"). 

But back to seriousness; I sure hope a test and preventative vaccination is found soon.  Otherwise, this could become the new AIDS.

And it is another example of climate change.  The mosquitoes that can carry and spread this virus can only spread because the world is getting warmer.  Various mosquitoes survive and reproduce in limited temperature ranges.  An average difference of only 1 degree in Winter temperatures can mean survival or death for them. 

1 degree in temperature does not mean that much to us humans.  So we heat the house a little bit more; BFD.  But it means that some mosquitoes can move 100 miles north...

Warmer Weather

Just a few days ago, it was freezing at best in the day.  And before that, it was bitterly cold some days.  So what should happen the first nice day?

Mosquito bites.

And to make it worse, I got bitten INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Those Asian Tiger Mosquitoes make me reconsider DDT...

Last year, it was so bad I couldn't run out to get my mail without a bite or two.  Today, I opened the deck doors for 5 minutes and I killed 5 of the little suckers and there are at least 2 more around I haven't caught yet.

Weeding The Flowerbed

Between getting into a daytime sleep-cycle, the brutal heat of a couple weeks ago (but not much better now), and Ayla having medical complications all last week, the weeds took over!  It sure doesn't take them long to grow and for me to get behind...

This is where I planted annuals this year.  I had a large area where some evil runner grass had taken over last Fall.  I dug it out carefully, but some came back this Spring.

I lifted the perennials out and searched through their roots for runners, then moved them elsewhere mostly to make larger patches of their same kind.  My columbine patch is now double in size, for example.

Then I dug the runner grass out again using a spading fork to loosen the soil so that I could follow all the runners several inches underground and slide them out carefully .  That worked very well.  There is almost none left.

But all that digging brought a lot of other weed seeds to the surface and the planted annual bed exploded with them.  As you can see here...

Here's a closeup of one part for reference.

This is the same spot after I spent over an hour of weeding.  Remarkably better.

After the 1st effort I had plenty left to do...

And here is that same section after today's work!

An overview of the entire weeded area!

But that is just the annual area.  As you can see, I have a few more days of work waiting for me.  This spot won't be TOO bad.  Most of that is actually non-weedy perennials that have already bloomed for the year and weeds in the garden path that will come up from the pea gravel easily.

This area will be harder.  There are several kinds of weeds with thin roots that break off easily.  That means digging.

This will be difficult, too.  The close growing dianthus makes it hard to get at the wiregrass and mock strawberry embedded among them.

At least those areas are shaded after 4 pm.  But did I mentioned my area is infested with Asian Tiger Mosquitoes?  Deet works well enough on my arms and neck, but they still swarm around my face looking for a place to land!

And then I spent over an hour hand watering the weeded area and some parts that were most desperate.  I'll water the rest of the flower and garden later when the shade arrives.

Well, I'll have more pictures when I make more progress...