Mosquito MADNESS - Help!

I suddenly have this MASS of whitefly and mosquitoes in my gardens (both front and back). Never seen anything like it - thousands of them.

I bought a pump sprayer and some Bug Clear and sprayed all the plants and bushes 3 days ago. Only saw a very slight decline in numbers.

Woke up today, they are worse than ever.

Is there anything stronger than "Bug Clear" made by the Scotts Miracle-Gro company?

I don't want to hire a professional, but somebody must know of a STRONG insecticide? Or another remedy.

I don't have a pond, or any standing water around. So god knows where they have all come from?!?!

(Photos for illustrative purposes only)

 

I can't believe there has been no replies to this, unless people were as dumb struck as me! I haven't stopped scratching since I saw the picture with your hand.....

 

Got to be standing water close by.
Mozzies are not a plant pest, so spraying plants will have no effect, but white fly are, The flies on the window do not look like white fly that attack plants.

I think you are wasting your time spraying plants.

 

No pics of the whitefly Im afraid. They seem to live in / congregate around 4 different species of "bush" that I have. I think one is a St. Johns Wort, the other is some kind of privet hedge and also a pyracantha I think.

I'm not big on bushes, so I don't really know much about them.

But Ive sprayed pretty much the entire garden.

Now there's blackfly everywhere too.

It's like some kind of infestation... could one of my neighbours have a secret pond or buckets of water lying about?!

 

I dont think any of the flies you mention are plant pests.

Sorry I did slightly edit my post earlier because I thought the picture on the window was the white fly.

Without a close up of the various flies it would be difficult to say what they are.

Are they just gnats?

 

Those definitely look like mosquitoes and they prosper near standing water because that is where they lay their eggs and the cycle for starting a new horde is pretty fast.

One sure test is to stick your arm near them. The females need your blood to produce more eggs. Nobody bites, then not mosquitoes. But they sure look like it.

If they mosquitoes and you cannot remove the water breeding ground, throw a tablespoon of vegetable oil or a short shot of wd40. It seals the surface temporarily and the oxygen ruins the breeding cycle.

 

I am curious, the top picture shows a lot of greenery on the trees for this time of year.

The very same pictures can be found online. The same image is in an article saying that climate change could enable mosquitoes to evolve.

Climate change could speed mosquito evolution » Yale Climate Connections

 

They look like mosquitoes i read in the metro 2weeks ago cat nip is hated by them the same compound that attracts kitties activates pain receptors in mosquitoes and some other bugs
I had some catnip in my veranda last year and hardly seen any flies maybe it was the catnip

 

Well spotted.

 

I put a sticky trap out overnight. And this is what it looked like in the morning.

Very good. I wondered if anyone would notice! The photos are for illustrative purposes only - as this is exactly what it looks like currently!!!

 

what about bleach? If i find the source of the standing water. Will a squirt of bleach have any effect?

 

Mozzies are not a plant pest , however they hide on the underside of the leaves.
I remember once numerous people being bitten in the saloon on a ship and we could not work out where they were coming from then someone put the main lights on and gave this large plant a shake from which a large cloud of mozzies emerged.

 

It depends upon what that standing water is.
I'd be careful using bleach, would be better to just upset the surface tension rather than poison it.

 

Canadian Lori's method of tablespoon of vegetable oil is well known to deter/kill off mozzies in small area's of standing water, I use an air pump to agitate the water in my quad grows which solves the problem for me. Large areas of standing water are another problem.
Regards Sandy

 

When we go to the far east we always try to make sure the rooms we book are not located near any standing water, or even by the pool. We also book rooms that have fans, mosquitoes are not good flyers, good oscillating fans tend to disorientate them. If you can locate the standing water, I personally would see if it could be drained. If you can't find any, then they might not even be mosquitoes. They tend to be more of a problem during the months June to August in the UK, when the weather is more favourable for them.