From Don McGuire: Organize to Rid Mt Airy of Asian Tiger Mosquito

To all my Pelham neighbors, Happy Spring! I am looking forward to the seasons of warm and hot weather now, but I am not looking forward to another summer of mosquitos in the yard. We have had a new species the past few seasons, the one called the asian tiger mosquito - you know the one - with its banded legs, its really irritating bites, and its habit of hunting aggressively for a blood meal at any time of the day, not just in the evening. 

I learned of a new approach to mosquito control recently on WHYY: Mike McGrath's show You Bet Your Garden, and I think it might be possible for us as a neighborhood to create real relief for ourselves and our neighbors. You can hear Mike's presentation by going on line to youbetyourgarden.org and listening to the last 10 or 15 minutes of the March 23 show. The essence of this control method is to leave containers of water around your yard, making it easy for mosquitos to find water to breed in, while treating this water with BTI, a substance made from soil bacteria that is harmless to living things other than the larvae of insects. You can google terms like 'BTI granules', 'Aquabac', or 'VectoMax FG' to learn more about BTI and its uses. Apparently it kills mosquito larvae within minutes of exposure to it, and the dead larvae can be eaten by fish, frogs, etc. without any harm coming to them.

I figure that if we, as a group, can find at least 4 or 5 households per block to adopt this approach, we could have a significant impact on all our outdoor quality of life this summer. The other reason we might want to do this as a group is cost: I haven't been able to check with PRIMEX yet, but online suppliers are asking around $20-25 per pound for BTI in granular form, while I have found a bulk supplier who will ship a 40 pound bag for under $4 per pound. A pound of granules should last a family maintaining 4 - 5 buckets of water in the yard an entire summer, I think.

There are two different forms that BTI comes in, that will lead to slightly different methods:

• Using BTI in granular form, each water container needs to be dosed every 7-10 days with (I estimate) 1-2 teaspoons of granules.
• Using floating BTI 'briquettes' each container would need a new briquette added every 30 days. A blister pack of 20 briquettes retails for around $25, and they can be obtained in bulk for around $16. One blister pack should be sufficient to maintain 4 buckets for 5 months, or 5 buckets for 4 months - I'm actually a little hazy about the length of the mosquito season here in Philly. The advantage of this approach is that the water needs to be treated fewer times in a season; the disadvantage is higher cost.

BTI is stable if kept dry, and any leftovers could be used the next season. 

I would be happy to undertake the ordering of BTI  in bulk, its repackaging and distribution in the neighborhood at cost. What I need to know is the level of interest in doing this as a neighborhood, and what control method you think would best meet your needs this summer - I guess holiday plans, travel out of town and such would lead to a preference for the briquette method. Then again, if you can arrange for someone to water your plants while you are away, maybe you can arrange for water treatment as well.

Are you interested? Please let me know by email to aikidon -at- cavtel.net and I will keep a list of respondents and preferences; if we get enough interest, I guess we could try to get both kinds of BTI. My guess is that two pounds of granules will cost around $8-10, and 20 briquettes around $16-18, depending on shipping costs.

Here's looking forward to a pleasant summer outside!

Don McGuire