7 Ways to Keep Mosquitoes Away from Your Backyard Barbeque
One of the best parts of summer is getting everyone together for the opportunity to spend time outdoors. Throwing a backyard barbeque is a great way to gather everyone together to enjoy the beautiful summer weather, tasty food, and great company. Unfortunately though with the longer days and warmer weather also brings on those pesky mosquitoes. The presence of mosquitoes can ruin any backyard barbeque in a quick minute.
There are a few things that you can do to help keep the mosquitoes at bay while attending or hosting a backyard barbeque. Give a few of these tips a try…
1. Relax as much as possible
Mosquitoes are attracted to movement. The more active you are the harder you will be breathing and the more carbon dioxide that you will exert. Mosquitoes can smell their dinner; exhaling CO2 is one of the main things that will lure a mosquito to their meal. The best thing you can do is find a nice comfy place to sit back and relax. Enjoy the weather, food, and conversations that a backyard barbeque offers all while keeping the CO2 output to a minimum.
2. Add Herbs to your Grill and Food
There are many herbs that will naturally repel mosquitoes. Add some fresh rosemary or sage to the grill at your next backyard barbeque. The smoke that it lets off will help chase mosquitoes away from you and your guests. Not only will it chase off the pesky insects but it will also add great flavor to the food that you are cooking.
3. Lay off of the Fragrances
Certain fragrances will make you a mosquito magnet. Avoiding fragrant soaps, shampoos, and colognes when attending a backyard barbeque will lessen your chances of becoming a mosquito’s blood meal. Try using lotions and soaps that are fragrant free to keep mosquitoes from being drawn to you. Lemongrass and Eucalyptus are natural fragrances that will help to repel biting insects and do not make you smell like a can of bug spray.
4. Use Insecticides
Permethrin is a fast acting insecticide that you can spray onto your clothes. It will kill mosquitoes as soon as they come into contact with the treated area. Avoid spraying the permethrin directly to the skin as it can cause some skin irritation. Permethrin also is effective in killing ticks on contact with treated clothing.
5. Treat Water Features
Having a water feature or a pond adds beauty to your landscape but also adds breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Treating any water features on your property will prevent mosquitoes from overtaking your backyard barbeques. You can treat with a larvacide to kill off any mosquito larvae or apply Mosquito Barrier to the water and the surrounding area. Treating the water features on your property will keep you and your guests safe from the attack of the mosquitoes.
6. Protect Yourself
Ensure that you are protected no matter if you are at your own home or someone else’s. Take the first step in protecting yourself by avoiding dark colored clothing when venturing out. If you are still being pestered by biting insects step up the protection a notch and use personal mosquito protection. The ThermaCell Personal Repellent Appliance is a great effective product to keep yourself safe from the threat of mosquitoes.
7. Draw Mosquitoes Away from your Backyard Barbeque
When planning a backyard barbeque make sure that you don’t forget to consider mosquito control. Place a mosquito trap on the edge of your property to draw mosquitoes away from the area that you and your guests will be occupying. Mosquito traps lure mosquitoes, suck them in, trap them, and kill them off. Placement of a mosquito trap will need to be done approximately 4-6 weeks prior to the wedding. It usually takes about that long to interrupt the breeding process and cut down the number of mosquitoes in the area. Each mosquito trap is different but works on the same basic concept.