Chasing Hawk

You know those little white flies, gnats or whatever they are called. The ones that scatter when you disturb the grass either by the sprinkler or simply walking around the yard.

I need ideas, suggestions or possible solutions. Keep in mind we have 3 dogs and a cat that wander around the yard at any given time. So little or no harmful chemicals if possible.

Goggling for me brought up how to get rid of white flies on plants such as tomatoes, melon plants or houseplants.

roguequilter

chasing hawk ..i too live in the pacific northwest. i don't know where you live, but where i am the exceptionally long wet winter & now below normal temps & more rain than normal has caused a nightmare situation re: all types of flying, crawling monsters. tiny tho they be ..they are monsters! for knats, whitefly, mosquitos, wasps, spiders & everything else i don't want in my yard or around my house i use pyrithrin. find it in farm store over in area with sprays etc to control flies etc in stalls & areas inhabited by farm animals. it is derived from ?daisys? ..is organic & nontoxic to birds, pets & humans. it kills insects by interfereing with nervous system. they clean themselves & ingest it. i sprayed my yard & house two weeks ago, mosquitos had become so noxious that i couldn't go outside at all. next day was completely bug free. i live on a river with massive wildlands across from me. trees, swamps etc ..so ..i'll be needing to spray again in this unusual weather ..but the pyrythrin works! i spray Only when no wind & late afternoon, early evening when good insects/polinaters are inactive. i also don't let my dogs on it until it is dry. spray in sections so they can go out & do their thing, then next day spray another section. my own paranoia regarding all things used to kill bugs/weeds/molds etc. i hate using these things ..but i need to where i live. my grands came out the week after i sprayed and had a great time w/o swarms of mosquitos, yellow jackets and other epi-pen threatening badies.

i neglected to say ...
i spray the grass, all shrubs, trees as high as my extended spray wand can reach. over edge of roof and along faucets, all surfaces of house. with mosquitos in my lawn a few years ago, as well as whitefly & little knats i started spraying the grass along w everything else. i use a three gallon backpack sprayer. takes about 4 tanks to do front of house, my large front yard and greenery plus lawns. lasts for several months on normal year ..this year i plan to spray again in a month or whenever things start getting bad again.

Chasing Hawk

Hi Rogue,

Thanks for the reply. We live on the eastern side of the Cascades outside a town called La Pine. After the last winter's snowfall and thaw I discovered "grey mold" where we took out some trees and sowed grass seed last year. About a 5 foot square area it was the only spot of mold I found. It was in an area where my husband piled all the snow from the driveway.

We will stop at Wilco, the farm store, in Bend this week when we go into town and pick up the Pyrithrin. And a new Hudson sprayer.

roguequilter

howdy, neighbor!! i'm an eastsider too. in fact, i'm just up the road from you ...take 97 ..over the gorge, a few hills till ya hit lots of flat with acres & acres of sage brush, river & very large mosquitos.

Battle Axe

Dear Oregonians, I used to live in Lakeview so I know what you are talking about. The scattering white things are not white, they are pale green but would appear white in flight. They are (most probably) leafhoppers. They are interested in getting away from you and sucking (with a straw-like mouthpart) plant juice from what ever they can find. They will transmit plant diseases, but are more of an annoyance than a threat.

Whiteflies don't scatter away from you unless you shake their host plant.

Moved to Indiana. We control mosquitoes with Purple Martin birds. But when it gets too cold and the Purple Martins are here already, we have to buy live crickets and toss them in the air so that the birds can catch them. It's really fun for the first 15 minutes. They only eat stuff they can catch. I feel as if I am being attacked by a Japanese Zero on the Island of Guam.

Marcia Entomology UCD 1968

sewnclog

Wow, that sounds like great stuff; wonder if it works on chiggers??

crafty pat

Cedar oil delute with water and spray lawn every few weeks stops chiggers and most all unwanted insects.

Mattig

I created an account here just to say this is 100% correct and to thank you for the information! (Old Post, I realize, but still!)

quiltingshorttimer

I saw recently that you can control mosquitoes with a bottle of "cheap" blue mouthwash, 3 c. Epsom salts (dissolved) and 3 very stale 12oz cans of beer--have not used so won't verify this but felt it was well worth the try.
I use diluted "cheap" blue mouthwash as an antifungal for my horse when she develops "hot spots".

Barb in Louisiana

I haven't used a Pyrethrin based yard spray but have used the Flying Insect Control with Pyrethrin in it. It comes from chrysanthemums. It is the only spray that will knock a mosquito down on the first spray. We have a camp on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. Sometimes when the wind comes in from the north, the mosquitos are terrible. You literally can't breathe without inhaling some. The first night we were there, I opened the door to go walk our two dogs and at least 200 came in. I threw the husband out with the dogs and had a very old can of the pyrethrin based spray. I was totally amazed that every time I sprayed, the floor was full of their little bodies. I swept up a small dustpan full. It was amazing. The next day, we drove 200 miles home to get supplies to go back and build a screen porch so that would never happen again.

Another testimonial for Permethrin, the artificial version which is just as good. We have super large wood roaches in our neck of the woods. They are 1 to 1 1/2" long and they fly when sprayed with Roach and Ant Spray. The roaches come inside when it is too cold or too wet. The bug guy sprayed all my flower beds and all the way around my house in September 2017 with a Pyrethrin based spray. I saw the first big roach inside my house two days ago. Yes, I am on my way to buy some of a Pyrethrin based product or order off Amazon and will spray liberally within the next few days.