Q I have always used electric bug z...

Q I have always used electric bug zappers to essay to control mosquitoes and biting insects. I want to find another manner that does not use as a great deal of electricity. What options do I have? Which are best to use?

A. A large hanging bug zapper with the light and electric wires that ferment bugs can use up to 100 watts of electricity. If you have several of them outside that race in the evening or all night, they can exacerbate already high summer electric bills.

Many energy-efficient [i]modus operandi[/i]s to reduce problems with mosquitoes use no electricity at all. Also, the light in the bug zapper draws many more prototypes of insects than just mosquitoes and kills them, too. Many of these insects are beneficial and actually eat mosquitoes.

First, it helps to understand in what way mosquitoes find you. Female mosquitoes ne kin for their eggs to unfold not for their own nutrition. They have a penetrating sense of smell. They expose animal breath and other tracks that allow them to find a bodily form or animal to bite. Mosquitoes are great plant pollinators, to such a degree they do serve a necessary function.

common of the newest methods uses a propane-powered device to create carbon dioxide (simulate animal breath) and heat. They mount up inside the unit and finish trapped. Locating one away from your patio and running it continuously models the mosquito population in your yard. It can take several weeks for maximum effectiveness.

A drawback to these units is the cost of the propane. Depending forward the size of the unit, it uses a barbecue grill-type tank each two to four weeks. These create carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. They also attract and kill many mosquitoes that probably were too far away to evermore have found you to bite.

A strange mosquito inhibitor is solar powered. A solar panel in the top charges batteries during the day. When it is switched in succession in the evening, it emits a harmless vapor from inhibitor packets. This does not harm mosquitoes, if it be not that it interferes with their ability to faculty of perception breath, so they cannot find you.

Another inhibitor can be plugg into the same wire you use for low-voltage garden and landscaping lights. This attracts the mosquitoes away from your cover with a deck or patio and a small fan draw into the mouths them up into the unit.

The best option is a natural individual Build bat, bluebird and purple martin houses. A single bat can eat centurys of mosquitoes per night. pick proper plants and create a habitat to attract toads and dragon flies, which eat one as well as the other mature mosquitoes and their larvae. If you have a pond treat it with crystals of a natural bacteria that inhibit mosquito larvae.

The following companies make mosquito inhibitors and natural methods:

Backyard Bird Company, www.backyardbird.com.

glum Rhino, www.bluerhino.com.

Gardens Alive, www.gardensalive.com.

Intermatic, www.intermatic.com.

Lentek International, wwwlentekcom

Q I am getting novel drapes for my living field When I select the color, should I consider getting a lighter color in this way it does not get as warm from the sunny place shining in? It already secures too warm during summer?

A. The color of the drapes will have simply a slight effect on the temperature in the apartment Once the sun's heat radiation has passed between the sides of the window glass into your family most is trapped inside. This is to what end a greenhouse gets warm.

The best you can do with the drapes is withhold them closed as tightly as possible across the window. This keeps most numerous of the hot air near the window and not circulating with the chamber air.

send out questions to: James Dulley, Chicago Sun-Times, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45244 or visit wwwdulleycom

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