Do-it-yourself fumigation for mosquitoes?

[screns]

We live in a landed property with a small garden and a fair number of mosquitoes. I called a couple of fumigation companies for quotes on fogging the garden and they all quote S$100 or more and suggest I should have the fumigation done every week. While they clearly are working in their best interests, I do feel that we need to get the garden fumigated from time to time (these bites are so damn itchy) nut don't want to spend a fortune doing it.

My question: Is there anywhere in Singapore that sells the sprayers and the products so we can do it ourselves (my husband should be able to manage it)? Or will those can sprays sold in Giant be sufficient to use outside once every couple of weeks (I am hoping not to destroy all our plants). We make sure that our plants have no standing water and that our outside drains are clear, so not sure where these critters are breeding/coming from. Thanks.

[offshoreoildude]

We live in a landed property with a small garden and a fair number of mosquitoes. I called a couple of fumigation companies for quotes on fogging the garden and they all quote S$100 or more and suggest I should have the fumigation done every week. While they clearly are working in their best interests, I do feel that we need to get the garden fumigated from time to time (these bites are so damn itchy) nut don't want to spend a fortune doing it.

My question: Is there anywhere in Singapore that sells the sprayers and the products so we can do it ourselves (my husband should be able to manage it)? Or will those can sprays sold in Giant be sufficient to use outside once every couple of weeks (I am hoping not to destroy all our plants). We make sure that our plants have no standing water and that our outside drains are clear, so not sure where these critters are breeding/coming from. Thanks.

i've been thinking of using one of these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba6_0t4fH20&noredirect=1

[sundaymorningstaple]

Just remember, if NEA gets wind of it and happens to find mozzies breeding on your property, it's a first time $300 fine and the second time will cost you a cool $1000.

If that's not bad enough, should you not know what you are doing and manage to have a dengue outbreak, your potential medical bills will skyrocket (provided you live to pay them off). There are some reputable companies in my links page regarding pest control. Maybe you haven't tried them for quotes?

[the lynx]

We live in a landed property with a small garden and a fair number of mosquitoes. I called a couple of fumigation companies for quotes on fogging the garden and they all quote S$100 or more and suggest I should have the fumigation done every week. While they clearly are working in their best interests, I do feel that we need to get the garden fumigated from time to time (these bites are so damn itchy) nut don't want to spend a fortune doing it.

My question: Is there anywhere in Singapore that sells the sprayers and the products so we can do it ourselves (my husband should be able to manage it)? Or will those can sprays sold in Giant be sufficient to use outside once every couple of weeks (I am hoping not to destroy all our plants). We make sure that our plants have no standing water and that our outside drains are clear, so not sure where these critters are breeding/coming from. Thanks.

1. If you're thinking about the same fogging machines/chemicals that the companies use, the answer would be no. They are not for general sale and one needs a license to operate them.

2. You can rely on those aerosol sprays sold in supermarkets but it won't help much TBH. Be careful of which one you are buying, the ones in oil formulation will 'burn' the plants. Most of the sprays for mosquitoes are water-based fortunately.

3. From experience, my family installed magnetic mesh screen on all doors and windows in our landed property back home. It was the best investment ever.

4. Mosquitoes fly so they don't have to breed at your place to be at your place. But prevention is better.

[x9200]

IMHO these companies use this and not any other approach (the said fumigation) because they have no way to know any given property so it is necessary to provide some sort of general means to kill the bastards wherever they may be breeding. But you should know your property so you should:
1. know where there may be stagnant water staying for some time after the rain
2. work not to have too many such places around.

And then it should be enough to use the mosquito larva killer in a form of pellets or any other solid and lasting.

[the lynx]

To follow up on x92's reply, those larvicides are available in supermarkets and they also have the environmental-friendly Bti version if you lean towards that direction.

[beppi]

You think S$100 is expensive?
They would probably be two guys, with a truck and spraying gear, incl. travel spending around 1.5 hours on this. Deduct all the expenses (road tax, rent, chemicals) and calculate their actual hourly rate - unlike you, they cannot afford to rent a landed property on that!
You should be glad that there IS cheap labour here that makes such things affordable. In Europe, such guys would charge €45/hour EACH, plus all expenses on top of that.

[screns]

Thanks for all the information. In response to the post from beppi, I don't think S$100 is expensive unless it ends up being S$100 every week like they told me I would need. Then, to me, irrespective of whether I live in a landed property or not, it is.

[x9200]

Just to compare with the aircon maintenance, 3 units. Two guys doing really dirty job cleaning the stuff and it takes 20-30min.
Now, for all the condos I lived in the fogging was done approximately in the same time also by 2 guys.
First costs 100-150 for 4 visits, 2nd roughly the same for 1 visit. Not expensive?

[taxico]

We live in a landed property with a small garden and a fair number of mosquitoes...

i grew up in landed property in singapore - i spent more than 10 years living in a detached house before i moved out of my parents' home.

in my experience, the number of mosquitoes have nothing to do with the need to fog or dribble oil around your property.

it is either seasonal or you are breeding them (sometimes both). in either case, your $100/week is a waste of money.

you need to be very meticulous in making sure there are no standing puddles of water around your property; even in covered gutters and gulleys and also indoors.

you don't want NEA inspectors coming around with droppers and tubes to slap you with a fine (and, yes, there will be follow-up visits).

if you're getting bitten so much you need to rake yourself regularly with a fork, there is something wrong in your neighborhood and you need to call in NEA (provided you know your property will stand up to inspection).

you could get a blue light bug zapper, a tent and also remember to close your windows at around dusk if you don't have fly screens.