Water Butt insects?

lilyjune

Just wanted some advice please about biting insects. We moved into our house last summer but didn't really use our garden very much, new baby, too much to do in the house and not safe for our son but anytime we were out in it, I was eaten alive with horrible bites. Insects do love me , I must be very sweet ;-) but this was ridiculous.
I've been out again in the last week or so trying to get a bit done and I've got lots of new bites. They're very itchy and raised on the skin and red. Could they have something to do with the water butts?
There are two water butts, they haven't been used since the previous owner was here and he died in March 2010 so probably hadn't been used since the previous summer.
Has anyone experienced any problems with their water butts? I'm assuming it's the butts that are the problem but any suggestions as to what else it could be are welcome.
If it is the water butts, what should we do? Is the best thing to do to empty them, clean them with a disinfectant and then let them fill up again? Advice really welcome

Gefjun

Gnats and mozzies breed in water butts, especially if the water is stagnant, it seems, but there is a solution:
http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/forums/p/7732/83020.aspx

Hope this helps
Gefjun

Yolina

As Gefjun said, stagnant water is a great breeding ground for mozzies and other insects. In the south of France, where some mosquitoes now transmit the chinkunguya virus as well as dengue, people are told not leave anything out where water can stagnate (or empty, clean and change water in things like birdbaths at least once a week). I'm not sure what is available now for water butts (mosquito net?!), and obviously real nasties like tiger mosquitoes are unlikely to make it to the UK (not warm enough!) but it's probably worth investigating otherwise you'll keep getting more and more biting things. I remember that my grandfather used to put some oil (the cooking type) in his home-made water butts as well as polystyrene beads to try and prevent mozzies from breeding.

wellused

I have used water from my water butt to top up the fishpond during warm weather and the amount of different invertebrates swimming in there is amazing although they only seem to be in any great numbers in the warm weather, I doubt whether you will find that many in there at this time of year. It's funny how some people seem to get bitten more by flying insects than others do or is it the fact that we all get bitten the same but some people react more to the bites than others do?

yorkieorchid

Try Avon Skin So Soft products. (on your skin, not in the water butt....lol...)Apparently great for repelling insects. I've not tried it myself but many people recommend it.

gibson123

If you want to stop getting bitten by insects have Marmite in the morning and Beer (ale not lager) in the afternoon. if you excrete excess vitamin B1 through your pores you are less likely to get bitten. Seriously though if insects love you, you are probably not getting enough vitamin B and should try to up your intake.

culpepper

You can float oil on the top of the water and the insects wont use it . This is for water butts where the tap part will be near the bottom so the oil will always remain on the top.
If the butts are covered, there shouldn't be insects in them anyway.

Blackjack_Davy

Just keep the water butts covered you won't have a problem then. Good ones will have a well fitting lid.

lilyjune

Thanks all for your replies. I went out today to investigate further, one of them is a new, modern water butt and it has a tight fitting lid and the pipe goes directly from the drain into the butt. The other one though is a barrel with a 10cm hole in top into which the pipe runs. Think this one might be the problem do going to try and find a bit of netting to put across it.

Also very interested to hear that I could be lacking in vitamin B, I lived in France years ago and was very badly bitten then. Got loads of advice about eating raw garlic, drinking red wine, not eating garlic, not drinking wine but nothing seemed to work and I was definitely bitten more than other people but I also react badly.

The most effective repellent I've ever used though was one I used while travelling and pregnant in S. America. 50/50 mix of baby oil and tcp or dettol (couldn't use deet), didn't get a single bite with it on although others around me did, doesn't half stink though!

Anyway, I will clean out the butts and put some mozzie net on the big one and see how that goes. Will also try eating a few more bananas

cootambear

I saw a prog about mossies in africa and the control workers were encouraging people to pour those little beads of polystyrene on top of still water to stop them laying eggs

tim_n

If the butts are going to be kept fullish, put a goldfish or two in. They keep them down, but the best way is to keep them covered - then if a cat falls in, it won't drown.