"Sharon" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I'm new to this group, but hope you guys can give suggestions. I move
d
into my new house last May. It has medium-size yards with very large,
thick-trunked trees. I love the trees but they clearly need some
trimming.
I've been meaning to get a tree doctor out to tend them, but - well,
summer's been super busy. I still plan to do that, but until then maybe I
can ask you guys some of the questions I plan to ask them.
The large tree in my front yard has ivy growing around it's base and
up
it's trunk. I've heard that this is bad for trees, is that correct? Is
it
possible to remove the ivy without killing the tree?
The other thing that's bothering me (and this one REALLY bothers me!)
is
that my back yard is basically a mosquito hive. A person can walk out
there
in shorts for only 5 minutes, and come back in looking like he's got
chicken
pox. It's horrible, and since this is Lyme Disease country (northern VA),
it's a potentially serious problem.
There's never any standing water in my yard that I know of. I can't
tell for sure about my neighbors' yards, but I doubt they have standing
water either. It seems kind of like the bugs are living in the lawn.
Could
they be living and breeding in the grass or just moist soil? What's the
best way to get rid of them?
I don't know if it helps diagnose, but these pesties are teensy, just
a
little bit bigger than gnats. There are also a large number of biting
flies
out there, that aren't mosquitos. Is it worth hiring a pest control
service
to do periodic service on my yard? What would they do?

--
Sharon, Lurking As Usual
To reply, replace spammersmustdie with jcwoman1963





On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 20:18:41 -0400, "CNB" wrote:

Sharon,

I suspect that the reason your being overrun by bugs is because your yard is
the perfect habitat for them. I don't know about the other things you
mentioned, but as for mosquitoes, they love shady, still yards with lots of
vegetation around. Its not where they're hatching from but its where they
love to live as soon as they hatch. I can bet there's some pooled up water
somewhere you don't know about -maybe in the neighbor's old goldfish pond,
maybe in the woods behind the house, maybe in abandoned buckets or other
containers. But if its not on your property there's not much you can do
about that. It only takes a very small pool of water to breed hundreds upon
hundreds of mosquitoes. As for the yard itself, you basically need to cut
away any brush you don't need and try to open it up a little. Try to get
more air and light into the yard if possible. Mosquitoes don't like too much
sunlight or wind. I'm sure they love hiding in the vines covering the tree.

I don't think hiring a pest control guy would do you much good, at least not
in the long term. Unless you get rid of the habitat there going to keep
coming back. You might want to get one to come by once just to see what his
assessment is. Remember that a certain number of bugs in your yard is
normal. Also, certain species of bugs will come and go depending on the
season.

Even though the vines may look pretty they're harboring mosquitoes and other
insects and are eventually going to kill the tree. Do as the other poster
suggested and cut out a section of it near the base of the tree and
everything from that point up will eventually die. Getting the dead vines
off are another problem altogether, you may need to hire someone to do that
job.

One word of caution - make sure the vines are not poison ivy. That could be
disastrous.

CNB


About the mosquitoes, Cutter makes a hose end spray called "Bugfree
Backyard". You spray it on your lawn just like a liquid herbicide and
it works for 2 or more weeks. I use it all the time with no bad
effects to the lawn or bushes and my yard stays mosquito free for,
sometimes a month. My city doesn't spray so it is a must to treat your
own property. Very good product and is available at most garden
stores.