"Colbyt" wrote in message ...
"Sharon" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I'm new to this group, but hope you guys can give suggestions. I
moved
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



Hi Fellow Lurker.

I have seen several trees killed by the Ivy and stuff growing upon them.
The safest way is to cut the vines with some type of shear remove a 2-3 foot
section. Then when the vine sprouts out again you can treat the new growth
chemically without to much fear of hurting the tree. Alternately you could
try pulling or digging out the roots.

Don't know anything about the backyard bugs. Those nasty little green flies
give a major hickey when they bite me.


Deer ticks are the primary vector for Lyme disease, not mosquitos.
Mosquitos can carry West Nile. Not sure which is worse actually. If
you've gotten rid of all the standing water, including clogged
gutters, areas under gutter leaders, any open buckets, etc, you've
done what you can to prevent them from breeding.

The best solution to control mosquitos is one of the new mosquito
killing machines. These units use propane and a chemical attractant.
They have a catalyst which turns the propane into CO2. That together
with the attractant draws mosquitos in, at which point they get sucked
up. One unit will clear an average size home yard. Some units
require electricity, others are self powered. You can find more info
online or some of the home centers carry them. I don't have one, but
I have heard that they are effective and if I had a problem, that
would be my solution.