Has anyone had any experience with these machines. They seem the answer
to a prayer as I live in the West Coast of Scotland. But before I
unlock the padlock on my sporran I would like to know how effective
these are. Running costs etc.

The message .com
from "Ronnie" contains these words:

Has anyone had any experience with these machines. They seem the answer
to a prayer as I live in the West Coast of Scotland. But before I
unlock the padlock on my sporran I would like to know how effective
these are. Running costs etc.

Some bars and hotels here have run them in their summer beer gardens
for a couple of seasons, catch bagfulls and say it makes a noticable
reduction in the midge population but doesn't eliminate all biting.
Since the smoking ban I imagine a whole lot more will be buying and
using them this summer.

They need to be sited carefully in relation to shade , trees, breeze
etc, and the optimum operating spot isn't always near the sitooterie.
Also, they aren't silent. So, either you're outside the midge deathzone
but liable to being bitten, or you're in the death zone listening to a
machine hum (like a fan).

All the home gardeners I know are still holding fire on buying one.
Maybe later versions will be quieter and cheaper. I think we're all
secretly hoping that eventually someone else's investment will suck up
the very last pregnant midge :-)


Janet (Isle of Arran)

The message
from Malcolm contains these words:


In article , Janet Baraclough
writes

Some bars and hotels here have run them in their summer beer gardens
for a couple of seasons, catch bagfulls and say it makes a noticable
reduction in the midge population but doesn't eliminate all biting.
Since the smoking ban I imagine a whole lot more will be buying and
using them this summer.

I don't think there's a ban on smoking out of doors (yet!), so surely
more people will be smoking outside than formerly!

I meant, many more hotels and bars will be using midge-eaters, for
the benefit of their forced-outdoors smokers. ( All the pubs here have
put up some flimsy little flysheet to keep the rain off them (smokers,
not midges). Of course, being eaten alive by midges is probably the
world's most powerful incentive to give up smoking.

I think we're all
secretly hoping that eventually someone else's investment will suck up
the very last pregnant midge :-)

In which case, you will see the serious deterioration of whole
ecosystems dependent on the midge for food!

What eats midges, and why aren't there more midge predators in west
Scotland? Have they all died of obesity?

Has anyone thought up a use for the midges caught by the machines?
Compress them into pellet form for goldfish food, perhaps?

Feeding ruminants. Stuffing pillows ( especially if birdflu makes
goosedown less desirable)
Loft insulation.

Janet.

Janet Baraclough wrote:

What eats midges, and why aren't there more midge predators in west
Scotland? Have they all died of obesity?



The midges ate them...

--
Halmyre

ceci, n'est pas un signature

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes
The message
from Malcolm contains these words:


In article , Janet Baraclough
writes

Some bars and hotels here have run them in their summer beer gardens
for a couple of seasons, catch bagfulls and say it makes a noticable
reduction in the midge population but doesn't eliminate all biting.
Since the smoking ban I imagine a whole lot more will be buying and
using them this summer.

I don't think there's a ban on smoking out of doors (yet!), so surely
more people will be smoking outside than formerly!

I meant, many more hotels and bars will be using midge-eaters, for
the benefit of their forced-outdoors smokers. ( All the pubs here have
put up some flimsy little flysheet to keep the rain off them (smokers,
not midges). Of course, being eaten alive by midges is probably the
world's most powerful incentive to give up smoking.

On the contrary, the more you smoke, and the more smoke you create, the
more it keeps the midges away, so the more people outside that are
smoking the fewer the midges :-)

I think we're all
secretly hoping that eventually someone else's investment will suck up
the very last pregnant midge :-)

In which case, you will see the serious deterioration of whole
ecosystems dependent on the midge for food!

What eats midges, and why aren't there more midge predators in west
Scotland? Have they all died of obesity?

Everything eats midges! Bats, birds, other flying insects and,
especially, other soil-living invertebrates eating their larvae, though
it has to be said that that's what midge larvae feed on too, if smaller
species! Carnivorous plants, like sundew and butterwort.

The most important ecological effect of midges, though, is probably that
they prevent herbivores staying too long in one place and so damaging
the fragile moorland, upland or tundra habitats.

Has anyone thought up a use for the midges caught by the machines?
Compress them into pellet form for goldfish food, perhaps?

Feeding ruminants.

Now, now, we all know what happens if you feed animal protein to
ruminants!!

Stuffing pillows ( especially if birdflu makes
goosedown less desirable)
Loft insulation.

Cat litter.
Midge soup.
Garden mulch/fertiliser.

--
Malcolm

"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

In article .com, Ronnie
writes
Has anyone had any experience with these machines. They seem the answer
to a prayer as I live in the West Coast of Scotland. But before I
unlock the padlock on my sporran I would like to know how effective
these are. Running costs etc.

A friend who has one can now sit out in his walled garden of an evening
with little or no problem. However, he wasn't very happy about the rate at
which it used the gas cylinders, reckoning that his running costs were at
least £1.00/day - the manufacturer's recommendation being to leave the
machine on 24/7 rather than just turning it on when he wanted to use the
garden. That was last year. Propane gas cylinders will have increased in
price since just like other fuels.
Malcolm

i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?
Jenny

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

In article .com,
Ronnie writes
Has anyone had any experience with these machines. They seem the answer
to a prayer as I live in the West Coast of Scotland. But before I
unlock the padlock on my sporran I would like to know how effective
these are. Running costs etc.

A friend who has one can now sit out in his walled garden of an evening
with little or no problem. However, he wasn't very happy about the rate
at which it used the gas cylinders, reckoning that his running costs were
at least £1.00/day - the manufacturer's recommendation being to leave the
machine on 24/7 rather than just turning it on when he wanted to use the
garden. That was last year. Propane gas cylinders will have increased in
price since just like other fuels.
Malcolm

i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?
Jenny


I don't know if my newsreader is running out of sync but where did the
Carbon Monoxide thingy make an appearance?
AFAIK the machine uses propane and some Pheromones--there is reference to
purging the machine with Carbon *dioxide*.
I and Janet Baraclough strongly recommend that several large scale models be
installed in all gardens in the UK:-)
http://www.midgemonster.co.uk/

The message
from "JennyC" contains these words:


i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?

The machines emit carbon dioxide, CO2..the same as you do when you
breathe out.

CO2 ( in expelled breath) is what attracts midges to people and animals.



Janet

"Janet Baraclough" wrote
The message
from "JennyC" contains these words:

i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?

The machines emit carbon dioxide, CO2..the same as you do when you
breathe out.

CO2 ( in expelled breath) is what attracts midges to people and
animals.

Aha, there's your answer then. Never mind the technology, just learn
better breath-holding techniques, David Blaine style.

--
Sue

"Malcolm" wrote in message
news

In article , JennyC
writes

"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

In article .com,
Ronnie
writes
Has anyone had any experience with these machines. They seem the answer
to a prayer as I live in the West Coast of Scotland. But before I
unlock the padlock on my sporran I would like to know how effective
these are. Running costs etc.

A friend who has one can now sit out in his walled garden of an evening
with little or no problem. However, he wasn't very happy about the rate
at
which it used the gas cylinders, reckoning that his running costs were
at
least £1.00/day - the manufacturer's recommendation being to leave the
machine on 24/7 rather than just turning it on when he wanted to use the
garden. That was last year. Propane gas cylinders will have increased in
price since just like other fuels.
Malcolm

i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?

Err, they put out carbon *dioxide* not *monoxide*.

Malcolm

Just xall me 'the dyslectic reader' from now on !
Jenny :~)

In article , JennyC
writes

"Malcolm" wrote in message
news

In article , JennyC
writes

"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

In article .com,
Ronnie
writes
Has anyone had any experience with these machines. They seem the answer
to a prayer as I live in the West Coast of Scotland. But before I
unlock the padlock on my sporran I would like to know how effective
these are. Running costs etc.

A friend who has one can now sit out in his walled garden of an evening
with little or no problem. However, he wasn't very happy about the rate
at
which it used the gas cylinders, reckoning that his running costs were
at
least £1.00/day - the manufacturer's recommendation being to leave the
machine on 24/7 rather than just turning it on when he wanted to use the
garden. That was last year. Propane gas cylinders will have increased in
price since just like other fuels.
Malcolm

i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?

Err, they put out carbon *dioxide* not *monoxide*.

Malcolm

Just xall me 'the dyslectic reader' from now on !
Jenny :~)

OK, just while I puzzle out what "xall" means.......:-))

--
Malcolm

"JennyC" wrote in message
...


i always thought that carbon monoxide was poisinous to humans too?
Or are the concentrations so low as not to matter?

Err, they put out carbon *dioxide* not *monoxide*.

Malcolm

Just xall me 'the dyslectic reader' from now on !
Jenny :~)

Ok then, I'll xall you the dyslectic reader!(:-)

Alan