Hi Kathy, As an angler as well as a gardener, Im always interested when the subject of insect bites comes up!! I was fortunate to fish for Salmon in the North of Norway where the local ghillies swear by eating garlic as a deterrent
to the local midges and it seemed to work !! Since coming home I now take odourless garlic capsules every morning and i have to say, it does seem to work for me and of course, its said to be good for your heart as well !!
best wishes, Lannerman

Gordon H wrote:
So it is clearly not possible to offer any information on this forum without
attracting petty nit picking.
It's a newsgroup, and there are nit-pickers on almost every newsgroup.

And nits.

On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 Spamlet wrote:

(Interestingly the Wiki says the 'Blandford Fly' version was eradicated at
Blandford with Bacillus thuringiensis - which was the favoured 'organic'
control for cabbage white caterpillars until the GM companies got hold of
it
and started sticking its toxin genes into everything, so that eventually
they will just breed resistance to it and the 'organic' gardener will be
defenceless...)

No, not eradicated. Here is what the wiki actually says:

"In the late 1980s, Dorset County Council asked the Institute for
Freshwater Ecology (now the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), then based
in Wareham, Dorset, to investigate a means of ameliorating the problem.
They suggested using a biological insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis
israelensis (Bti), which was sprayed into the weed beds, resulting in the
destruction of 80–90% of the Blandford fly larvae and a corresponding
reduction in the numbers of people bitten."

Not the same as "eradicate"! :-)

So it is clearly not possible to offer any information on this forum without
attracting petty nit picking. Explain in full with quotes, and one is 'on
an ego trip' and told to be 'succinct': give a 'succinct' account with a
reference, and the nit pickers fly in to print it out for you.

My word, you *are* a humourless sort of chappie.

Much better gardening advice - and advice on just about anything in fact -
on uk.d-i-y. Where there is plenty of extended discussion and the nit
pickers are in the minority.

Yes, of course, the grass being, as it were, greener. :-)

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 Spamlet wrote:

(Interestingly the Wiki says the 'Blandford Fly' version was eradicated
at
Blandford with Bacillus thuringiensis - which was the favoured 'organic'
control for cabbage white caterpillars until the GM companies got hold
of
it
and started sticking its toxin genes into everything, so that eventually
they will just breed resistance to it and the 'organic' gardener will be
defenceless...)

No, not eradicated. Here is what the wiki actually says:

"In the late 1980s, Dorset County Council asked the Institute for
Freshwater Ecology (now the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), then
based
in Wareham, Dorset, to investigate a means of ameliorating the problem.
They suggested using a biological insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis
israelensis (Bti), which was sprayed into the weed beds, resulting in
the
destruction of 80–90% of the Blandford fly larvae and a
corresponding
reduction in the numbers of people bitten."

Not the same as "eradicate"! :-)

So it is clearly not possible to offer any information on this forum
without
attracting petty nit picking. Explain in full with quotes, and one is 'on
an ego trip' and told to be 'succinct': give a 'succinct' account with a
reference, and the nit pickers fly in to print it out for you.

My word, you *are* a humourless sort of chappie.

Much better gardening advice - and advice on just about anything in fact -
on uk.d-i-y. Where there is plenty of extended discussion and the nit
pickers are in the minority.

Yes, of course, the grass being, as it were, greener. :-)

David

No: mostly they are looking for ways to kill it so I sought a little light
relief here.

S

"lannerman" wrote in message
...

Kathy McIntosh;900722 Wrote:
Went down the lottie this afternoon and have come home with about 20
bites.
The buggers even got through a long sleeved top! Anyway, I recall a
discussion last year when an Avon product was mentioned as the best way
to
keep the little sods at bay. Could someone please remind me what it
was?
TIA
--
Kathy, who's feeling decidedly itchy and trying very hard not to scratch
her
hands :-{

Hi Kathy, As an angler as well as a gardener, Im always interested when
the subject of insect bites comes up!! I was fortunate to fish for
Salmon in the North of Norway where the local ghillies swear by eating
garlic as a deterrent
to the local midges and it seemed to work !! Since coming home I now
take odourless garlic capsules every morning and i have to say, it does
seem to work for me and of course, its said to be good for your heart as
well !!
best wishes, Lannerman

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go.

--
Kathy

In message ,
writes
Gordon H wrote:
So it is clearly not possible to offer any information on this forum without
attracting petty nit picking.
It's a newsgroup, and there are nit-pickers on almost every newsgroup.

And nits.

LOL!
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

On Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:22:17 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2010-09-18 23:11:42 +0100, "Kathy McIntosh" said:

Went down the lottie this afternoon and have come home with about 20
bites. The buggers even got through a long sleeved top! Anyway, I
recall a discussion last year when an Avon product was mentioned as the
best way to keep the little sods at bay. Could someone please remind
me what it was?
TIA

Skin So Soft. In this country they're not allowed to advertise it as
an insect repellent, as far as I'm aware. But it is. It works, IME.

Just got badly bitten in Sorrento. Forgot to take my Avon spray with
me! lesson learned!

Pam in Bristol