As I get older, I remember less and less just to be candid. An old rule of thumb I was told once was to change your furnace filters when the time changes – the whole fall back, spring forward thing. The problem is two fold – #1, I eventually change them around that date and #2, the more modern filters with finer and finer filtration capabilities need to be changed more frequently – maybe every 60 days with a 1″ filter.
So, I created a small “change log” sheet that I taped on the side of the furnace to help me remember when I last changed them. It’s a simple thing – I just made a four column table where I could record the date I changed the filter. Done.
Here’s the PDF that you can print if you are interested.
Click on the above to open or right click to save in your browser.
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Our home is in a former swampy area that was drained in the 1980s and a subdivision built. In short, you dig down and can hit water fairly soon – usually within 10 feet. At any rate, we’ve had a very wet spring and summer and had standing water in our lawn until late-June and the mosquitoes have been the worst I ever recall in the 20 years we’ve been here. We could not stay out at night or we’d get attacked unless we hosed ourselves down with Deep Woods Off. In short, something needed to be done.
This hedgerow is right by my garage and ensured the mosquitoes had a perfect base to attack me from and rings our property:
When I was at Ace Hardware, I saw Off! brand’s Backyard Pretreat that was supposed to kill mosquitoes and leave a residue to repel them. I thought they would know what to do given their experience – as it turns out, this product is a rip off.
I’m sad to report that after three jugs of this stuff and my getting bit over and over while applying it, I can’t say it did anything at all even several days later. I really had high hopes – I dragged a long hose all over the place spraying stuff down over and over with no noticeable improvement.
On Facebook, I posted my woes with Mosquito control and a friend, Allan, suggested Talstar P Pro and a Ryobi cordless electric sprayer to help with evenly spraying a ton of solution. I had never heard of Talstar so I did a search and it is very well regarded. Allan told me they live on a wooded ravine and he’s been using it for 10 years to control mosquitoes and it worked exceptionally well for him.
Talstar P Professional
Every once in a while on Amazon, you see a review score that is mind blowing. FMC’s Talstar P Professional 96 oz has 2,263 customer reviews and a combined score of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That is one heck of a score and is only possible if something works really, really well.
5/21/2023 You will no longer find it on Amazon – you need the liquid Talstar and I tend to find eBay the best source to buy it. Click here for a current list on eBay.
So, based on what I read and Allan’s recommendation, I ordered the 96oz bottle. I then read up on the Ryobi sprayer. It gets good reviews, uses the 18volt Ryobi batteries (it comes with one battery and a charger) and it has a three year warranty. I ordered it off the Home Depot website [Click here] as they had free next day home delivery and since I had to wait for the Talstar, I figured it would save me a trip.
Note: You can use any pressurized sprayer you want – I have 1.5 acres and knew I would be applying gallons and gallons of it. My shoulders and elbows hurt enough as it is and I didn’t want to incur the repetitive stress.
The sprayer arrived the next day and the Talstar the day after. While I was waiting, I went to the FMC website to read up on Talstar to make sure I understood how to apply it plus I peppered Allan with his experience.
The active ingredient is Bifenthrin, which is similar to the chemical extracted from Chrysanthemums to kill insects. Here are two links so you can read more at the National Pesticide Information Center.the user guide for the Talstar P.
Ryobi Model P2830A One+ 18-Volt Lithiu-Ion Cordless 2 Gallon Chemical Sprayer
Here are photos of the sprayer. I charged the battery and screwed in all the fittings. They are all lose so be sure to do that. I didn’t have any loose plastic in the tank but I did rinse it out just to be safe.
Application
After reading the user guide, I planned to use one ounce of Talstar to one gallon of water to ensure I had residue to continue killing mosquitoes. Since it was a two gallon tank, I increased it just a bit to 2.5 ounces per two gallon tank. Note, a real nice perk is that the tank lid is a measuring cup! I would use it, rinse it out and pour the mix into the tank before filling it with water.
While doing the work, I wore Nitrile gloves just to avoid contact plus I was constantly adjusting the sprayer tip from coarse mist to a stream to try and reach back over brush, through leaves, etc.
FMC recommends spraying at night or in the evening when mosquitoes are active. I was busy the first night so I did it the following morning at 7am. I mixed up two gallons and started spraying around the house, pool, garden and so forth. I hosed down the bushes, the walls of the house and under the eaves. I also sprayed the hedge – first using a coarse spray on all the brush, leaves and ground. I found adjusting the tip to a stream was handy to penetrate the brush and also reach further back. I’d just come back to the hose and what not and mix another two gallons of spray (2 gallons water and 2.5oz of Talstar) and kept spraying.
It took me aboput 30-45 minutes and 8 gallons, or four complete tanks, to do most of our yard. I skipped probably a half acre of grass starting about 100-150 feet from our house but I did all of the hedge row, bushes, etc. I was pleasantly surprised that the 2.0Ah battery was able to do the whole yard. When I finished the first batch, I did plug the battery in and let it charge.
That night I still saw mosquitoes, but fewer of them, and applied a second dose around 7:30-8pm. Same procedure – 8 gallons focusing around the house, all the bushes, etc.
Results
The next morning – no mosquitoes. Whoa!!! I did not see one single mosquito all day. That night I worked on cars without being attacked! I did so again yesterday and just had breakfast with my wife in her garden — something that would have been next to impossible.
I’d say the spray got a good number of them but when they landed in the residue, that got rid of a ton as well. In other words, you might see a bit of a delay from dose to noticeable reduction.
In four weeks, I am going to do it again. Even my wife, who always groans at me and my tinkering, was impressed and told me to make sure I apply another dose before the first one wears off!
It’s really not that expensive in the long run. The bottle holds 96oz. I use 10oz per 8 gallons (4 batches x 2.5oz/batch). If I apply it twice per application, that means I’ll use 20oz per time, which means I’ll get just over 4 complete applications (so about four months of protection). At $35/bottle, that’s about $9/time plus however you want to account for the sprayer. For me, it’s worth it. My wife really reacts to mosquito bites plus we can enjoy being outside again and I can go back to working outside without getting attacked.
I’d highly, highly recommend you skip the ripoff gimmicks and temporary fixes. Spend the money and get Talstar Pro and a spray bottle (if you don’t have one). It made a world of difference for us and wanted to spread the word that this stuff really works.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
My dad raised honey bees when I was growing up so we had a lot of wax. One year, my mom and dad bought some molds and we cast candles. For wicks, we used heavy cotton string. When you put string in hot liquid wax, capillary action occurs and the wax is “wicked” into the string. The candle then cools and away you go. Now I had pretty much forgotten about this for about 20 years until I saw our growing collection of almost empty candles or candles in glass bottles that had burned the way around wick but left a ton of wax on the jar walls. It was one of those “Gee, I bet I can fix that” moments.
Here are some supplies and tools to gather up: #36 cotton twine (it has to be cotton and not a synthetic), a washer to serve as weight, gloves to handle the hot containers, needlenose piers, a screw driver, cutters and a piece of cardboard to protect the table in case I spilled wax.
Also, your work area should be near the microwave. The counter I used was about eight feet away. Make sure there are no trip/fall hazards between the microwave and work area and that you have a drop cloth, piece of card board, newspaper or something to deal with spatters and spills. You do not need to be in a rush – indeed, take your time!! It takes wax a while to cool off. I just want the work center close by to reduce the chances of dropping the hot wax.
So, step by step if you just want to melt the wax down into the bottom and add a new wick:
Use a cloth to firmly rub the glass rim and remove any waxy soot (the black junk on the glass). It will come off.
If the current metal weight/anchor is exposed, remove it with your needlenose pliers. If you don’t, you’ll see arching in your microwave and potentially hurt the microwave. Seriously, this is not a joke – you can ruin your microwave my putting exposed metal in it.
Microwave the candle in the glass jar until it all melts. The time to melt will depend on the formulation of the wax, how strong your microwave is and how much wax there is. On one candle it took about 5-6 minutes and on another it was much longer. Go for a minute, check, go for a minute, check, over and over – don’t try and do it all at once. You don’t want molten wax bubbling all over inside your microwave as it will be a HUGE mess to clean. Have you ever heated water too much in a microwave and had it bubble over everywhere? This is the same thing but when the wax cools it is a bear to get off. So, be careful and go slow. Don’t heat it any more than you need to.
Tie a weight to the end of the string so it will sink to the bottom – I used an old washer I had laying on my bench
Take the candle out wearing gloves. The glass can be very hot so you don’t want to get burned or drop the molten wax as it will be a bear to clean up. Just be careful and have a good grip. I wear lined work gloves. You only need to hold the container long enough to get it from the microwave to your work area that should be close by.
If you haven’t done so already, use your pliers and remove the old wick.
lower the weighted end of the string into the center of the candle. When the string bends, it has reached the bottom so lift up slightly until the string is straight
Lay your screw driver or something else across the mouth of the jar and make sure the string is still centered. Put something on the ball of string / extra string so it stays in position. I found I could move the ball around and the weight of the ball was usually enough. Another time I put a pair of pliers across the string so the weight of the pliers would hold the string in place.
Now if you want to consolidate candles, do the above to the first candle, let it cool (if you want), and then heat the next candle and poor it into the first one. Don’t forget to remove the old wick and weight. Take your time, be safe, the wax will not cool fast. So here is the second candle. The wick weight is buried under the wax so I will remove it once the wax is molten. If it were exposed or close to the surface, I would dig it out.
Here is is after I melted it, removed the anchor and poured it into the first candle.
After a little over an hour, the candle has cooled enough that I could cut the wick. The wick will burn down to whatever height the wax can reach and burn so don’t worry about it being too long. You do need to be patient and let it cool or you will make a big mess while trying to cut it (I made that mistake with another candle where it looked solid but was still way too soft and I made a mess). You just need to be patient and let it cool all the way is the bottom line.
That’s it. I like this kind of stuff. It’s a great distraction from the normal work. You can combine waxes, try different thicknesses of cotton string, etc. Have fun!
Note, go to Ace or your local hardware store for the cotton string. It should be $4-6 for a ball that will last you a long time considering you are using maybe 6″ at a time.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
