Text Box: (A former resident of Wellesley Circle, Edd Barrows is a Professor of Biology at Georgetown University.)       Many nongardeners certainly don't appreciate that fact that we gardeners have to be a very tough lot to meet our many challenges each year. From May through October, we now have to deal with the ferocious Asian Tiger Mosquito.   In 1999, this blood-thirsty fly invaded my garden.   It probably entered the U.S. in about 1985, in Houston, Texas, in tire casings from Japan.   It is now in at least 24 states of eastern U.S. Before 1999, I could garden in my yard in shorts and a T-shirt, and get only an occasional mosquito bite.  It's a new tougher ball game now.   Tiger bites are highly aggravating; further, this mosquito can spread diseases including Dengue fever, Dog Heartworm, encephalitis, West Nile Virus, and Yellow Fever. Anytime day or night she is likely to find an Text Box: unprotected part of my body from which to extract her delicious blood meal.   To reduce chances of getting bites I cover my skin with heavy, loose cloths and insect repellent.   Once I but forgot to cover a few places.   Before I knew it, I had seven bites (including on my scalp and on my back, where the microvampires bit through my shirt).        The Tigers have now trained me to look for any standing water in my yard daily. These mosquitoes can develop in a very small "pond," even in a cap from a jar.   There are small ponds in my gutters when debris stops the water from draining fully.   To remove these ponds, I clean the gutter every several days. When I am in a hurry, I squirt dishwashing detergent into the gutter ponds.   But even when I control the Tigers in my yard, their armies still invade from my neighborhood.       Dinner on your deck?   Well yes, if you are protected from the Tigers.   A citronella candle helps.   Covering your skin with clothes and insect repellent (with DEET) help even more.   Some people recommend a repellent with about 35% DEET for effective mosquito control.   A good application should last for hours, but it depends on how much you sweat.         The Tigers are just one of the thousand of alien, invasive species that have invaded our bodies, farms, forests, gardens, livestock, yards, and elsewhere, creating havoc and costing the U.S. about $270 billion annually.

 

next town council meeting

 

Monday,  September 11—8:00 p.m.

Glen Echo Town Hall

Contact the clerk-treasurer to add an item to the agenda
Text Box: GARDENING WITH TIGERS OF THE SIX-LEGGED KIND By Edd Barrows Text Box: TWO REQUESTS FOR TOWN HALL DISCUSSED A request for use on the town hall on Saturday, Oct. 28 as a backup venue for a party in case of rain was turned down by the town council last month because it is the scheduled date of the town Halloween party as well as the regular last-Saturday-of-the-month film presentation. Councilman Dan Macy indicated that he would be uncomfortable with moving the town party and movie to Sunday night, the only other reasonable night. Councilman Steve Matney agreed, adding that he was not only uncomfortable in taking such an action so that the hall would serve merely as a backup site, but that there was a good chance that the hall would be unused on Saturday if the town party were moved to Sunday. Another request for free use of the hall on Sunday nights in the winter was also refused. The requestor, Donna Barker, used the hall last winter to teach her blues dancing classes when the stone tower was being renovated. Last year she was granted use of the hall for free, but that request came from the Park Partnership, whereas this year’s request was directly from Ms. Barker. The council finally concluded that Ms. Barker could use the hall if she paid for it, if she accommodated the schedule of Chautauqua events expected to take place on Sunday evenings, and any other event the town wished to hold. --Dave Chitwood