Tag Archives: mosquitoes

Growing a Bat Friendly Garden

By Cecille Jones, Monroe Master Gardener Volunteer

This article appeared in the July 2021 Issue of Gardening in Orange County.

Cluster of bats hanging upside down from a ciment ceiling
Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus)

My informal poll on bats confirmed my suspicion: people either like them or hate them. There’s no in-between. I don’t mean to preach to the converted. But if you shudder at the thought of inviting these flying nocturnal mammals into your property, it’s time to talk facts about bats.

First, let’s bust some myths. People often use the phrase “blind as a bat,” but there are no bats that are actually blind. Additionally, bats are not flying rats. They belong to the order Chiroptera, not Rodentia. And not all bats have rabies, either. In fact, bats contract rabies much less frequently than other mammals. Moreover, bats do not suck people’s blood; nor do they get tangled in people’s hair.

A little brown bat on the ground with its mouth open, showing its teeth
Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus)

Ignore their bad reputation. It’s unwarranted. Instead, focus on creating an inviting space for bats to visit your yard so you can enjoy the many benefits these fuzzy creatures have to offer.

Like birds, bees and butterflies, bats are important pollinators – only they cover the night shift. According to the U.S. Forest Service, bats pollinate and disperse seeds for more than 700 plants. Without bats, you can forget avocados, bananas, dates, peaches, figs, mangoes and other commercially valuable crops. Bats are the only pollinator of the agave plant used to make tequila. Without them, you can kiss your margarita goodbye.

Bats are also excellent eradicators of pesky insects like mosquitoes, caterpillars, moths, gnats and flying beetles. They have been documented to eat bugs that attack pecans, almonds, corn, coffee, tomatoes, cucumbers and beans. A single bat can devour up to 1,200 mosquito-sized insects every hour. That makes bats your friendly provider of free nontoxic pesticide. Scientists estimate that bats in the United States save us billions of dollars in pest control services every year. That’s good reason to love, not loathe, bats.

Because bats feed on insects, they suffer when there are problems with insect populations or when habitats are destroyed or poorly managed. Hence, bats are good indicators of biodiversity.

To attract bats to your garden, plant flowers that are late-day blooming or night-scented. Here are some suggestions:

Samll white flowersMock orange shrub (Philadelphus virginalis): This late-blooming deciduous plant provides a stunning citrus fragrance and can be used in groups as screening or as a stand-alone specimen. They also make excellent cut flowers indoors. It’s not a true orange, and its name supposedly derives from the fragrant white flowers which in some varieties resemble that of orange blossoms.

Spherical cluster of lavander colored flowersPhlox (Phlox paniculata): This native American wildflower is also known as garden phlox and summer phlox. They are sun-loving perennials with a long flowering season. Phlox are tall-eye-catching plants with large clusters of pink, lavender or white flowers, called panicles. They bloom for several weeks in summer and make excellent cut flowers.

Bright yellw spikes of tiny flowers Goldenrods (Solidago spp.): A native to the United States, goldenrods have more than a hundred varieties, with one suitable for every climate. They are clump-forming perennial wildflowers that are topped with plumes of fluffy yellow flowers. Goldenrods provide nectar for pollinators and when planted near vegetables, can draw bad bugs away. They are thought to cause summer allergies, which is a misconception since the pollen from allergy-creating ragweed is present when the goldenrod blooms.

Small rosemary bush with lots of small blue-purple flowers
Rosemary

Herbs can attract bats as well. You can plant rosemary, thyme, chives, lemon balm and marjoram to attract bats to your garden. Just stay away from cinnamon, eucalyptus and peppermint. Bats are repelled by their scent.

 Besides food, bats also need water and shelter. If you don’t live near a pond or stream, a birdbath will help attract them. And what could be more welcoming than giving bats a home of their own? You can buy a bat house online or make your own. The internet is brimming with DIY bat house plans, along with instructions on where to hang them.

Despite their bad reputation, bats actually do more good than bad. So give them a warm welcome and grow a bat friendly garden.

Bat Resources

Bat Conservation International

Bat Pollination – US Forest Service

Bats of New York – NYS DEC

Indiana Bat

Little Brown Bat

Northern Long-eared Bat

White-Nose Syndrome Threatens New York’s Bats

Bats – NYS Integrated Pest Management

Bats – Oregon State Extension

Grow plants for bats! – University of Minnesota Extension

Wildlife Management: Bats – Cornell University

Pest Watch: Mosquitoes in our Ecosystem

By Cecille Jones, Monroe Master Gardener Volunteer

This article appeared in the August 2021 Issue of Gardening in Orange County.

Graphic: The World's Deadliest Animals (Number of People Killed by Animals per year): Mosquito 725,000; Human 475,000; Snake 50,000; Dog 25,000; Tsete fly (sleeping sickness) 10,000; Assassin Bug (Chagas disease) 10,000; Freshwater Snail (schistocomiasis) 10,000; Ascaris roundworm 2,500; Tapeworm 2,000; Crocodile 1,000; Hippopotamus 500; Elephant 100; Lion 100; Wolf 10; Shark 10 (Source: Gatesnotes) StatistaDid you know one of the smallest insects in the world also happens to be the deadliest to humans?  Yup, those pesky mosquitoes renowned for ruining many an outdoor evening event kill more humans every year than sharks, snakes, lions, crocodiles, and hippos combined.  Of course they don’t do it alone; mosquitoes do not actually cause diseases themselves but act as vectors (carriers) for deadly diseases such as malaria, encephalitis, dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus and Zika, to name a few.  To transmit these diseases, mosquitoes first need to feed on the blood of a human or other animal that is already infected by the disease.  Afterwards when they bite a healthy human, they pass on the disease.

Close-up of a blood filled mosquito
Female Mosquito

There are as many as 3,500 species of mosquitoes and they live on every continent except Antarctica. Not all mosquitoes bite, some adult mosquitoes feed exclusively flower nectar. And for the mosquitoes that do bite, less than one hundred species are carriers of horrible diseases. And it is only the female mosquitoes that take a blood meal from hosts like us. And they only do it, because they need the protein from our blood to produce their eggs.

 Larvae of Culex Mosquitoes. As seen on the picture, larvae make dense groups in standing water. A shift in the feeding behavior of those mosquitoes helps explain the rising incidence of West Nile virus in North America. It appears that the darker structure at the top center of the image is one pupa.
Mosquito larvae (Culex sp.)

So, what are mosquitoes good for, you ask?  Mosquito larvae are an integral part of the aquatic ecosystems in which they live.  Mosquito larvae that live in wetlands consume a lot of organic matter. By straining organic particles through their system and converting into their own tissue matter they help recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.  Mosquito larvae serve as an important food source for other aquatic animals such as dragonfly larva and fish.  From the human point of view, mosquitoes seem to exist to annoy us or make us sick, but from the point of view of spiders, birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and other animals that rely on them as a source of food, mosquitoes are important for survival.  For example, in the Arctic tundra, birds rely on the swarms of mosquitoes to stay alive.

A mosquito feeding on the nectar of flower with petals and a brown centerMosquitoes are beneficial to plants as well.  Many adult mosquitoes depend on plant nectar for their energy, and while retrieving the nectar, they also pollinate plants.  And as we know that pollination is key to plant reproduction, mosquitoes play an important role in helping plants survive so they can provide food and shelter for other organisms.

The reality is that not enough is known about all the interspecies interactions of mosquitoes to get rid of them without doing harm to other species in our ecosystems.  In the meantime, scientists are studying mosquito saliva in hopes of finding properties that can lead to the development of anti-clotting drugs that can be used to treat cardiovascular disease.  Until that day arrives, we may not have a conclusive answer to the question: What are mosquitoes good for?

Learn more about mosquitoes:

VIDEO: Mosquitoes in Your Back Yard – NYS Integrated Pest Management, Cornell University

Mosquitoes – NYS Integrated Pest Management, Cornell University

Mosquitoes – Medical Entomology, Purdue University

Meet the Mosquito With a Big Appetite⁠—for Other Mosquitoes – Entomology Today