3 ms·

... if you manage to catch them with the spray, it doesn't seem very practical.

by jaclaz 3y ago

K0balt 3y ago
Probably also detrimental to other insects, I hope not but probably. Insects are a key element in the biosphere ad without them we would be pretty screwed.
shaky-carrousel 3y ago
They talk about using it with sprinklers in the article.
- kadoban 3y ago
  They talk about that, but how would that work? How would you do that without just inundating the entire area with soap? I don't want mosquitoes but I also want my yard to not be a permanent soapy mess.
  - jaclaz 3y ago
    >I don't want mosquitoes but I also want my yard to not be a permanent soapy mess. And what would happen to a lawn? Besides, they don't seem like exactly "environmentally friendly": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant#Safety_and_environmental_risks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant#Safety_and_environm...
    - kadoban 3y ago
      > And what would happen to a lawn? Well if we have a permanent sprinkler dispensing some kind of detergent, how will it _not_ build up? You have to physically hit the bugs with it, so it has to be going all the time or it has to already have covered whatever the bugs will touch. Either way it's just a mess, right?
  - DannyBee 3y ago
    I find this sort of thing pretty silly (permethrins are reasonable pesticides, IMHO), but this is not the hard part. Misting systems are already used to control mosquitoes in yards if that's your goal. Misting surfactant instead of permethrin is not that difficult. It isn't going to be a soapy mess. I make my own ultrasonic cleaning solutions, and mix triton-x (a super-common surfactant) into things. At a much higher concentration than they are talking about here (1%). It is not really that bubbly at this concentration. They are using DOSS and a few others. The units they use (millimolars) are annoying to convert, but assuming i'm doing the math right, you are talking about about 1.5grams per liter of surfactant. (DOSS is 444.5583grams/mol. So we have 444.5583grams/mol * 3millimol = 1.3336749 g per liter) This will not make a soapy mess with any surfactant they are using. It would mist just fine.
    - kadoban 3y ago
      Thanks. What happens to it over time though, won't it just build up like crazy in the place you spray it continuously? Or it dries up and blows away or breaks up in the sun or something?

... if you manage to catch them with the spray, it doesn't seem very practical.

by jaclaz 3y ago

... if you manage to catch them with the spray, it doesn't seem very practical.

Probably also detrimental to other insects, I hope not but probably. Insects are a key element in the biosphere ad without them we would be pretty screwed.

shaky-carrousel 3y ago

They talk about using it with sprinklers in the article.

kadoban 3y ago
They talk about that, but how would that work? How would you do that without just inundating the entire area with soap? I don't want mosquitoes but I also want my yard to not be a permanent soapy mess.
- jaclaz 3y ago
  >I don't want mosquitoes but I also want my yard to not be a permanent soapy mess. And what would happen to a lawn? Besides, they don't seem like exactly "environmentally friendly": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant#Safety_and_environmental_risks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant#Safety_and_environm...
  - kadoban 3y ago
    > And what would happen to a lawn? Well if we have a permanent sprinkler dispensing some kind of detergent, how will it _not_ build up? You have to physically hit the bugs with it, so it has to be going all the time or it has to already have covered whatever the bugs will touch. Either way it's just a mess, right?
- DannyBee 3y ago
  I find this sort of thing pretty silly (permethrins are reasonable pesticides, IMHO), but this is not the hard part. Misting systems are already used to control mosquitoes in yards if that's your goal. Misting surfactant instead of permethrin is not that difficult. It isn't going to be a soapy mess. I make my own ultrasonic cleaning solutions, and mix triton-x (a super-common surfactant) into things. At a much higher concentration than they are talking about here (1%). It is not really that bubbly at this concentration. They are using DOSS and a few others. The units they use (millimolars) are annoying to convert, but assuming i'm doing the math right, you are talking about about 1.5grams per liter of surfactant. (DOSS is 444.5583grams/mol. So we have 444.5583grams/mol * 3millimol = 1.3336749 g per liter) This will not make a soapy mess with any surfactant they are using. It would mist just fine.
  - kadoban 3y ago
    Thanks. What happens to it over time though, won't it just build up like crazy in the place you spray it continuously? Or it dries up and blows away or breaks up in the sun or something?