Screening Out Loud

Looking at creating space outside with a physical barrier from pest bugs, I'm looking at garden netting on Amazon. It comes in 10' x 50' sheets. Wondering if anyone has more permieish ideas on materials or sources to buy it from.

I think 8' would be the ideal height, 10' is okay to work with, anything bigger would be cut down to 7 or 8 feet so don't want to create waste from that. I think the more rigid the better. I'll check into local garden stores, not sure if building places would have any kind of screen in over 7' rolls? It should be durable enough to brush up against regularly and have things occasionally dragged along it, like the edge of a chair or box being moved.

I have zero experience with this possible alternative - does anyone here have experience with using potted mints/citronella/lemongrass to create a less-buggy outdoor space? On a scale of Bug Free Zone to I'm Drained of Blood, how well does it work?

So what sort of 'pests], young children, grass hoppers, aphids?
It makes a difference.

I'm sure he's talking about mosquitoes.  My guess is the mint/citronella/lemongrass approach would not help enough.

Another idea that could help the general population levels is a mosquito trap.

I don't have any input on environmentally friendly netting options.  I doubt metal screen would be easy to get in those sizes and the embodied energy would be higher than a plastic option.  If you don't need to see well through it there might be a cheesecloth like fabric you could get but I don't know if that would really work...

Hi Coydon,
Most people around here just setup a Screen Room, or Screen Wall Tent or Mesh Wall Tent. They call it many different names. Some are built, like a room with screens instead of solid walls. Some are purchased, that look like a tall tent with mesh walls. They seem to work well around here and we have pretty high black fly and mosquito populations.

John C Daley wrote:So what sort of 'pests], young children, grass hoppers, aphids?
It makes a difference.

Uups, the software didn't send me new post notifications. Mike is right, it is mostly mosquitoes. There are various types of biting flies around also, but they seem more territorial. Not sure about midges/no-seeums, the others get overwhelming so can't single out all the flies.

Ezra Beaton wrote:I have zero experience with this possible alternative - does anyone here have experience with using potted mints/citronella/lemongrass to create a less-buggy outdoor space? On a scale of Bug Free Zone to I'm Drained of Blood, how well does it work?

I was going to give a citronella candle a try, but read up on ingredients and it looks like studies have been done showing that those ingredients do have some deterrent effect when sprayed directly on a person or item, they have no special effect when burnt. I've been burning regular wood in the J-tube stove in my yurt and that smoke knocks them back some, I'm guessing citronella wouldn't work any better when burnt.

Are you asking about just having the various plants growing around an area? The repellent traits I read up on were about extracts, can't speak to the plants in regular form.

I've heard mention of smudges being used traditionally to repel pests, will have to look up methods of that to see about improving over a basic fire/candle...

I bought the 10'x50' nylon mesh. It will be enough to construct a 6x12x8 5 sided box to suspend in a space under a canopy, I just need to cut a 12' ceiling section and figure out how to 'sew' it to the four 'walls'. This is the super fine (.04" or 60 mesh per inch) netting designed to place over crops to keep insects out of.

Seeing as how I have about 2' extra fabric on each surface to have the 10' fabric hang at about 8' off the ground, I'm thinking that rolling an extra foot from each side and top together and using those large clamping paper clips every foot or so should hold the seams and leave a foot at the bottom to provide a draped barrier to flying buggers...