Good thread!
We just returned from camping and I am covered in bites, this seems to be a bad year. ( ok not covered, but I have a few bites on my ankles, a most annoying spot!)
My poor dog had even a worse time & I gave the one Benadryl to him.
We don’t generally get skeeters, so I didn’t think about riverside in late spring, is not going to be bug free.
No, don’t dilute the dish detergent, just don’t overdo it or your plants may be unhappy.
Here in New England, deer ticks and Lyme Disease are so prevalent that permethrin treated socks and shorts, and pants are almost a necessity for hiking. Not so much in the mountains, but anywhere in south New Hampshire, Mass, Conn, etc.
With the treated clothing I have never found a tick, which is pretty much unheard of.
I actually had a mosquito land on my arm for the first time last week. I had been hiking for 5 hours and the DEET had started to wear off. I needed to re-spritz, but I was 10 minutes from the car. Walked through a marshy area and through a cloud of mosquitos. A couple landed on my bare arm when I stopped.
I’m not crazy about DEET at night after I’ve cleaned up, so I try to get by camping with permethrin pants, shirt, and floppy hat pulled low. That usually works, even right at dusk.
Consumer Reports had a recent test on mosquito repellent. Check for it in your local library.
In actual scientific testing, Avon Skin So Soft has been found to be useless at repelling mosquitoes. And I think it reeks!
We’ve found so many mosquitoes in the house already this year that I shudder to think what’s coming. I’m one of those people who is apparently so appealing to the critters that I can be the only one in a crowd of people who gets bitten, and of course I managed to get myself a Lyme bite a few years back. My primary criterion for a location to retire is no mosquitoes, if there is such a place.
For those of you who find yourselves with bites despite the precautions in this thread, I’ll link to what has been for me the only sure fire way to quell the itch for 4 or 5 hours (not permanently as the article states, but long enough to keep me from being miserable and enable me to get to sleep when I’m particularly tormented):
http://lifehacker.com/use-a-hot-spoon-to-instantly-relieve-itchy-bug-bites-615912899
(I hold the spoon on the bite for only about 15 seconds–after that, it starts to cool down a lot, so I don’t see how doing it for two minutes would be worthwhile. Then I repeat the process once, and I’m good for many hours.) I react to bites with big welts that itch like crazy, and when I discovered this solution it was a eureka moment. It truly works like magic, and you can’t beat the price!
Thanks for the great suggestion, @MommaJ! I forwarded the link to my sister & my H & kids. My great nephew is a bug magnet and got a bite today when no one else did. Fortunately, it’s on his forehead and so far, he hasn’t scratched it. I know I used to attract mosquitoes, especially when I was pregnant, but they aren’t as interested in me any more, especially when I’m around great-nephew. 
Where I live in Florida we rarely have mosquito problems and hardly ever see them. I think it is because the soil by us is a sandy loam that water percolates through real fast and we don’t have a lot of standing water and puddles for mosquitos to breed in. Some parts of Florida have lots of mosquitos such as near Everglades in SW Florida or other areas where water collects after rainy periods. The worst case of mosquitos I ever experienced was visiting in upper Wisconsin in lake region one summertime…the mosquitos were horrible.
I have a small flannel bag filled with filed corn that I heat in the microwave during the cold winter months to keep me warm at night… This corn bag works great for applying heat to mosquito bites.
Thermacell
http://www.thermacell.com/mosquito-repellent
@tlpmom – have you tried Thermacell and did it work?
This wiki link certainly provides some interesting remedies for bites. I am intrigued by the use of the egg membrane.
katliamom Yes they work. We have two of the hand held camouflage ones that my husband takes hunting but we also use them if we are out on the deck in the evening They do work but take about 15 minutes to warm up before they start to repel so you have to plan accordingly We just bought two of the torches for by the pool but haven’t tried them yet
Thanks!
On amazon they sell mosquito repellant that is non-deet. Works well on some people and not so well on others. I just bought some but haven’t tried it yet. Made from various natural oils.