Looking to discuss random thoughts and ideas. Obviously changing .life for millions is the least efficient way of creating a band aid fix. No one will be wearing thick clothes in the summer just for .this. Maybe to stay white, but not for midges. Finding an effective, safe way of killing them and preventing their reproduction seems more logical. Breeding super yeasts seems like a decent idea. But havent read much recently on it.
Some minor talk of the taiwanese quioa plant as an extract but have found quinoa farms to be equally filled with midges.
The last few years everyone has noticed a massive upswing on the spread and density of these little fuggers.
Hoping To brainstorm more and more ideas from all walks. New Zealanders know this issue well haha.
No-one ever appears interested in why they are here, where they came from, or how to get rid of them. It’s just ‘Uh - yeah - there’s a lot of midges around’.
They’re all over town (Hualien) and the suburbs. Like to breed in damp mossy areas (walls, concrete), so the local urban environment suits them fine. Then they love to swarm on warm summer days.
Coasts, river valleys are good places NOT to find them.
From that cahe.org link. What on earth are they talking about?
“Mr. Yuan Lin, the first successfully-evolved New Human Line, who, without applying any insect repellent, let F. taiwana bite his arm. The skin of the New Human Line has the capacity to detoxify. He can utilize the newly-discovered Absolutely Constant Energy Source and the new biological engineering techniques to rapidly change the ion concentration in the cells … so as to eliminate such toxic ingredients … released by F. taiwana.”
Have any of you tried, or heard of, the taiwanese quinoa being used? Seems there are a lot in quinoa farms, so curious what an.extract would be made of.
I have not , you mean to grow it in a given area to repel midges ?
In the TT article listed above it says they like to eat Moss and algae. First step is get rid of those two.
For insect repellent I just use deet, camphor , lemongrass and bamboo vinegar .
In my opinion, midges will eventually create a problems for tourism as well. I live in Hualien and midges have become a 4 season problem. When I first moved here the winter time was not too bad. Now with mild winters the midges are year round. Even when raining they are out. I never wear shorts in Hualien…and when working outside I am completely covered.
The very small amount I have heard about quinoa for midges was as a repellent, presumably an extract. But no idea how reliable that is.
This is ani ssue with prevention their food grows everywhere, even on soil. Our house is loaded with them due to the ditches and rice farms around. one of our farms has a river next to it.it lined with clay soil. Another farm is dry as.anything, next to it has a mahigany plantatiin covered with solid.leaf litter all over the ground Millions of the buggers!
Wondering if perhaps an algae could be altered to have something native that kills them.
They aren’t a problem in parts of Miaolil that I am familiar with and they are mostly rice farming areas. Why ? I don’t have a clue. Well in that area there aren’t any trees or bamboo might be one reason. But even in the hills I didn’t notice them being an issue there. Although that might vary place to place.
Sorry I have no idea beyond that. Do they enter the house as well ?
I don’t get to the West coast much, but I’ve experienced semi-urban Xinzhu and Miaoli as being midge-free. Maybe the east just gets longer spells of rain, and better breeding conditions.
Thankfully they don’t enter the house, not through our mosquito screens anyway.
Interesting about miaoli! Wonder why. Here there are large amounts of organic rice farms. Will go to some areas I know for sure are toxic and see if they are around there. Doesnt seem likely that is the reason though. I wonder how often it is windy up there. They dont stick around in the wind much, but that seems .unlikely a reason as well.
On the east its rainy in Yilan and Hualien, but Taidong is very dry. Along the coast and through the valley there is very little rain at all until getting up to the north and south bits or in the mountains. The moss on the concrete isnt just dead, its black and cracked ha ha. This year is hell, but the midges prevail. Even.in spots the mosquities have dissapeared.
One suggestion saw somewhere on the interwebs was grow more grasses. the algaes and mosses will readily grow between.plants on the soil easily enough which makes me think they say grasses because they will pull out so much moisture and nutrition that the midges loss their food source.
A midge distribution map would be interesting. I’m sure there are some research teams out there who’ve done that. There are a couple of spots I’ve been to outside Hualien City, near the coast, but not exactly on it, which have been free. Mostly though, the county is plagued with them - from town, down through the valley.
Some old folk say they never used to be around (so presume the motor-car helped to distribute them…), but no-one has any clue how to do to reverse the trend.
They weren’t really around when I first came to Taiwan twenty years ago . They exploded in distribution in mid 2000s as far as I reckon . I’ve looked into it over the years and I believe the Taiwan species was first identified on datun mountain in Taichung but remained fairly localised for a century or so. That’s as far as I got but there may be more to it.
Theories
car use and tourism spread them all over tourists spots on the island
the common midge we see was imported from SEA and that is why we saw it rapidly colonise areas (they are common in Sandakan in Malaysia as an example , which I think is the first place I encountered them, climate not very different than East Coast ).
global warming opened new habitats for them
a change in pesticide use allowed them to proliferate along with aforementioned car use
Growing up in N GA we never had them, but they started popping up in the late 80’s. In 2000 I contacted a professor of entomology at the University of GA and asked him about them. He stated that due to the warming temperatures and milder winters they had gradually started to move north and had basically covered all of GA and TN.
Are they the same kind of midges as in Taiwan , Xiao Hei Wen? Interesting
We have what we call ‘midges’ in Ireland and Europe but they aren’t the same kind of insect I believe .
Edit : I am referring to the highland midge which it seems is the same family but a different genus . Very distantly related but quite different behaviour and skin reaction in my experience. Nothing like the mafan of Xiao Hei Wen!
