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Comment by DoingIsLearning | Hacker News Reader

What vegetation harbours mosquitos?

Bamboo definitely does.

Anecdote: I live in Texas. We had ~10 feet of bamboo against our entire back fence, something like ~70 feet. Bamboo isn't native, but grows very fast and provides a lot of visual cover, which is nice. In past years mosquitoes have been real terrorists, you could often have multiple landing on you at once. Nothing we tried made much of a dent except good bug spray all over the body and clothes, and even that wasn't perfect. They were relentless, often landing even on our dog, which surprised me given that he's a lab mix and covered in fur. Guests always commented on how bad it was.

This year we had a backyard office built, and ended up clearing ~10x40 feet of the bamboo for the office. There has been a massive difference in the number of mosquitoes since the clearing. We often go outside for a long time without bug spray at all, I never see them on the dog any more, and guests no longer notice the bugs at all. And we didn't even remove all the bamboo - we still have about 10x30 feet off to the side, and neighbors to both sides and behind our backyard still have some.

Curious, but in your parts, is bamboo synonymous with Japanese knot-wood or is it still considered a separate plant?

I’ve got my oldest kid trained to be on the lookout for knotwood shoots in our yard. It grows and takes over so dann fast.

(Japanese Knotweed is very distinct from bamboo. It looks quite different too.

Pulling up knotweed actually encourages it's spread! So don't do that. Google for lots of articles on how to determine if you have to treat it (if left alone and not pruned it doesn't actually grow fast nor spread; so just leave be!) or how to attempt eradicate it e.g. it is near a building or drainage.

Good luck!)

Thanks! I’ve read reports online about bamboo growing in North America, and didn’t know if it was actual bamboo or the knotweed we have growing in our parts.

It’s coming from our neighbour’s yard who seem to have taken a laissez-faire approach to their yard management.

We’re extremely careful not to let it fracture since, as you know, that spurs additional growth. In the hard to reach parts behind the shed, I did put down landscaping fabric with rocks over it.

After being diligent with new shoots in the early spring, it slows down significantly come the summer and fall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandina is another Bamboo like plant, it is invasive. I grew up with one in the only situation where it wouldn't go invasive, it's surrounded by pavement and stands alone by Mom's front porch. It has awesome flowers for bees. I think i'll remove it before I sell her house. I may pot some to have on a terrace. But it is another invasive.

Japanse knotweed's young sprouts are edible, BTW. But, depending on your climate, it might sprout faster than you can eat it ;-0

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/weeds/is-jap...

After googling, I don't think I've seen Japanese knot-wood before. I have woody stalks and long thin leaves. My layman's understanding is that what's in my yard is running bamboo.

In much of TX - certainly the Austin area - there's been a really awful drought, which denies mosquitoes a place for their eggs to grow. Are you sure that this isn't the cause of your observation?

Anything that makes a humid, dark under-layer. In our case, it's the English ivy ground cover.

After a few minutes searching, this seems like a good guide: https://www.gardenguides.com/12588077-ivy-and-plants-that-ha... Ivy, violets, tree holes.

I can't answer this question generally, but one example that is very close to home is bamboo. (Actually, it's no longer close to home. We moved, and despite being very close to our old house, have an order of magnitude fewer mosquitos.) Water collects in the broken culms, which can be very deep, and doesn't go away because they remain shaded.

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