The real key to Mikania micrantha defeating the black fly is right here
The annoying little black midge is only half a sesame seed in size, and often you never see the "midge shadow," yet you are already covered in its bites. No matter how much mosquito repellent you spray or mosquito coils you light, it is useless. After scholars last year figured out how to heat-extract the strong invasive species mile-a-minute weed (Mikania micrantha) into vinegar liquid to control the little black midge, recently Hualien's "Zantan Workshop" made good use of its own precisely temperature-controlled bamboo charcoal kiln and successfully developed mile-a-minute weed vinegar liquid, with mosquito-repellent effect lasting 30 minutes, and spraying it on wounds does not sting.
Water distillation did not work well, Liu Te-shao switched to dry distillation
Last year, Professor Lu Kun-tsung of the Department of Forestry at National Chung Hsing University published research on extracting vinegar liquid from mile-a-minute weed, which drew attention from all sectors, and Liu Te-shao of "Zantan Workshop" in Fenglin Township, Hualien County, was one of them. At the beginning of this year he began investing in research and development. At first he used water distillation to extract the vinegar liquid from mile-a-minute weed, but the result was not good. Not only was there no odor, but the components contained in mile-a-minute weed also did not appear in the extract, so he switched to dry distillation.
Liu Te-shao said that when mile-a-minute weed is dry-distilled to 120°C and 130°C, intense oxidation occurs, and the nitrogen-containing substances produced have a pungent smell, which is exactly what the little black midge dislikes. After the first dry distillation and a second distillation, a clear-colored mile-a-minute weed vinegar liquid can be extracted. At present, each batch of 30 to 50 kg of mile-a-minute weed can yield about 20 liters of vinegar liquid.
Liu Te-shao conducted actual tests and found that when the mile-a-minute weed vinegar liquid produced by Zantan Workshop was sprayed on the arm, the little black midge did not dare come near for about 30 minutes. "This mosquito-repellent effect lasts more than ten minutes longer than bamboo vinegar liquid, and because the acid of mile-a-minute weed vinegar liquid is milder than bamboo vinegar liquid, if there is a wound on the arm, spraying it will not hurt."
