How to ‘Go Green’ in Mosquito Control

Customer cooperation is a recurring aggravation when it comes to mosquito control. To successfully reduce populations of these insects, pest management professionals need clients to help them eliminate breeding sites.

That’s a job just more than half — 56 percent — of customers willingly undertake, reported PMPs in the “2023 PCT State of the Mosquito Control Market” study. The study was sponsored by MGK and compiled by Readex Research, an independent research firm, in February 2023.

It involves regularly dumping out water-filled vessels like baby pools, bird baths, tarps and potted plant saucers where mosquitoes lay their eggs. It also can involve cleaning gutters and regrading low areas of the yard, so water doesn’t pool.

“If you can educate your client to help you with the source-water reduction, it will improve your results tremendously,” said Todd Barber, president, Barber’s Best Termite & Pest, Tallahassee, Fla.

Fixing conducive conditions is a basic principle of Integrated Pest Management, and it is even more important when using natural and botanical products to control mosquitoes. That’s because green products break down faster in the environment and have lower residual activity. Eliminating breeding sites helps green products deliver a more effective and satisfactory service.

“In the Tallahassee area, we have a lot of environmentally conscious people, so we have had requests for an all-green option for mosquito suppression,” said Barber.

His green mosquito control service involves the application of essential oils. “Obviously, you don’t get the same residual control with that application, but the clients seem pleased with it,” he said. He also applies larvicide and an insect growth regulator to properties as needed. Customers can add mosquito traps to the program for an additional charge. 

Interestingly, the customers who want green mosquito service often are more cooperative. “They are more apt to take an active role in the program rather than people who just want you to make the mosquitoes go away,” said Barber.

Such behavior does not surprise Susannah Enkema, vice president of research and insights at Shelton Group, which specializes in sustainability marketing. The company’s proprietary research shows that green-minded consumers actively undertake activities to support sustainability efforts. “They care a lot about this,” she said.

Shelton Group’s Eco Pulse survey has tracked consumer perceptions, behaviors and expectations of corporate sustainability and responsibility over the past 13 years. The 2022 online survey of 2,008 U.S. respondents has a margin of error of plus/minus 2.2 percent.

It found that about 58 percent of consumers believe in sustainability and 34 percent actively engage in activities to support this cause.

One of the activities, reported by 11 percent of consumers in the survey, was using natural or organic pest control alternatives.

Unfortunately, the people who are the hardest to engage in mosquito control often are the ones with the biggest mosquito-breeding problems. And most frustrating for customers, that’s often the neighbor with the dirty swimming pool.

These neighbors usually could care less about mosquitoes and their backyard environment. “We can try to sell to the neighbor next door, but a lot of times, if they’re not going to take care of their pool, they’re not going to take care of their yard at all,” said Crystal Rizzo, owner and operator, Crystal Pest Control, Henderson, N.C.

SUSTAINABLE MESSAGING. According to the Shelton Group survey, most Americans — 70 percent — felt moderately to very strongly that it is their individual responsibility to change their daily choices to positively impact the environment.

That said, “we kind of put a little more pressure on companies” to do so, said Shelton Group’s Enkema. “About 85 percent of us say that companies really have to play a role in this,” she explained.

It is most effective, then, to emphasize how both company and customers can work together to advance sustainability, she said.

In addition, explain how green service reduces the use of chemicals of concern in the home environment. Consumers are “more likely to care about chemicals of concern than anything else. I think that’s what really speaks to the average American,” said Enkema.

Removing chemicals of concern from products was the number one factor positively impacting purchase decisions across categories for buyers of natural or pest control alternatives, and it was a top-five factor influencing the purchase decisions of all consumers, found the 2022 Shelton Group survey.

Overall, consumers are getting smarter about sustainable products and services. “What we see across our data year over year is that the number of Americans who are paying attention to sustainability is growing, their level of sophistication is growing, and I do think that it’s important for a company to talk in a way that brings everybody along,” said Enkema.

PUBLIC HEALTH FACTORS. Although most PMPs say customers sign up for mosquito control service to reduce nuisance bites, some do so for health reasons.

According to the “2023 PCT State of the Mosquito Control Market” survey, 50 percent of PMPs said they believe their customers understand the risks of vector-borne diseases and 58 percent said mosquitoes represent a greater threat to public health today than they did five years ago.

“Whenever something pops up on the news about West Nile or any of these viruses that can be transmitted by mosquitoes, we do see a small surge in calls for that [service] because they want to make sure it’s nowhere near their pets or them when they’re outside,” said David Madurski, owner, Madurski Termite & Pest Exterminating, Florence, S.C.

These customers are motivated to reduce mosquito populations on their property. It’s not uncommon to notice on a second service call that issues cited during the inspection, like clogged gutters, have been fixed, explained Madurski.

Like 41 percent of fellow PMPs, Rizzo knows people who have been sickened by vector-borne disease.

She said it is important to talk to customers about mosquito-borne disease, “because it can be serious,” as well as to calm the fears of overly concerned customers. “Some of them have never heard of it, and of course others are so paranoid,” she said.

Pest control companies provide an essential public health service by performing mosquito control, reported 90 percent of PMPs in the PCT survey. That said, companies should never promise that a mosquito control program will prevent mosquito-borne illness and the service contract should clearly indicate this, warned PMPs.

The author is a regular contributor to PCT.