Early Spring Mosquito Problems

For your customers, early spring is a good time to do a mosquito survey of their property and initiate source reduction. Or, maybe mosquito surveys and source reduction is a service offered by your company for your customers.

 

As part of their spring yard sprucing, homeowners should look for standing water (or snow) in buckets, tires, pools, boats, tarps, bird baths, and anything else that will retain water long enough for mosquito larvae to develop (9 days for some). It's also an ideal time to flush out ornamental ponds before they are restocked with fish, and to clean out roof gutters. Regrading low areas that don't drain is another springtime job that can make a difference in mosquito numbers later in the season. Adult mosquitoes hide and rest during the day, primarily in shady, dense, vegetation. Removing or thinning dense shrubbery, vines, or foundation plantings will cut back on adult mosquito daytime resting sites.

 

 

Residential mosquito control is often equal parts investigation, analysis, elimination of standing water, chemical control, and sometimes diplomacy...as when the source of mosquitoes is on someone else's property.

 

Larviciding - If you have customers with ongoing mosquito problems due to ponds or other water bodies that can't be drained, this is the time to add mosquito "dunks" to the water. These floating cakes slowly release a bacterial agent (B.t.i.) into the water to kill mosquito larvae (they won't harm fish). Insect growth regulators (methoprene or pyriproxyfen) are also used to block larval development in water.

 

Adulticiding - For quick knockdown of biting adult mosquitoes, you can use either thermal fogging, ULV application, or a barrier treatment. Around homes and small commercial sites, barrier treatment is preferred. You can use various kinds of sprayers, but for mosquito control you will get the best result using a mist blower to apply a residual insecticide to mosquito daytime resting areas such as ivy and ground covers, the inside of thick shrubs, plants against walls, tree trunks, and shaded areas on buildings and under decks. Make sure that you get the insecticide onto the underside of leaves which is where mosquitoes like to rest. Do not treat flowering plants.

 

Mosquito Traps - Several brands of mosquito traps are available for use in yards.

 

Many use propane to produce heated water vapor and CO. The warm vapors and added attractant chemicals draw mosquitoes from long distances and capture them in collection bags or glue boards. These rather expensive traps require regular maintenance to work effectively.