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I’m Harold Enger from Spring-Green, and I’m here today to talk to you about mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes – you’ve got to hate them right? Every summer time you deal with them, you
try to go outside and have some enjoyable times outside in the morning or late afternoon,
evening, and what happens? Mosquitoes just swarm all over you, and you’re covered with
mosquito bites in a very short period of time. We’re much more concerned about mosquitoes
nowadays, especially with the onset of many diseases that they can transmit, such as West
Nile Virus. So, where do mosquitoes hide during the day?
Well, they can hide in a lot of places. They can be in the grass. Sometimes, when you walk
across the lawn, all of the sudden mosquitoes come up and will bite you. They can be in
shrubs and in bushes, such as what you see here, and in flowers. Any place that they
can hide from natural predators. Mosquitoes need stagnant water to breed. A
lot of times, you have water retention ponds, like what we have across the street here.
And, that is a great place for mosquitoes to breed. But, you can also have places around
your own home that have mosquito breeding sites, such as the saucers that are underneath
flowering plants that you keep underneath that plant so the water can get up into that
plant. If that sits there for a while, it can become a breeding site for mosquitoes.
So, you should empty those at least every week, if not more. Bird baths – another
great place – especially if we haven’t had rain for a long time where that water
can sit there for a long time. Hopefully, you’re replenishing that water on a daily
basis, but sometimes it doesn’t happen and that’s a great place. Anywhere that water
can be held - they used to always say an old tire. Well, most people don’t have old tires
laying around their home, but if you have something that can hold water, such as a little
dish that you might have outside that you forgot about, anything like that could become
a place for mosquitoes to breed. What else can you do? Well, you can apply
an insect control to your lawn and to your bushes, up to about six feet high, and that
will control them and keep them from becoming a problem. The newer products that we have
nowadays can last up to a month. That’s a great thing that you can go out then in
the evening or in the early morning, being out on your lawn, without having to worry
about mosquitoes. Now, it’s not going to eliminate all mosquitoes.
There’s still going to be some that fly in from surrounding areas. But, for the most
part, by spraying your lawn and landscape, you will have less of a mosquito problem.
So, for more information about mosquito control, contact your neighborhood Spring-Green professional,
or visit my Ask the Expert blog at Spring-Green.com.