Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes not only annoy people, they transmit disease-causing organisms to humans and animals. The information which follows may help in combating this irritating insect.

The mosquito has four distinct stages in its life cycle, three of which require standing water. They feed on nectar, plant sap and other sources of liquid carbohydrates. The female requires a blood-protein meal to produce eggs. Adults typically live no more than a month and they seldom travel more than a couple hundred yards from their breeding sites. Logically, control efforts should be focused on areas where they breed and where they feed.

They breed in standing water: eliminate as much of that as possible and treat the rest. I recommend Mosquito Dunks; a solid briquette which contains a bacterium called BT. They dissolve gradually in water and kill immature stages of the mosquito. They can be used in dog water bowls, horse troughs, and bird baths and “installed” in ditches and areas where rain water collects.

They have two food sources: animals and plants, which complicates the issue. Wildlife and birds (where they may get West Nile Virus) are on their own. Humans can reduce exposure by staying indoors during heavy feeding times (morning and dusk), using insect repellents that contain DEET, and not inviting birds into the yard with feeders and baths.

Plants should be treated with an insecticide labeled for that purpose. Mix the product per the label directions and apply it to the underside of vegetation where the insects rest and collect food during the daylight. Also apply it around decks, eaves and gutters

For the best, long-term control use a microencapsulated insecticide formulation. Microencapsulated means the insecticide is enclosed in a microscopic “bead” of sorts, which protects it from rain and UV rays as it sits on the plant surface, where it is easily picked up by insects. The particle surface soon cracks and releases the insecticide. I recommend pyrethroids such Cykick CS or Demand CS, which can be purchased at Estes, Inc. or Katy Chemical (other locations as well, but probably not the hardware or home improvement stores).