Pests We Treat - Homeowners need to clean up backyard to control mosquitoes in South River, NJ
The dreaded mosquito! Mosquitoes cause, by far, more misery and more death in the world than any other animal. Fortunately, in New Jersey, we at least don’t have to worry about malaria and, so far, the Zika virus. But we still have plenty of mosquitoes that can transmit diseases, including encephalitis and heartworm to our pets.
Even without the potential of transmitting diseases, these buzzing, biting insects have their own special way of ruining everyone's good time while trying to enjoying their yard. One of our longtime clients, a homeowner in South River, NJ, asked me to come out and perform a mosquito treatment. The whole family was being tormented with itchy mosquito bites while trying to enjoy their pool.
When I arrived for the treatment, I first did a walk-through of the property. With mosquitoes, I want to know if they are potential breeding sites on the premises or if are coming in from adjoining properties. With mosquitoes, standing water spells trouble. It is the root cause of a mosquito problem because mosquitoes require standing water to breed. The females look for standing water to lay their eggs. It is the key ingredient in their reproductive lifecycle. Here, I found several buckets with standing water as well as a tire which also had standing water. This was more than enough standing water to turn their property into a mosquito-breeding farm! I informed the homeowner that by reducing the standing water around the property, it will automatically reduce mosquito populations. Effective mosquito control is a team effort with the pest control technician and the homeowner.
I grabbed my power Mister, strapped it on my back, and began treating the undersides of all of the leaves that were on the ground as well as the landscape beds where mosquitoes are most often lurking. Mosquitoes love landscape beds that usually have piles of moisture-retaining mulch. I wish more homeowners were aware that mosquitoes and other insects are attracted to mulch and it should be kept away from home foundations. I informed the client to stay off of the treated areas for the next four hours until the product is thoroughly dry.
The homeowner was happy with the job performed and the tips that I gave her on reducing the mosquito population. I'm looking forward to hearing about the results.