How To Keep Mosquitoes Away This Summer
As temperatures warm, it is time to prepare for the inevitable mosquito invasion. It happens every year, and last year was particularly terrible. We have good news if you want to avoid mosquitoes this season. We've compiled this quick guide to help you reduce mosquito activity this summer here in Albuquerque, Santa Cruz, and throughout our New Mexico service area.
Irritating backyard pests
Do you know why you get bitten by mosquitoes in your yard? It is because mosquitoes live in your yard. They don't notice you from your neighbor's yard and fly over to bite you. They're hiding in your landscape vegetation and other shaded areas. You can reduce your chance of getting bites if you prevent mosquitoes from living on your property.
Step 1: Address mosquito attractants
What attracts mosquitoes to your property? Although you might be a mosquito magnet, they’re probably looking for food. While female mosquitoes need blood to reproduce (more on that in a minute), they eat nectar and plant sap. A yard with tall grasses, weeds, and other vegetation can attract a mosquito problem.
Once mosquitoes enter your yard, a second attractant can make them stay for a bit. Mosquitoes require high moisture and will hide in damp or humid vegetation. Do you have lots of shaded and moist hiding places for mosquitoes? These are contributing to your mosquito woes.
Step 2: Consider mosquito breeding sites
You're in trouble when mosquitoes explore your property and find a place to lay eggs. One female can lay as many as two hundred eggs in as little as one inch of water—a puddle or an overturned Frisbee is more than enough. Removing stagnant water resources or pouring the water out can deter mosquito reproduction and reduce the swarm in your backyard.
As you consider breeding sites, you should also know how mosquitoes create eggs. Only female mosquitoes draw a blood meal to get the nutrients needed for egg production. That is an important fact to understand. When you use deterrents to keep mosquitoes from biting you, you're not depriving them of a meal; you are depriving them of an essential meal needed to continue their species. That is why it is so hard to keep mosquitoes away.
Step 3: Professional mosquito control
How does Greenway Pest Solutions’ mosquito control help you stop mosquitoes? We use a process that targets mosquitoes in three ways.
- We apply mosquito fogging to critical areas of your property to reset the mosquito population to zero. It takes time for new mosquitoes to enter your yard. When you get monthly mosquito treatments from May through October, your yard stays highly resistant to mosquito activity.
- We apply a material that prevents mosquitoes from developing. Mosquitoes start life as little worms that wriggle in water. Those worms don't bite, so if they can't develop into adult mosquitoes, you don't have to worry about them biting you.
- We install traps that attract female mosquitoes. The traps serve two purposes. They destroy the deposited eggs and eliminate the female mosquitoes so they can't mate and lay more eggs.
Do you see how it works? Professional mosquito control activity targets mosquitoes in the places they hide and breed.
Why is it essential to get mosquito control?
The big reason for getting mosquito control is that it is the most effective way to prevent mosquito bites, which are itchy and annoying. But, as you know, there is a chance that you could get sick from a mosquito-borne virus like West Nile or western equine encephalitis. While the risk is low, mosquito-borne viruses pose an ever-present threat to you and your family. Seasonal mosquito control keeps mosquitoes to a minimum and works to stop new ones from developing near your home.
Are you ready to take your yard back?
Contact your Greenway Pest Solutions team to learn more about mosquito control. We offer seasonal treatments to keep those irritating pests at bay and one-time treatments ideal for outdoor weddings and other events where mosquitoes may be a problem.
Reach out to us today and speak to one of our friendly customer service representatives to get started. Last year, the mosquitoes were terrible, but with mosquito control for your property, you can count on us to minimize mosquito issues.
