Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room ~ Christine Todd Whitman.
Indeed, Whitman could never have come up with a more befitting description of mosquitoes. These tiny little bugs can make your night a living hell. They have a way of creeping into our living spaces uninvited and taking shelter in our closets or laundry rooms, only to go on the prowl when dark falls.
The fact that nature endowed mosquitoes with incredible reflexes makes it extremely difficult to swat. Therefore, many people often resort to getting bitten all night long, potentially exposing themselves to severe infections.
However, mosquitoes are easier to prevent than most people imagine. Below is a highlight of the five essential tips to keep these vectors out of your home.
1. Remove Standing Water
Mosquitoes typically breed in standing water. Contrary to what many may think, these parasitic bugs do not require large pools of water to lay their eggs. A tiny amount of standing water (such as bird baths, flowerpots, rain gutters, and bottle caps) is all they need.
That explains why removing standing water is one of the most effective Mosquito prevention and treatment strategies.
It’s also important to note that it only takes a few weeks for a handful of female mosquitoes to infest your home.
An adult anopheles – the malaria-spreading female mosquito – can lay anywhere from 50 to 200 eggs per session, and the mosquito can breed every 14 days. That means a single anopheles may lay up to 400 eggs in a month, making them deadly around your property.
2. Clear Thickets and Trim Grass
If standing water doesn’t permit itself, the next best place mosquitoes prefer to lay their eggs is in bushy areas. So, be sure to clear all bushes and thickets around your yard.
Similarly, trim your lawn to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in overgrown grass.
Clearing thickets and trimming grass prevents mosquito infestation in two ways.
First, it eliminates leaves and grass blades that would otherwise serve as their nesting places. Besides, vast open spaces expose these bugs to the wrath of strong winds.
Note that mosquitoes aren’t excellent fliers. They’re generally weak and have feeble wings; hence, they prefer refuge in yard debris and overgrown bushes.
Needless to say, clearing thickets and trimming your lawn can also enhance your home’s aesthetic value while keeping other unwelcome critters at bay.
3. Invite Specific Plants Into Your Wellness Garden
Having a wellness garden can provide tons of therapeutic benefits by bringing medicinal herbs closer to you. However, the types of plants you cultivate in the garden may attract or repel mosquitoes.
While growing more flowering plants in your yard is intuitive, flowers are a powerful mosquito magnet.
Like most insects, mosquitoes depend on the nectar from flowers as a food source. Male mosquitoes feed exclusively on nectar, while female mosquitoes also suck nectar for most of their lives. Therefore, you may want to reduce the number of flowering species in your wellness garden.
Besides flowers, mosquitoes are also attracted to water lilies, water lettuce, water hyacinths, papyrus, and taro. It’s best to replace these plants with mosquito-repelling herbs like holy basil.
Basil contains numerous volatile compounds used as natural mosquito repellents, including estragole, geraniol, pyrethrins, and methyl-nonyl-ketone. Other noteworthy mosquito repelling herbs include citronella grass, lemongrass, lavender, catnip, marigold, cedar, and rosemary.
4. Unclog Gutters
Gutters have a way of retaining moisture during wet or humid seasons, making them an excellent breeding ground for female mosquitoes. It’s only worse if your gutters are clogged with leaves and twigs, as these debris provide mosquitoes with a safe refuge from harsh winds.
Therefore, it’s prudent to unclog your gutters frequently.
Routine gutter cleaning and maintenance help to keep mosquitoes at bay by removing one of their ideal nesting and breeding environments. A well-maintained gutter can also enhance the durability of the gutter itself and the roof at large.
Many home improvement experts recommend cleaning your gutter at least once a year or more frequently, depending on the amount of foliage around your home.
5. Use Mosquito Traps
Mosquitoes prefer to lay their eggs in standing water, alright. But instead of removing standing water from your property, you can use it to trap these bugs.
One benefit of mosquito traps is that they nip infestation in the bud by killing mosquito larvae.
Here’s a brief overview of how to set up a mosquito trap;
- Place a bucketful of water in a warm, shaded spot outdoors.
- Add organic matter to the bucket, such as leaves or grass clippings.
- Let the mixture sit for about one week until it begins to ferment.
- Wait a few more days for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.
- Add a Mosquito Dunk to the mix, replacing it every 30 days.
The dunk kills mosquito larvae while leaving the adult insects unharmed.
Photo Credit: Pixabay.com
Final Word
Mosquitoes are notoriously elusive and can be difficult to exterminate once they infest your home. Fortunately, you can implement the above-mentioned preventive strategies to keep these bugs at bay and minimize the health risks associated with their bites.
Note that while the average homeowner can take proactive measures to prevent mosquito infestation, you require a licensed pest control company to remove these pesky insects from your property.
Leave A Comment