If you thought that this seemingly endless winter has postponed the mosquitoes from attacking, then think again. Many species of mosquitoes are already active. One such species is the northern house mosquito. Adults of this species spend their winter in protected areas, watching over their eggs. As of March (or even earlier in some cases), these pests immerge to gather the blood that is needed for their eggs to hatch.
Some species, like the Asian tiger mosquito, lay their eggs in the fall and spend the winter in their egg stage. These eggs are normally laid in moist soil or debris just above the water line. These areas are chosen because they are due to become wet from melting snow and spring rain runoff. When this water reaches the right temperature the eggs will hatch and the mosquito larva will begin to feed and grow.
A few other mosquito species spend the winter in the water in their larval stages. After a few weeks, these larvae will have pupated and emerged as adults.
As you can see there are a wide arrange of mosquitoes that could attack you home at any time.
How the prevent mosquitoes from attacking this spring
There are a number of ways to prevent mosquitoes in the early spring. These include:
- Searching your properties for standing water sources. This include:
- Bucks
- Tires
- Pools
- Boats
- Tarps
- Bird Baths
- Anything that might hold water long enough for mosquitoes to hatch (in some cases this is just 9 days).
- Doing spring yard chores such as:
- Cleaning roof gutters
- Regrading low areas where puddles form
- Removing or thinning dense foundation shrubbery
- Adding mosquito larvicides such as insect growth regulators or bacterial “dunks” to large bodies of water, like ponds. Don’t worry doing this will not harm fish or most other organisms.
While these steps will help you to prevent future mosquito generations, they will not affect those that have already reached adulthood. In order to prevent these adults from bitting, you can us barrier treatments such as:
- Thermal Fogging
- ULV applications
- Mosquito Traps
- Mist Blower (This is may need special certification to do this work in your state.)
If you want to learn more about the pests, such as mosquitoes, then visit our website or techletter.com (a website dedicated to pest control publications, information, and resources). And if you find any of these pests in your home call 877-546-9575 and ask the Masters for help. Our team of pest control specialists are trained to deal with any pest problem.