Get Rid Of Mosquitoes Naturally

Summer is here and the mosquitoes have likely been bothering you for weeks already! Many people spray pesticides or hire someone to spray pesticides around their home to prevent mosquitoes from becoming a terrible nuisance — but these pesticides are harmful to our bee pollinator friends as well! Here’s our tips for how to avoid mosquitoes.

Naturally Rid Yourself of Mosquitoes

We’ve done the legwork of finding what we think to be the best resource on the matter, and boy did we strike gold. Shoutout to Arlington, VA, because their Master Naturalists have an outstanding page with an incredible wealth of information.

1. Eliminate potential mosquito-breeding grounds. Mosquitoes can breed in any water that stagnates for just 2 or 3 days. Actions to remove potential mosquito habitat include:
   • Unclogging gutters
   • Covering, turning over, or moving indoors any equipment, containers, or toys that might collect water
   • Straightening sagging tarps or other covers
   • Filling in areas under outdoor faucets or air conditioning drains
   • Repairing damaged screens on rain barrels
   • Removing English Ivy (The dense nature of ivy allows it to hold in pooled water where mosquitoes can breed, provides a humid area that mosquitoes like, and protects mosquitoes from pesticide sprays.)
2. For areas of uncovered water, like ponds or bird baths, consider these approaches: 
   • Changing the water regularly
   • Using Mosquito Dunks ® (deadly to mosquito, blackfly, and fungus gnat larvae, but harmless to other living things), or
   • Keeping the water moving (e.g., with a fountain)
3. Treat mosquitoes like foes, but treat bees and other beneficial insects like the friends they are! The pesticides used to kill mosquitoes also kill other invertebrates, including pollinators and other insects—insects on which birds feed and insects that eat mosquitoes. Mosquito-spraying companies typically use pesticides of a group of chemicals called pyrethroids, many of which are highly toxic to honeybees, fish, and small aquatic organisms.
   
4. If you spray pesticides or hire a company that provides such services, please consider taking the following precautions and/or asking the pesticide spraying company to do the same:  
   • Spray only in the early morning or early evening. Most pollinators are not out and about during these time periods.
   • Do not spray flowering plants. (One company that provides pesticide spraying services says that before spraying flowers they “shoo” away bees with bursts of air. It is doubtful that this truly protects bees, as the majority of native bees are less than ¼” long and therefore difficult to spot. Moreover, bees will return immediately to those flowers, either into the path of the spray or to the flowers, where there may be pesticide residue.)
   • Make sure that no spray enters your neighbors’ yards, and notify your neighbors before you spray so that they can take any desired or necessary precautions to protect any bees or other insects that they have in their yards.
   • Consider using nontoxic repellents in lieu of the toxic pesticides. Some mosquito-spraying companies offer such alternatives.
5. If you use sprays, do so only when needed, and not on a preemptive basis. (Spraying on a predetermined schedule can waste pesticide product, and therefore money, and may also contribute to the development of pesticide-resistant mosquitoes.)

By taking these steps, we can work together as a community to fight this annoying pest while protecting our other precious environmental resources.

Some useful mosquito & bee resources::

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/prevention/and http://www.cdc.gov/features/stopmosquitoes/

Environmental Protection Agency—Mosquito Control: http://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol

Virginia Cooperative Extension Service: http://offices.ext.vt.edu/chesterfield/programs/anr/Wildlife/Fight_the_Bite.pdf

Maryland Department of Agriculture: http://mda.maryland.gov/plants-pests/Pages/avoid_asian_tiger_mosquitoes.aspx

Backyard Mosquito Management—Beyond Pesticides: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/mosquito/documents/backyard_mosquito_management.pdf

Honeybee Love: Keeping Honeybees Safe While Using Pesticides:

http://northcoastgardening.com/2010/05/honeybee-safe-pesticides/

Mosquito Dunks ® Fact Sheet: http://www.planetnatural.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/mosquito-dunks-faq.pdf