Category Archives: Mosquito Control

We often receive phone calls from people who are searching for mosquito service but have serious concerns about environmental health and safety. Many believe that the pesticides used can be harmful to beneficial insects and our environment. This can be true if used irresponsibly. Here at Mosquito Joe of of NW Houston we want to assure our customers that this is not how we treat them – we work hard to put our environment first and proudly claim the title of a member of the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP)!

What is PESP? The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) is a partnership with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to promote and emphasize environmentally conscious pest control services. This includes an emphasis on ‘Integrated Pest Management,’ or IPM, which involves knowledge of pests and their environment, coupled with choosing the lowest risk products or methods to provide a treatment solution! Mosquito Joe’s participation in the PESP focuses on implementing this new, structured IPM program to explore low-risk and environmentally conscious processes and products in our field operations.

For our customers, this means that Mosquito Joe cares about the health and welfare of our customers and the environment. Our partnership with PESP demonstrates our commitment to providing low-risk outdoor pest control. We make continued efforts to focus on environmental health and safety, are big advocates for bees and other pollinators, and work to be mindful of all different types of flora in your yard! In fact, Mosquito Joe officially holds a ‘silver’ tiered membership status with PESP and is the only backyard mosquito control company that has acquired Silver Tiered accreditation at this time. Our goal is to protect you, your family, pets, and your community from vector-borne diseases while making your outside fun again.

For local residents that have shied away from mosquito services out of concern for the environment, we hear and share those concerns! Mosquito Joe goes the extra mile to ensure that we do everything we can to provide you with the most environmentally conscious pest control service on the market. While we always utilize the IPM program and its measures during all of our services, customers interested in natural pest management options can opt for our ‘Botanical’ and ‘all-natural’ services. Our Botanical service uses a natural compound of essential oils and soap to kill the mosquitoes in your yard, while our all-natural uses strictly concentrated garlic to repel (but not kill) them. No matter which service you choose, our technicians will always treat your flowering plants only with our organic product in an effort to reduce our impact on bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

For environmentally-conscious residents looking to balance good health with environmental protection, Mosquito Joe is the way to go! Pest control has developed a bad reputation over the years for using harsh chemicals and negatively impacting the environment. While we can’t speak for our competitors, environmental responsibility is at the forefront of our minds, developing an individual plan for each yard to maximize results while minimizing impact. As the only backyard mosquito control company that has acquired Silver Tiered accreditation of the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program, you can rest knowing we go above and beyond to provide the most effective, environmentally responsible service available. For more information on these services, you can check out our FAQs below, or give us a call at 281-815-0228!

We will not be the only ones celebrating on July 4th. In fact, if mosquitoes could write their ideal situation, they couldn’t do it any better. We have large groups of people – all emitting CO2 plumes to attract them, likely many of those people sweating to attract them further. We also tend to gather on grasses, near woods where mosquitoes are lying in wait. Finally, we all gather at dusk, just the right time for mosquitoes to come out from their shade shelter and the females head out to look for a blood meal.

Houston has been ranked as the most extreme city in the nation for mosquitoes on July 4th, and many of us can attest that this is true. It’s a familiar story – we head out for an evening of fireworks and get there early so we can relax and enjoy a picnic while we wait. We soon find ourselves sweating and uncomfortable and, no doubt, very thirsty. We immediately run out of water and must go find more and use the restroom. Dusk begins to fall, and we start getting bitten. Eventually, it’s dark and the fireworks start, and in no time at all, it ends. We head home, exhausted, hot, and ready for a shower. As we get undressed, we notice the multitude of bites all over our bodies and remind ourselves we never want to do that again.

So how can we make the evening more bearable if we are headed out to watch the fireworks? There are some things we can do to make ourselves less palatable and attractive to the mosquito. First, though, let’s understand how mosquitoes find us in the first place.

From a distance, mosquitoes look for CO2 plumes to locate their prey. Simply breathing is the first step to drawing one to you and there is little you can do about that. Once they get closer the mosquito will then start picking up olfactory cues – sweat, perfumes, etc. They also start seeing colors. A recent study has shown that mosquitoes do have a preference for some colors over others and you can read more about it here. Wearing brighter colors like orange, black, and red will attract them, while greens and blues may actually deter some species. As mosquitoes get really close they begin to look for a heat source to locate a meal.

In a large crowd, the CO2 plumes are like a flashing siren, and you can’t do much about that. You can, however, control to some extent the scent you produce. Limiting perfumes and “post alcohol” sweat can help. Obviously, bug spray is a good idea. What’s important is that everyone around you also does this because once a mosquito is close it is looking for a heat source and they will no longer distinguish between you and your neighbors. A good, reliable source, for bug spray options, can be found here It’s also a good idea to all wear the colors mentioned in the research, particularly white since it will help keep you cool as well and hence reduce odors that attract them.

If you plan on having your own fireworks at home, then you can do far more to make the evening pleasant. Mosquito Joe of NW Houston offers event services that will get rid of the mosquitoes in your yard for the evening. Give us a call at 281-815-0228 to get a free quote. And to learn more about mosquitoes and what you can do, without hiring us, to reduce them in your yard explore all our other blogs on the topic.

You may be thinking that June is an odd month to be writing about the cold and its impact on mosquitoes but hear us out. June is one of three months in Alaska where mosquitoes are at their height. It’s not a long season, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in quantity. If you haven’t seen what mosquitoes in Alaska look like check out this video. Makes you glad to live in Texas, doesn’t it?

There is a common misconception that when our temperatures dip to the freezing mark all the mosquitoes die. If this were true then Alaska would be a mosquito-free zone, which, as you can see from the video, is far from. Mosquitoes would also have died off a long time ago. How long have mosquitoes been around? Since the Jurassic period, so about 210 million years. It is safe to say that a little Texas freeze won’t be doing much to kill them off.
 

So, what happens to the mosquito when the temperatures dip? There is no doubt that many mosquitoes die off. They have a short life span after all. Others simply hibernate through a process of “supercooling”: they remove impurities from their body fluids that would trigger the formation of ice. By doing this they can avoid the bursting of cell walls under 32 degrees F. What is key to their survival, however, are their eggs. This is why Alaska has such a huge problem: mass numbers of mosquitoes lay about 300 eggs a time every few days only increasing the numbers the next year.

Mosquitoes know what they are doing. They lay their eggs in water or on the moist ground near water. Those eggs can lay dormant for ten to fifteen years and hatch when the time is right. In Alaska, the runoff and water that results from the melting snows create mass hatching of those eggs, resulting in the video you saw.

Managing mosquitoes for our customers involves much more than spraying leaves with products. We manage not only existing water, in French drains, puddles, etc., but those areas that might be dry but will likely collect water after a hard rain. Trying to get ahead of the population in your yard means we must pay close attention to the areas where mosquitoes will lay eggs so we can prevent the resulting larvae from hatching into adults.

Another interesting tidbit about Alaska and its mosquitoes is the presence of the “snow mosquito” (Aedes Communis). These mosquitoes are large, like a bee, and survive the winter by bundling in leaf litter or under tree bark. They can also burrow into the snow and wait for the spring to melt. They exist in other northern states, like New Jersey and Montana but happily, not in Texas. Snow mosquitoes are the first to appear and tend to take a blood meal from animals since humans are often inside (or bundled up if out in the cold.) Like all mosquitoes they feed off plant nectar, biting only before they need to lay eggs (the females are the only mosquito that bites.) In the case of the snow mosquito, they play an important role in pollination: scientists discovered, in the early 70s, that Aedes Communis is an important pollinator of the blunt-leaf Orchid (Platanthera Obtusata) as well as other smaller flowers found at higher elevations.

While Alaska is currently suffering through a short but very intense mosquito season, here we are pretty much always dealing with mosquitoes. Managing the water in your yard will go a long way to keeping your population in check. Mosquito Joe of NW Houston can do this for you, as well as treat your yard to reduce your mosquito population by 95%. You can call us for a free, quick, over-the-phone quote. We never make you sign a contract here so why not give us a try? Give us a call today at 281-815-0228!

Once we have treated a customer 3 times, and so long as they stay on the 3-week cycle for service, we guarantee a 95% reduction in mosquitoes. That number is variable – when the mosquito pressure is super high that 5% will be higher too. But if a customer calls with issues and a lot of mosquitoes we will go back to treat again and more importantly, have a good hunt to see why there is an issue.

Some very common reasons include:

• New mulch: Mulch carries millions of mosquito eggs, and once we lay it and add water the results are a huge jump in mosquitoes. The same holds true for new soil or new sod. It doesn’t have to be your yard either – a neighbor can add new mulch and create issues for everyone around them.
• Overwatering: Particularly if your yard is uneven, the resulting standing water will produce a lot of issues.
• Blocked gutters and downspouts: The decomposing leaves and sludge will lead to dirty stagnant water and hence mosquitoes.
• Cracked septic tank lids: This is our nemesis as a septic tank can produce an incredible mosquito population. Check out our videos on Facebook or Google to see what we mean.
• Biting midges: So many times, we go out and find that the insect the customer thinks is a mosquito and turns out is something else entirely. Biting midges are out all day. They live in the grass and tend to bite your lower limbs more. Mosquitoes are out at dawn and dusk and bite the most vascular areas. We can treat for midges, but we have to treat the grass and we don’t do that when we treat for mosquitoes.

Over the years we have had difficult properties – some we expected, like the property that backed up to a stagnant lake, or the property surrounded on 3 sides by culverts. But other properties have been real head-scratchers initially. Here are some of the oddest places we have found to cause mosquito issues, and that we now always look for:

1. Tufted outdoor chair cushions: Who knew that those pulled areas around each button really mimic a cup and hold water after it rains? One teaspoon of water results in 300 mosquitoes every few days. If half those eggs are female a week later 150 mosquitoes are laying 300 eggs every few days. A week after that is 22,500 mosquitoes laid 300 eggs. You can see why such a small thing becomes such a big issue.
2. Frisbees: We had a customer whose dog loved frisbees. His owner couldn’t understand where they all went, so he kept buying more. We eventually located a stash of frisbees under the deck. Most of them were laying upside down so that water was collected inside them. That’s a lot of standing water right under the area where the owner sat every evening.
3. Fence posts without caps: This one took a long time. Our lead technician, Kyle, likes to sit in the grass and wait when he visits a problem property. We get calls from worried customers telling us there might be something wrong with our technician. What he is doing is emitting CO2 plumes as he breathes and waiting to see what the insect is and where they might be coming from. The fence post with its missing cap took this sort of figuring out. It turns out that the fence post in question was full of water. It is one of those “unseen” locations that are easy to miss.
4. Tree stumps: These guys are always full of crevices and cracks. Trees, if chainsawed down, are never cut flat and the result is more standing water than you want.
5. Outdoor play kitchens/houses: It is amazing just how much water a kid’s toy can hold. A few years ago, we went on Good Morning Houston and demonstrated this very thing with a plastic boat. The worst offender is the outdoor kitchen, which not only has holes in the plastic but crevices and cracks and a sink where water can hold. Even if we dump that out, the plastic frame is often full of water. We had one customer who did the right thing and moved his daughter’s kitchen into his garage. But he called us complaining of getting bitten while working on his car. He was unable to empty the frame of water and simply moved the water to a shaded space and this compounded the issue. We recommend drilling holes in the base of these toys, as well as your trash cans and anything else in your yard that can fill up after rain (or sprinklers).

The main lesson here is that mosquitoes are incredibly resourceful, and it is often the unobvious articles in your yard that can cause the biggest issues. If you would rather spend your free time enjoying your yard rather than playing “hunt the mosquito” give us a call at 281-815-0228 and we can do it for you.

Hopefully, you have been following along with our suggestions for reducing the mosquitoes in your yard, particularly our January post detailing all the things you can do.

Now that we are in March and preparing for spring break it’s a good time to think about ways to make your yard more pleasant for your youngsters as they enjoy some time outside in the sun.

We won’t repeat our previous suggestions so please jump over to the earlier post on the topic if you want a solid overview of what to keep an eye on. Instead, we will focus on the likely activities this break and how they can impact your yard.

We all love a good slip-n-slide or kiddie pool, or at least our children do. They seem pretty innocent on the face of things, but they can both cause some major mosquitoes. Any type of tarp, like a slip and slide, can hold pockets of water, and it doesn’t take much time for mosquitoes to find them. Remember, 1 teaspoon of water will produce 300 mosquitoes in no time at all. To prevent this, make sure you store it away carefully when the kids are finished. Hang it flat over a fence to ensure it is dry, and then roll it up away and out of the elements so that water cannot gather inside it and cause issues for you.

When it comes to a kiddie pool it’s best to make sure the water stays clean – treat it according to directions with chlorine and clean the base regularly. We’ve seen “forgotten” kiddie pools in the past and the number of mosquitoes they were breeding defies belief. Make sure you keep the pool in the sun and avoid placing it where shade is always present – mosquitoes will be less likely to visit during the day. And, most importantly, place the pool where the water won’t pool beneath it – a slight slant to the ground beneath is ideal so that the water can run away when splashed. A kiddie pool placed in the shade, with pooled water beneath it will result in a huge leap in your mosquito population.

Kids’ water toys can also cause issues. It’s easy to forget a loaded water gun discarded in the corner of the yard, but the mosquitoes won’t forget it. The same holds true for other kids’ toys – most plastic ones will fill with water after sprinklers run or rainfalls. They can hold a surprisingly substantial amount of water. Don’t forget the larger items either – outdoor children’s kitchens or playhouses can have a lot of nooks and crannies that hold water.

Finally, this is often the time of year when we bring new mulch into our yards to beautify and prep for summer. Many people don’t realize it, but mulch is loaded with insects and with mosquito eggs. We spread and water it and then are surprised when we see a jump in mosquitoes a few days later. It can happen to us even when it is our neighbors who have mulched. There isn’t much we can do about this, unfortunately. However, if you are bringing in bagged mulch, spread it as soon as you can and get rid of
 
the bags. Bags of mulch always have holes in them. Let them sit outside and get hot and wet and you will breed far more than if you spread it and allow it to dry.

We hope you have a wonderful March and enjoy your spring break, whether home or away. We hope these suggestions are helpful to you, but if you would rather sit back and enjoy your yard give Mosquito Joe of NW Houston a call and we can do the work for you – 281-815-0228.