Safe Mosquito Control for your Family – Show Notes

Today we cover five ways to control mosquito problems in your yard, so you can better enjoy being outdoors with your family, and feel safe from mosquitos and harsh chemicals.

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Safe Mosquito Control

Why we don’t like mosquitos
- They suck
- Transmit disease
- discomfort
Why should they exist?
- Pollinators
- Feed wildlife
  - Birds
  - Bats
  - Frogs
  - Fish
Are current solutions safe?
- Synthetic chemicals
- DDT
- DEET
- Pyrethrins
What about yard treatments?
- Pyrethroids
- Claims safe
- Chemical exposure
  - Kids, pets, you, fish, bees
- “Natural” option uses garlic oil, or rosemary and peppermint oils
  - Much safer for people, pets
What is safe?
- Natural-based
- Non-synthetic
- Non-chemical

Safe Mosquito Control Solutions

Not easy – takes effort
Five strategies
- Environmental
- Natural
- Spatial
- Traps
- Repellent
Environmental mosquito control
- Reduce water pools
  - Greater than 3 day pools
  - Ponds – okay if can support biodiversity
- Gutters – keep clean
- Treatment
  - Bti – Bacillus thuringiensis israelis
  - Safe naturally occurring bacteria, kills larvae only
- Plants
  - Not clearly effective
    - Lemon grass
    - Lemon thyme
Natural Mosquito Control
- Bats
  - Claims of thousands of mosquitos per night
  - Probably not accurate
  - Still, bats eat mosquitos
  - Build or buy a bat house
- Swallows
  - Purple martins, other swallows
  - Claims of two thousand mosquitos per day
  - Probably not accurate as well
  - Still, martins and swallows eat bats
  - Build or buy a purple martin house
Safe spatial mosquito control
- Citronella candles, torches
- Avoid mosquito coils – contain chemicals
- Screened-in spaces
- Fans
Safe Mosquito Traps
- Focus on traps that don’t use synthetic chemicals
- Target behaviors of mosquitos
- Difficult to be effective
- Mosquito magnet
  - Attractants
    - Breath – CO2
    - Sweat – Lactic acid, Ammonium bicarbonate, octenol
  - Used in scientific population studies
  - Large-scale management
    - Device
    - Propane
    - Lures
      - Purchase the right lure for your region
    - Expensive
    - Some reliability issues
- Dynatrap
  - Various outdoor options
  - Generalist insect trap
  - Catches many other insects
  - Also catches mosquitos
  - Less expensive
  - Smaller space, less extreme problems
  - More attractive
  - Attractants
    - Light
    - CO2
    - Sweat – Lactic acid, Ammonium bicarbonate, octenol
- CDC AGO Trap
  - Effective trap
  - Developed by CDC
  - Specific to egg-laying mosquitos
  - Ugly
  - Works – takes time
  - Attractants
    - Water vapor
    - Fermenting grass
    - Heat (sunlight)
Safe mosquito repellents
- All Terrain Herbal armor
  - Essential oil based spray
  - Works on contact
  - Mosquitos will land or hover – won’t bite
  - Requires even coverage of all bite-able areas

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