Find and remove every source of standing water on your property. Mosquitoes breed exclusively in stagnant water, and eliminating it breaks the breeding cycle at the source.
If you’re tired of fighting with mosquitoes, then the logical next step is to stop them from breeding. Every mosquito biting you tonight came from an egg, after all. And those eggs were all, at some point, lying in standing water.
That standing water might be closer to your back door than you think. Mosquitoes need remarkably little water to breed. A bottle cap holding a teaspoon of stagnant water is enough. A female can lay a raft of 100 to 200 eggs, and in warm weather, those eggs become flying adults in as little as seven to ten days.
You don’t want to overlook even a single container. Because all it takes is one to produce hundreds of mosquitoes every week, all summer long. It helps to start with obvious sources like birdbaths, plant saucers, pet water bowls, and kiddie pools. For anything where you want there to be standing water, it’s smart to refresh it every few days. Everything else needs to be dumped or stored upside down.
There are a lot of hidden standing water sites on properties too. Clogged gutters are notorious for giving mosquitoes a place to breed. The same is true for corrugated downspout extensions, tarps over grills or firewood with sagging pits where water can pool. Tire swings and trash can lids are also common troublemakers.
If you have low spots or drainage issues in your yard, that’s another thing you will want to resolve. This can be done by extending downspouts to areas that drain and regrading as necessary to prevent standing water.
Eliminating breeding water is the most effective thing any homeowner can do on their own. But if you’re a Central New Jersey homeowner and you’d like even more protection, Mosquito Squad of Central New Jersey can help. Barrier treatments are very effective at controlling mosquito populations over time and you can expect a reduction in the population by up to 90%.
