The main difference is how they're made and how long they last. Natural sprays use plant-derived ingredients like essential oils and work on a shorter cycle, while conventional professional treatments use longer-lasting active ingredients that hold up better against heavy pest pressure. A professional can apply either one.
People often see natural and traditional treatments as options. But it’s not as simple as either-or. More useful to ask: what does each one do? That can help you figure out what to use in your yard.
Natural sprays are based on botanical ingredients. A lot of times, this means essential oils like cedar, rosemary, lemongrass, or peppermint. They work largely by contact and the scent disrupts how pests find their way.
Applied to your yard, the natural treatment knocks down and repels mosquitoes and ticks in the near term. The catch: the natural ingredients biodegrade faster, so you have to reapply them more often—roughly every two weeks.
Then you have conventional professional treatments using synthetic active ingredients. Usually, they come from the pyrethroid family, which is itself modeled on a compound that occurs naturally in chrysanthemums. These bond to foliage and keep working for around three weeks per application.
Both treatments can work. But you might be surprised you don’t have to do one or the other. Mosquito Squad, and many other companies like it, offer both. And, in fact, you can have some parts of your yard treated by conventional means and others by natural ones.
No matter which way you're leaning, professional application is what makes it work better than DIY mosquito control. It’s the way the treatment is applied that makes it work.
If you're tired of weighing your options without a straight answer, Mosquito Squad of The Sandhills can help you make the right choice for you. Conventional and plant-based treatments both work well when applied by trained techs. With either treatment, you can expect an up to 90% reduction in mosquito activity with regular re-treatments.
