Mosquito Prevention Tips

To prevent mosquitoes from invading your property, you need to make it less attractive to them. To achieve this, you need to ensure that your yard does not have what the mosquitoes are searching for. If you are a homeowner in South Carolina, you can take certain measures to avoid mosquito bites and prevent them from taking over your yard. Let's take a closer look at some of these mosquito prevention tips.

First, why do mosquitoes bite?

Did you know that most of the time, mosquitoes feed on plant nectar and juices instead of blood? It's true! Only female mosquitoes consume blood, and they do this to get the extra protein they need to produce eggs. To extract blood, females use their proboscises, or mouthparts, to pierce the skin. While doing so, they inject saliva into the skin, which can create an itchy bite reaction in the body after finishing the meal. Unfortunately, infected mosquitoes can also transmit mosquito-borne illnesses, such as West Nile Virus.

How to prevent mosquito bites

Although mosquitoes are more attracted to some than others, everyone should take steps to make themselves less of a magnet to blood-thirsty mosquitoes. Here are a few ways this can be accomplished:

• Avoid outdoor activities when mosquitoes are most active – from dusk to dawn.
• Use EPA-registered insect repellents (talk with your family physician if you’re not sure which one to use).
• Dress yourself and your children in clothing that covers arms and legs.
• Cover strollers and baby carriers with mosquito netting.

Don’t forget to make your yard less appealing to mosquitoes

Another important part of mosquito prevention is making sure your yard doesn’t attract mosquitoes. The best way to do this is by eliminating mosquito resting and breeding sites. Here are a few ways you can accomplish this.

Don’t give mosquitoes a place to rest

To reduce mosquitoes in your yard, it is essential to address areas where mosquitoes rest. In other words, keep your lawn and landscape well-maintained.

• Remove weeds from your lawn.
• Trim bushes, shrubs, and trees to allow better air circulation and sunlight penetration.
• Dethatch your lawn.
• Keep your grass cut low.
• Remove leaves, fallen tree limbs, and other yard debris.

Eliminate standing water (mosquito breeding sites)

When it comes to battling mosquitoes, you really need to address breeding sites. Simply check your yard for stagnant water and address the conditions that cause water to sit.

• Remove or turn over objects that capture rainwater, such as buckets, old tires, wheelbarrows, and canoes.
• Install fill or apply gradation to deal with puddles.
• Install a circulation pump in a bird bath.
• Make sure water does not accumulate by your foundation.
• Check your gutters, address obstructions, and make sure downspouts and backsplashes divert water away from the foundation.

Mosquitoes lay one hundred eggs at a time. They can lay their eggs in as little as one-fourth inch of water. These steps and other corrective measures can help prevent this.

Where does professional mosquito control fit in?

While the tips mentioned above can help property owners avoid mosquitoes, it would be even more effective to hire a local pest control company to provide seasonal mosquito treatments. Here at Harris Pest Control, we offer effective mosquito control services that drastically reduce mosquito activity for the entire time these biting pests are active in our region. Here’s what we’ll do when you sign up for our service:

• Inspect your yard and catalog conditions that are conducive to mosquito activity.
• Complete a mosquito misting treatment every month, April – September, that targets mosquito hotspots.
• Treat mosquito breeding sites to disrupt mosquito development.

If you’re wondering if spraying your yard for mosquitoes is worth it, the answer is a resounding yes. Although we cannot 100% eliminate mosquitoes, the treatments we apply target adult mosquitoes and actively stop mosquitoes from breeding the next batch!

Sign up for a year-round home pest control plan that includes mosquito treatments

Harris Pest Control offers the Intelligent Choice Plus program, one of our ongoing home pest control plans. This program helps eliminate various pests, such as bugs and rodents in the house, fire ants in the yard, and other annoying pests that may cause damage. Additionally, it includes seasonal mosquito treatments! Check out the plan features below or give us a call.

Take back your outdoor living space!

For effective mosquito control in Florence, Kingstree, and Myrtle Beach, as well as the rest of our Pee Dee and Grand Strand service area, contact Harris Pest Control today. Don't let mosquitoes and their itchy bites keep you indoors this summer!