Mosquitoes can ruin your time outside with their constant buzzing and itchy bites. Beyond the discomfort, mosquitoes carry and spread diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, and Zika virus. Knowing how to keep mosquitoes away from your yard lets you enjoy the outdoors and helps protect everyone around you.
Here’s what you need to know about what attracts mosquitoes to your yard, when they’re most active, and how to eliminate them effectively.
What Attracts Mosquitoes to Your Yard?
Mosquitoes don’t fly far from their breeding grounds. If you can understand what draws them to your yard, you may be able to control or eliminate them effectively. Here are a few things that could be making your yard a good place for mosquitoes to breed:
- Standing water: Standing water attracts mosquitoes because it’s where adult females lay their eggs. Some obvious locations include puddles and birdbaths. However, these insects can happily lay their eggs anywhere as long as it’s wet, even on small pools of water that collect on the branch junctions of trees.
- Carbon dioxide (CO2): Female mosquitoes need blood, which provides the essential proteins, iron, and other nutrients required for developing their eggs. They locate it using carbon dioxide. The CO2 that humans and animals exhale is like a beacon that leads them to a potential blood meal. That’s why mosquitoes are always a nuisance whenever there’s a lot of activity outside, close to their breeding grounds.
- Dense shade and tall grass: Long grass, tall weeds, and thick bushes give mosquitoes cool, shady places to rest during the day. If your yard has a lot of dense plants, you may be attracting them without realizing it.
- Outdoor lighting: Although mosquitoes aren’t strongly attracted to lights like moths, bright outdoor lighting, especially blue-toned or white LEDs, can contribute to mosquito activity in your yard.
When Are Mosquitoes Most Active?
Most mosquitoes are active during dawn and dusk, when temperatures are cooler and humidity is higher. However, they can still be active during the day under the right conditions:
- Warm, humid weather: Mosquitoes flourish in warm, humid conditions, so their numbers are highest from spring through early fall. Rain can worsen the problem by creating more standing water where mosquitoes can breed and develop.
- Shaded areas during the day: Mosquitoes can remain active even during the hottest parts of the day, provided they find shade.
Effective Ways to Keep Mosquitoes out of Your Yard
Here are simple ways to control the mosquito population in your yard:
1. Disrupt Their Habitat
The most effective way to control mosquitoes in the long term is by eliminating the areas where they breed and lay eggs. Since mosquitoes are attracted to standing water, it’s important to regularly check your yard for places where water collects and drain them. Disrupting mosquito habitats can include:
- Emptying flower pot saucers.
- Cleaning out gutters.
- Dumping rainwater that’s collected in trash cans.
Trimming trees and bushes or mowing the lawn can also help water puddles dry up faster. These lawn care activities also reduce the shady, damp areas where mosquitoes like to rest.
2. Plant Natural Mosquito Repellents
Several plants produce odors or oils that mosquitoes dislike, making your yard less attractive to them. Some of them include:
- Eucalyptus
- Lemongrass
- Scented geranium
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Lemon balm
- Fennel
- Catmint (nepeta)
- Marigold
- Lemon verbena
- Basil
- Sweet Annie
- Nasturtium
Placing these plants near patios, doorways, and seating areas may help reduce mosquitoes. However, their effectiveness depends on how many you have. You would need a large number of these plants, more than most home gardens can hold, for them to make a noticeable difference on their own. For best results, use mosquito-repelling plants alongside another mosquito control method.
3. Use Mosquito Traps
Mosquito traps use carbon dioxide or UV light to draw in mosquitoes and catch them. They can help lower mosquito numbers in your backyard, but they aren’t a one-time fix. For optimal results, use traps with other prevention methods like draining stagnant water or professional mosquito control.
4. Try Mosquito Sprays and Dunks
When applied correctly, mosquito sprays and insect repellents approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can help reduce mosquitoes in your yard. Ensure you select sprays that are safe for humans, pets, and pollinators. For standing water that can’t be removed, mosquito dunks can prevent larvae from developing into adult mosquitoes.
5. Use Yellow or Amber Bulbs Outdoors
Yellow or amber bulbs are less attractive to insects in general, so using them outdoors can help reduce mosquito activity in your yard. You can also use motion-activated lights, which turn on only when there’s movement. This way, you decrease the amount of time the lights are on and potentially reduce mosquito activity.
6. Consider Professional Mosquito Control
If you want consistent, long-term mosquito relief, professional solutions are often the most effective. DIY methods may help temporarily, but mosquitoes reproduce quickly and can reinfest a yard within days. Professionals can identify and eliminate breeding areas, locate standing water, and apply treatments that either target adult mosquitoes, kill larvae, or prevent the females from laying eggs in the first place.
Common professional mosquito control methods include:
- Fogging: Professionals use backpack fogging machines to release a fog of insecticide into your yard. This method is usually used for short-term mosquito control, like before backyard events. On the downside, fogging doesn’t kill mosquito larvae or eggs.
- Barrier spray: This method targets mosquitoes that land and rest on plants and hard surfaces. It is typically applied around the perimeter of the yard, focusing on areas where mosquitoes tend to hide. This method can kill mosquitoes in different stages of their life cycle and usually lasts longer.
- Misting: Misting systems release a fine mist of insecticide into the air to kill or repel mosquitoes. These systems have nozzles placed around the perimeter of your property, allowing them to cover large areas efficiently, including shrubs, patios, and play areas.
Keep Mosquitoes Away From Your Yard
At Urban Jungle Wildlife Removal, our goal is to ensure you can enjoy lounging on your property without worrying about mosquitoes. We install mosquito misting systems that kill mosquitoes and prevent them from breeding on your property, keeping populations low.
Our misting systems use a variety of chemicals to kill or repel mosquitoes, including natural repellents, pyrethrum, and pyrethrin-based products. All chemical solutions we use were developed by entomologists and tested and approved by the EPA, so you can rest assured they’re safe.
After installation, we refill the mosquito-killing solution either monthly or every other month to ensure it’s never running too low and provide maintenance services, including winterizing the system to prevent damage from freezing temperatures.
Contact us to learn more or schedule a service to start enjoying your yard again.
