All posts by Mosquito Joe

Once we have treated a customer 3 times, and so long as they stay on the 3-week cycle for service, we guarantee a 95% reduction in mosquitoes. That number is variable – when the mosquito pressure is super high that 5% will be higher too. But if a customer calls with issues and a lot of mosquitoes we will go back to treat again and more importantly, have a good hunt to see why there is an issue.

Some very common reasons include:

• New mulch: Mulch carries millions of mosquito eggs, and once we lay it and add water the results are a huge jump in mosquitoes. The same holds true for new soil or new sod. It doesn’t have to be your yard either – a neighbor can add new mulch and create issues for everyone around them.
• Overwatering: Particularly if your yard is uneven, the resulting standing water will produce a lot of issues.
• Blocked gutters and downspouts: The decomposing leaves and sludge will lead to dirty stagnant water and hence mosquitoes.
• Cracked septic tank lids: This is our nemesis as a septic tank can produce an incredible mosquito population. Check out our videos on Facebook or Google to see what we mean.
• Biting midges: So many times, we go out and find that the insect the customer thinks is a mosquito and turns out is something else entirely. Biting midges are out all day. They live in the grass and tend to bite your lower limbs more. Mosquitoes are out at dawn and dusk and bite the most vascular areas. We can treat for midges, but we have to treat the grass and we don’t do that when we treat for mosquitoes.

Over the years we have had difficult properties – some we expected, like the property that backed up to a stagnant lake, or the property surrounded on 3 sides by culverts. But other properties have been real head-scratchers initially. Here are some of the oddest places we have found to cause mosquito issues, and that we now always look for:

1. Tufted outdoor chair cushions: Who knew that those pulled areas around each button really mimic a cup and hold water after it rains? One teaspoon of water results in 300 mosquitoes every few days. If half those eggs are female a week later 150 mosquitoes are laying 300 eggs every few days. A week after that is 22,500 mosquitoes laid 300 eggs. You can see why such a small thing becomes such a big issue.
2. Frisbees: We had a customer whose dog loved frisbees. His owner couldn’t understand where they all went, so he kept buying more. We eventually located a stash of frisbees under the deck. Most of them were laying upside down so that water was collected inside them. That’s a lot of standing water right under the area where the owner sat every evening.
3. Fence posts without caps: This one took a long time. Our lead technician, Kyle, likes to sit in the grass and wait when he visits a problem property. We get calls from worried customers telling us there might be something wrong with our technician. What he is doing is emitting CO2 plumes as he breathes and waiting to see what the insect is and where they might be coming from. The fence post with its missing cap took this sort of figuring out. It turns out that the fence post in question was full of water. It is one of those “unseen” locations that are easy to miss.
4. Tree stumps: These guys are always full of crevices and cracks. Trees, if chainsawed down, are never cut flat and the result is more standing water than you want.
5. Outdoor play kitchens/houses: It is amazing just how much water a kid’s toy can hold. A few years ago, we went on Good Morning Houston and demonstrated this very thing with a plastic boat. The worst offender is the outdoor kitchen, which not only has holes in the plastic but crevices and cracks and a sink where water can hold. Even if we dump that out, the plastic frame is often full of water. We had one customer who did the right thing and moved his daughter’s kitchen into his garage. But he called us complaining of getting bitten while working on his car. He was unable to empty the frame of water and simply moved the water to a shaded space and this compounded the issue. We recommend drilling holes in the base of these toys, as well as your trash cans and anything else in your yard that can fill up after rain (or sprinklers).

The main lesson here is that mosquitoes are incredibly resourceful, and it is often the unobvious articles in your yard that can cause the biggest issues. If you would rather spend your free time enjoying your yard rather than playing “hunt the mosquito” give us a call at 979-859-5998 and we can do it for you.

It is said that the younger generations often inspire the older and for Mosquito Joe that is very true. For several years now, Molly has been helping in the office over the summers. She started working for us in her sophomore year of high school and has been a great asset to us ever since, taking on more responsibilities each year. Molly is now in her second year at Corpus Christi A&M where she studies marketing. She has also developed a growing interest in conservation and the environment and is interning at The Harte Research Institute.

Molly’s passion for conservation and the environment is palpable and her excitement for doing our part and changing our way of thinking has caught on.

The Texas Department of Agriculture has very specific rules regarding the disposal of pest control bottles. They must be triple rinsed, the top and labels removed, and then sliced open before being thrown out. We’ve been doing that at Mosquito Joe since we opened. But pushed on by Molly’s passion we researched and discovered that we are lucky enough to have a location of US Ag Recycling near us in Waller County. This free service allows us to prepare our empty bottles and then drop them off to be recycled. We go through a lot of bottles annually, so this simple change makes a huge difference in the long run.

Encouraged by this change we then learned some surprising news about our recycling. Most sources suggest that 85% of the products we sort and put out for recycling do not actually get recycled, but instead end up in a landfill. That was a shocking discovery for us. You can learn more about that here. We decided that we didn’t want to play a role in leaving more waste behind so Mosquito Joe started recycling the boxes our bottles arrive in, all the paper in the office, water bottles that the technicians drink during the day, and more. We sort them in our warehouse and make regular trips to the Montgomery Country Precinct 2 recycling center. There are several recycling centers around if you want to get involved. They do take things seriously there, so we make sure that everything is clean, flattened, and organized as we go.

We take our impact on the environment seriously and are always talking about the lengths we go to protect our bees and butterflies by using garlic around flowering plants. We monitor wind at every home we treat to make sure we don’t have any potential for drift. We treat every yard individually so that we get rid of your mosquitoes but don’t impact your beneficial insects. It suddenly occurred to us that we are only doing half a job if we support the environment during our services but don’t after the fact.

We encourage all of you to jump in where you can so we can reduce our footprint on the Earth. It feels good to take these steps and our efforts have spilled out into our homes and among our employees. The passion of one individual has led to a lot of changes for our company, and we are proud to be a part of a solution rather than a problem. If you are interested in learning more about the steps students at A&M are taking you can visit the Blue Value website, where students like Molly blog about their ideas and conservation work.

Hopefully, you have been following along with our suggestions for reducing the mosquitoes in your yard, particularly our January post detailing all the things you can do.

Now that we are in March and preparing for spring break it’s a good time to think about ways to make your yard more pleasant for your youngsters as they enjoy some time outside in the sun.

We won’t repeat our previous suggestions so please jump over to the earlier post on the topic if you want a solid overview of what to keep an eye on. Instead, we will focus on the likely activities this break and how they can impact your yard.

We all love a good slip-n-slide or kiddie pool, or at least our children do. They seem pretty innocent on the face of things, but they can both cause some major mosquitoes. Any type of tarp, like a slip and slide, can hold pockets of water, and it doesn’t take much time for mosquitoes to find them. Remember, 1 teaspoon of water will produce 300 mosquitoes in no time at all. To prevent this, make sure you store it away carefully when the kids are finished. Hang it flat over a fence to ensure it is dry, and then roll it up away and out of the elements so that water cannot gather inside it and cause issues for you.

When it comes to a kiddie pool it’s best to make sure the water stays clean – treat it according to directions with chlorine and clean the base regularly. We’ve seen “forgotten” kiddie pools in the past and the number of mosquitoes they were breeding defies belief. Make sure you keep the pool in the sun and avoid placing it where shade is always present – mosquitoes will be less likely to visit during the day. And, most importantly, place the pool where the water won’t pool beneath it – a slight slant to the ground beneath is ideal so that the water can run away when splashed. A kiddie pool placed in the shade, with pooled water beneath it will result in a huge leap in your mosquito population.

Kids’ water toys can also cause issues. It’s easy to forget a loaded water gun discarded in the corner of the yard, but the mosquitoes won’t forget it. The same holds true for other kids’ toys – most plastic ones will fill with water after sprinklers run or rainfalls. They can hold a surprisingly substantial amount of water. Don’t forget the larger items either – outdoor children’s kitchens or playhouses can have a lot of nooks and crannies that hold water.

Finally, this is often the time of year when we bring new mulch into our yards to beautify and prep for
summer. Many people don’t realize it, but mulch is loaded with insects and with mosquito eggs. We spread and water it and then are surprised when we see a jump in mosquitoes a few days later. It can happen to us even when it is our neighbors who have mulched. There isn’t much we can do about this, unfortunately. However, if you are bringing in bagged mulch, spread it as soon as you can and get rid of the bags. Bags of mulch always have holes in them. Let them sit outside and get hot and wet and you will breed far more than if you spread it and allow it to dry.
 

We hope you have a wonderful March and enjoy your spring break, whether home or away. We hope these suggestions are helpful to you, but if you would rather sit back and enjoy your yard give Mosquito Joe of S Brazos Valley a call and we can do the work for you – 979-859-5998.

It’s February and it won’t be long until the weather really heats up. Depending on the winter we have had – wet/dry, hot/cold, mosquitoes may be a huge issue already, so we really encourage our customers to make sure that they are on top of the standing water in their yard and let us know if they start seeing issues.

It’s also the time of year when we offer our pre-pay special to all our customers, new and old. It’s a great way of making sure that your yard is bite-free for the rest of the year so you can sit back and relax. You can pick the length of time you want to be treated and kick it back and relax knowing we have it handled. The customers we treat all year particularly like to take advantage of the program and are always welcome to start another when they finish, even if it’s mid-fall or January.

The concept is a simple one. A full year of services is performed once every 3 weeks, which comes to 17 treatments in a calendar year. If you opt for 13 to 17 services, you save 15% on your price. For customers who want less time covered, they can pick between 10 and 12 services and save 10%.

Mosquito Joe will manage the pre-pay account and monitor progress throughout the year. We draw from the account each time we come and treat and monitor your balance. Once you have two services remaining, we will reach out to let you know. Once you have run out of pre-paying funds we will call and see if you want to pause service for the year or do another pre-pay. You are free to hold your service anytime you want as we don’t have any contacts here, and the money in your pre-pay account will be here waiting for you when you are ready to start back up.

If you are looking for service and want a simple way to save money this is for you! Or if you are struggling for a great gift for family or a loved one a swat-free yard is THE BEST GIFT!

Please don’t hesitate to ask us about our pre-pay offer. You can give us a call and we can get you a quote and a price at no charge in just a few minutes. While we reach out to our customers this month about pre-pay, we offer it all year and will always be happy to run some numbers for you, so you can pick the option you like best. Just give us a call at 979-859-5998 and we will help you from there. Happy Spring!!!

 
It’s a new year and along with it come new resolutions. Maybe you want to get in the gym more, or be on your phone less, or tackle that big project you’ve been putting off. It’s highly unlikely that your resolutions involve mosquitoes, but if there was ever a time to work on reducing your summer bites it would be now. Just like your “summer vacation self” would thank you for starting that new workout routine now, your family will thank you come to the warm weather. So how can you get rid of mosquitoes?

The easiest way to get rid of mosquitoes is to call Mosquito Joe of S Brazos Valley and we can take care of it for you, but we want to give you some tips and tricks to drive the population in your yard down come summer that you can do yourself.

One mosquito lays about 300 eggs every couple of days in ONE teaspoon of water. Half of those offspring will go on to do the same in as many days. In this way, one mosquito can become well over millions in a month.

Mosquitoes lay their eggs wherever the ground holds water or where is doesn’t dry. If there is no water, then they are very sneaky about their placement aiming to lay the eggs where water will gather later.

For this reason, one of the first and most important steps you should take to reduce the population is to reduce these potential breeding spots. This starts with your gutters – clearing them out and keeping them clear of leaves. Don’t forget the important step of flushing them out with water when you are finished. The sludge is just as important and is often forgotten. Keeping up with this can be tedious but it is well worth it. Make sure that the gutters are flowing freely all the way down the downspouts, they are easily blocked and missed. Make sure that the runoff blocks, if you have them, are directed away from your home and not pooling water or damaging your foundation.

Once the gutters are clean you should turn your attention to the ground. Raking up all the fallen leaves and pine needles will help the soil dry out and stay that way – piles of leaves will shade the soil and thus produce the perfect place for eggs to be laid. The same holds true for fallen branches and brushes – cleaning them all up and removing them will make a big difference, don’t make the mistake of leaving piles of them in the yard.

Take some time to walk through your yard. Remember that only one teaspoon of water is enough to create a population, so look for holes in tree stumps, low-lying spots in the yard, pots turned the wrong way, or even fence posts without caps on them. Remove any tires, plastic containers, or anything that holds water.

Children’s toys can hold a lot of water, and this includes plastic swing seats, see-saws, and such. Removing these areas that hold water will make a huge difference come the spring. And what you cannot remove you can remedy – drill holes in the bottom of tire swings, kids’ toys, even your trash cans that will hold water after rain.

Once you have your yard in order staying on top of it after rains (and leaves fall) is vital. But if you keep at it and keep the water away you will have made a huge impact on the bites you receive in the spring. And of course, if you would just rather not have any issues reach out to us for a free quote at 979-859-5998.