Category Archives: Tips and Fun Facts

 
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.

It’s January so why on earth are we writing about this? Well in Texas mosquitoes don’t exactly hibernate like they do in other areas of the United States. Temperatures need to stay under 55 degrees for 5 days in a row, or we need to have 3 deep freezes in a row, for hibernation to occur. As you may have guessed, that happens rarely in this part of the world, and when it does it is almost always immediately followed by a rise in temperatures that takes them right back out of hibernation.

It’s often a mistake to think, “oh the temperatures have dropped; I don’t need to worry.” Think of the folks in Alaska – they deal with incredibly low temperatures every year and have one of the worst mosquito problems in the summer. Even if we have unexpected low temperatures, it doesn’t mean anything in terms of our population the following spring (or in our case a week later typically.)

What drives the population in your yard is the potential for egg-laying areas. If you have few moist or wet zones, mosquitoes will be much less likely to lay eggs. Granted it won’t stop mosquitoes from coming in to visit you from a neighbor, for that you need Mosquito Joe to help. But getting rid of those egg-laying zones on your property will have a HUGE impact on the population at home. So, what do you need to do?

We always tell our customers to, “think like a mosquito.” It’s no good walking around your yard without this in mind – it’s a bit like childproofing your home without thinking like a child. A mosquito wants to lay her eggs in stagnant water, or in damp soil that is protected from the sun. She is smart enough to know if a dry area has a tendency to hold moisture, even if the ground is bone dry when she is hunting for a place to lay eggs. You have to think this way as well when you walk the yard.

Here is what you need to look for:

• Piles of fallen leaves or pine needles: It’s a pain and we all hate to do it but raking the yard and keeping the ground clear of all the leaf litter is important. The ground covered in leaves stays damp and is protected from the sun. It’s an ideal place for mosquitoes to lay eggs, so rake, rake and rake some more!

• Gutters: keep them clear of leaves and debris. It soon turns to sludge and blocks your gutters, creating stagnant pools of water. Even if you have gutter covers don’t be fooled into thinking your gutters won’t cause issues! The same leaves can decompose on top of the covers, causing the sludge to fall through into the gutter and producing the same effect. Running a hose through your gutters once you’ve cleaned them up is the best way to ensure there are no blockages.

• Pot saucers, plant pots, wheelbarrows, toys, etc. You will be amazed at how much water a kid’s toy can hold, and any small saucer has the potential to create quite the population for you. 1 teaspoon of water makes for 300 eggs! Remove all the water and then remove the object as well: store your saucers and pots upside down, preferably in a shed or indoor location.

 

• Store wheelbarrows on their sides and be aware that you are looking for a teaspoon or more– so fence posts without caps, a frisbee, dog bowls, umbrella stands – the list is endless and you will be surprised at the amount of water you find. If you are not spending much time outdoors this time of year, store these items inside away from mosquito visits.

• Tarps and other covers are also pretty sneaky when it comes to collecting rainwater. Pool covers can be a nightmare too – mosquitoes won’t visit chlorinated water, but the water on the top of the cover is a different story.

• Drill holes at the bottom of your trash cans and tire swings etc. If water gets in them, you’ll want to find a way to get it to flow back out. It’s a simple job that can make a world of difference.

• Finally, consider your drainage both above ground and below. If you have a French drain that backs up, remember that you will likely have stagnant water under the ground that you can’t see. The more you control and manage any drainage issues in the yard the better off you will be.

Mosquito Joe will remove and treat all your standing water at each visit. We do this because the majority of mosquito issues stem from these areas. You can help yourself a lot by taking the time to manage all these areas and by keeping on top of falling leaves, etc. The more you do this month the happier you will be, come summer!

Let’s face it, we all conjure up images of October that involve falling leaves, pumpkin spice and dark evenings with crisp fall air. In Texas, reality usually falls short and we find ourselves sweltering in the heat while trying to dispose of a molded pumpkin that deflated well in advance of the trick-or-treaters.

Mosquitoes appreciate our fall just as much as our summer. In fact, they rarely go away here in the south. Hibernation only occurs once temperatures drop beneath 55 degrees and stay there for at least a week, or we get 3 deep freezes in a row. Mosquito Joe will never treat when those parameters are met. It’s worth adding that we’ve met those parameters only once in 6 years, and it lasted but a week.

Fall in Texas does involve falling leaves, and those play a role in your mosquitoes. The more leaf litter (and pine needles) on the ground, the darker and damper the soil. There is nothing a mosquito appreciates more than shade and moisture. The leaves create the perfect spot for a female to lay her eggs. One rain shower and a good 300 hatch under the one leaf. The hatched adults immediately breed and the females, once they have bitten and acquired the blood protein required to lay eggs, go off to find another lovely home to lay their eggs. Before you know it, your mosquito population is very high and enjoying the cooler evenings is no longer fun.

Keeping your yard raked will play a huge role in reducing your mosquitoes. While we totally agree that raking is the worst, maintaining a tidy yard will have a huge impact.

Another important location to keep your eye on is your gutters. Leaves and pine needles can quickly block them, and the resulting standing water is another location mosquitoes will quickly take advantage of. It’s worth mentioning that even gutters that are covered cause issues. The leaves that sit atop those will turn into sludge with rain. That sludge falls into the gutter and causes blockages. We often have customers who have a huge mosquito population because the gutters are blocked, and they don’t realize it. So long story short, keep your gutters free of leaves. If you have covered gutters, hit them with water from a hose to push out all the debris inside them and keep them clear.

Finally, be aware that some of your fall décor can be causing issues. Check for standing water after a rain and be sure to dump any you can. And remember, it won’t be long until Christmas and snow (not).

It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through 2020 although some might say it’s the longest year on record. As we approach the hottest month of the year the yard is filling with toys to keep our kids cool. Slip n’ slides and water balloon fun can help make for an exciting afternoon outside while keeping the family cool, but they are also a potential attractant for mosquitoes. As always, we want to help you keep that mosquito population down and are here to point out some ways to do just that.

Water games are popular in Texas, and with good reason. In the mid-afternoon sun, you and your kids can overheat quickly. It’s what you do after the games are finished that will have a big impact on the number of mosquitoes in your yard. After all, mosquitoes need water to lay their eggs. The more water the merrier as far as they are concerned, but they don’t need much. Just one teaspoon of water provides enough surface area for 300 eggs!  So, the key to managing the population is in how you put the toys away.

Slip n’ slides and kiddie pools are often emptied of water and left to dry. If they are put away when they are still wet, pockets of water can attract mosquitoes.  Compound that with how we store them – often in a dark place – and we just made the mosquitoes a most excellent home. Ideally you want to hang these toys up to drip dry and then fold them and store them in a sealed location.

Buckets and water balloon toys often have the same fate. We hide them away in a tub or in a garage, but we don’t remove all the water before we do. Since these places are cool and shaded, mosquitoes will welcome the opportunity to lay their eggs in these locations and before you know it you have quite the population boom.

A simple and fun afternoon can be spent running around with a sprinkler in the yard. Where things can often go wrong is when other toys, inevitably in the yard as well, are hit with the sprinkler and fill up with water. We recently had a customer who was having continual issues under his car port. We made multiple visits to try and determine the issue with no luck. Finally, one day we arrived early, to find an outdoor play kitchen out in the yard. We realized that it was full of mosquito larvae (on the face of it looked very clean, but inside the walls of the kitchen was stagnant water). Turns out, the customer was putting the toy in his garage before we came to treat and then returning it outside for the grandkids. We estimated about 1.5 gallons of water in when we emptied it.

The key takeaway here is to just to be conscious of mosquitoes and their behavior when you clean up the yard after a day of play. Make sure everything is dry and that your storage location is completely sealed. Damp, shady places with pockets of water will breed millions of mosquitoes. Check slides and playhouses for water and get rid of as much as you can by rotating it or moving it into a sunny area.

We hope you create some great memories with your kids and none of them involve bug bites and if they do, give us a call and we will be happy to make your outside a fun place to be.

This is the second installment in the series. If you want to check out information on chiggers and fleas head over to our last blog post. We are so often asked “how do I get rid of *fill in the blank*?” that we thought it would be useful to write a post on the most common pests we are asked about. This month we look at fire ants, bed bugs and fruit flies/house flies.

How do I get rid of fire ants?

Fire ants are migratory, so getting rid of fire ants is not a one-shot deal. It requires upkeep to maintain a fire ant-free zone in your yard. Each year, new queens are born. They mate and then fly up to 3 miles, before landing to nest. She feeds off her wings and then burrows below to lay her eggs. In this way new colonies of ants are established constantly when the temperatures are between 70 and 95 degrees.

Many folks are familiar with the fire ant poison you can purchase at large home supply stores. Once spread in your yard it requires watering in. Essentially the water releases the poison into the soil and kills any ants it comes into contact with. The problem with this is that fire ant nests are a little bit like icebergs. What you see above the ground is just a small hint of what lies beneath, and the poison only kills what it contacts.

At Mosquito Joe we prefer a 2-part method to make, and keep, your yard fire ant free. The first requires a bait. Since fire ants share all the food they bring to the nest, and since the queen (and the responsibly party for all the ants in your yard) also feats on the same, a bait will get rid of the source of the problem. The fire ant queen waits 2 days before eating any food brought back. She will only eat once those 2 days have past and the taster ants are still living. To get by this safety measure, we use a bait with a 3-day delay. In this way we can circumvent the safety mechanism she has in place. We combine this treatment with a mound service, designed to kill the population of each nest. Since there is much more going on beneath the ground than above, this must be combined with the bait program to be effective.

Unfortunately, there are no preventative actions you can take to reduce the numbers in your yard. Fire ants are not fussy, and don’t particularly care if your yard is neat or messy, leaf filled or raked. It’s all the same to them.

How do I get rid of bed bugs?

We are going to go on record here, right out of the gate, and state that we do not treat for, nor are we experts in bed bugs. That being said, we get the question a lot, so we thought this topic was worthy of a conversation.

Firstly, we need to dispel the myth that bed bugs are only found in dirty homes. Bed bugs are everywhere – public buildings, schools, gyms, airplanes, in all 50 states and globally. They hitch hike from one place to the next, whether it be in furniture, your gym bag, wild animals, clothing or any number of ways. Just like mosquitoes, bed bugs find their food source through carbon dioxide and are bloodsuckers, feeding of exposed skin, then dropping off and hiding until the next feed (typically in the mattress). The preferred location is the bed as sleeping exposed skin is the easiest meal. While some humans have no reaction to them, the other 80% reacts with small red bumps.

Heat is the enemy of the bed bug, and treatment will include laundering sheets at a high temperature, possibly removing the mattress and disposing (marking it “bed bugs” so the cycle is broken) treating the room and the furniture, box spring, mattress (if you choose to keep it), the air and crevices with heat and insecticides. It is possible to do this yourself, but most people would rather have an expert come in and manage the infestation.

The only prevention is to be alert to their presence, and to take precautions after visiting an infested site. It is advisable to check the bed in a new lodging before taking your suitcase in, and never leave your clothing on the floor. Look for white small eggs and fecal matter in and around furniture, crevices and mattresses. Adults measure 4-5mm long and can be seen with the human eye. It is said that they smell like “rotting raspberries” and trained dogs are able to detect them.

How do I get rid of fruit flies and house flies?

There is a lot of information online on this topic, but often the misinformation comes from the identification of the fly itself. We’ve had customers complain about fruit fly’s only to discover they have issues with house flies and vice versa. A fruit fly measures about 1/8” and is brown, while a house fly is 1/8 – ¼” long and dark grey. You can also find gnats, drain flies and several other species causing issues for you inside and out. Fruit flies often feed from decomposing fruit, typically that rotting lemon forgotten at the bottom of your fruit bowl. These small flies, sometimes known as vinegar flies, can be trapped and killed by placing a solution of apple cider vinegar and liquid soap around the house. The flies are attracted to the vinegar and then drown in the solution as the soap coats their wings and prevents them from flying. There are various other methods, involving red wine, mashed bananas and so on.

For gnats the easiest remedy, and you should do this twice a year whether you have a problem or not, is to clean your drains. For this you pour about a gallon of bleach into each drain (especially those in a guest bath or shower that gets little use) followed by 10 minutes of hot water. This will flush and clean the drains, preventing new little homes for gnats in your house.

We also often get asked about flies in the yard, which often turn out to be blow flies and house flies. The easiest way to manage these is to manage the stuff they are attracted to. Open trash, pet excrement, and for the blow fly, decaying meat. Mosquito Joe can treat for flies for you, but our treatment is only good when the smell we spray is stronger than the others around it. We place an attractant, coated in pesticide, on the trunk of trees and other areas close enough to your living area to attract them, while far enough away not to be noticed by you. Because scents are short lasting, we recommend the service for a party or outside celebration and always let our customers know that it is not long lasting, and the flies will return in time.

To help yourself in the yard, keep your grass short and your yard tidy. That means keeping up with leaf litter and your pet(s), making sure any compost is far away from your home, and understanding that new mulch and manure will bring them in. The popular suggestion of hanging a bag of water up does not work, in our experience. Homemade fly traps can be helpful, but they can also attract more flies than you otherwise would have.

We hope this series has been useful for you. If you would like us to write on another topic just send us an email with the subject line “blog topic”. For us, pest control is more than killing bugs. It is educating and helping our customers gain a better understanding of how they can help themselves.