It truly is the worst sound you can hear outdoors…
By Dave Baker
Q – I seem to have an abundance of mosquitoes in my back yard. How can I get rid of them?
JoAnn in Stockbridge
A – You can move.
Anything else will take some effort on your part.
Skeeters can breed in any sized pool of standing water in your yard. In a bucket or pail, in an old tire used for a tire swing or a sandbox, in your gutters, in your yard itself. Anywhere you have standing water, even the smallest of drops, you have a skeeter breading ground.
Therefore the first step is to keep standing water out of your yard.
To help aid in getting rid of them permanently you will have to enlist the help of a pest control company. They can do a monthly spray (the spray is only effective for a month) during peak skeeter season which will help keep down the population.
You want to make sure that the skeeter folks use a spray that won’t harm the little pollinators in your yard, the bees, the butterflies etc.
The spray will help keep the skeeter population down, but you may not ever be totally skeeter free.
What should you use if you are trying to enjoy your deck or patio?
Do mosquito candles work? Ehhhh. Bug zappers? Not really. Smoke? Doubt it.
The best thing for keeping skeeters away from you on the patio or deck is a good old-fashioned oscillating fan.
That’s right – a plain old oscillating house fan is probably your best bet. Skeeters are notoriously weak fliers so the breeze of the fan will help blow them away from you.
Extra info.
You never feel the mosquito biting you. You don’t feel them until after they have already had their fill of your blood, which is another reason why they are such a pain in the rear. Or arm. Or leg. Or neck…