Caring for Your Trees

When Is Mosquito Spraying Worth It?

Having your yard sprayed for mosquitoes is a bit of an investment. So, before you spend the money to have this service performed on your home, you want to make sure you truly need and can benefit from it. Seeing a few mosquitoes now and then does not necessarily mean you need to have your yard sprayed, but if any of the following things are true, then you should seriously consider spraying.

Your yard is shaded and moist.

Mosquitoes don't really like sunny, dry areas. You may see a few mosquitoes if your yard is dry and sunny, but chances are, those mosquitoes are coming over from a neighbor's property — they're not breeding on yours. As such, spraying your yard for mosquitoes won't do much. You may want to talk to your neighbors with shaded, moist yards about spraying theirs, though!

On the other hand, if your yard has a lot of shade trees, the land is often moist, and puddles tend to form and linger after rainstorms, then mosquitoes are probably breeding there. Spraying for them is one of the most effective ways to keep their population under control.

You have a pond.

As mentioned above, mosquitoes breed in wet spaces. They love nothing more than a good pond! The water in ponds is usually stagnant, which means it does not flow or move very much. This is exactly the type of water that mosquitoes prefer to breed in. You could aerate your pond and install a pump, but that tends to get expensive, and it does not prevent mosquito breeding 100%. Spraying around the pond and also having pesticides added to the pond is a smart method of mosquito control.

Most mosquito spraying companies will recommend trimming back all of the weeds and vegetation around the pond before spraying, as this allows the pesticides to have better contact with the exact areas where mosquitoes are hanging out.

Rates of mosquito-related diseases are really high in your area.

Mosquitoes carry a number of diseases, including West Nile virus, yellow fever, and malaria. If one or more of these diseases are really common in your area, then you may want to have your yard sprayed for mosquitoes — even if you don't have all that many. All it takes is one bite from an infected mosquito to infect you, so you really can't be too careful.

Mosquito spraying is worth it when you have lots of mosquito-borne disease in your area, when your yard is shady or wet, or when you have a pond. Talk to a mosquito service to learn more.