Mosquito Awareness Week: Creating a partnership with your customers

These factors alone should build a solid case for why businesses and residential homes should implement a mosquito control program that will help mitigate health risks and keep people safe. And that’s where your mosquito control expertise comes in. Use it to build partnerships and educate your customers on growing trends and health concerns; and, provide helpful tips for reducing mosquito populations around their property.

Mosquito prevention tips to share with your commercial customers

• Ensure objects that collect water are properly draining or regularly maintained, such as bird baths, fountains, planters, outdoor seating, trash cans, cigarette receptacles, and playground equipment.
• Clean gutters regularly by removing leaves and debris, allowing water to flow freely.
• Prevent overwatering by periodically reviewing your automatic watering systems, especially during the rainy season.
• Repair exterior plumbing issues to minimize water accumulation.
• Evaluate parking lots. Grade, resurface, or patch potholes or areas that collect water.
• Regularly survey storm grates or other points of water drainage on your property to ensure they are not obstructed by debris.
• Drainage ditches may be problematic. Work with your property manager or local municipality to fix them or have them treated.
• Outdoor workers should wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and an EPA-approved insect repellent to prevent being bitten.
• Ensure windows screens are not damaged.
• Keep exterior doors closed.

Mosquito prevention tips to share with your residential customers

• Eliminate standing water. The majority of mosquitoes only need a tablespoon of water for breeding. By removing or modifying sources that retain water, you can significantly reduce populations around your property.
• Change, drain, or remove water in objects such as small swimming pools, toys, bird baths, fountains, spare tires, flowerpots, and pet bowls. If necessary, drill holes in the bottom of bins and flower pots so water can properly drain.
• Keep roof gutters and downspouts clear of debris. Pooling water can create ideal conditions for breeding.
• Inspect all window and door screens for holes and tears. Replacing or repairing broken screens will prevent mosquitoes (and other pests) from coming inside.
• Wear light-colored clothing. Mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors. As an extra precaution, wear long socks. Aedes mosquitoes are ankle-biters.
• Add an extra layer of protection by wearing an EPA-approved insect repellent outside and reapply as directed. When pairing it with sunscreen, apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second.
• Avoid outdoor activities during peak feeding hours (dusk and dawn).

Although mosquito prevention tips are helpful to share with your customers; as you know, it’s a multi-layered approach, requiring professional applications and recurring treatments. Afterall, there’s only so much information your customers will want to know about mosquitoes.

Determining when and where you will apply treatments

Here are some factors to consider:

• During the day, many mosquito species prefer to rest on shrubs and in shaded areas.
• Most mosquito species are active outside at dusk and dawn.
• Some mosquito species, such as Aedes aegypti, feed day and night, aggressively seek hosts, and rest indoors. This species was originally found in tropical and subtropical climates, but can now be found on every continent, except Antarctica.
• Some species of mosquitoes may lay their eggs in water that has high organic matter: ponds, streams, pools, or even puddles that contain dense vegetation, sediment, or algae.
• Disease-carrying mosquitoes can be found in every state in the U.S. and into the southern parts of Canada. While mosquitoes prefer warmer temperatures, they can be active anywhere the temperature is over 50°F.

Top 4 mosquito-borne diseases in North America

Noted as one of the deadliest insects in the world, the mosquito is king when it comes to carrying and transmitting viruses and parasites. Below are the top four mosquito-borne diseases in North America.

1. Dengue fever
2. West Nile virus
3. Zika virus
4. Chikungunya virus

It should be noted that not all mosquitoes carry diseases that can make people sick. Actually, the majority of mosquitoes in the U.S. are nuisance mosquitoes. But just the same, no one wants to find out the hard way.

Mosquitoes known for transmitting diseases

Although male mosquitoes don’t bite, their female counterparts do and have the ability to transmit diseases. The three species of mosquitoes known for transmitting the majority of diseases in the U.S. include:

1. Aedes mosquito species (Ae. aegypti) are carriers of diseases such as Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya.
2. Culex mosquito species (Cx. pipiens, Cx. tarsalis, Cx. quinquefasciatus) are carriers of West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, and canine heartworm.
3. Anopheles mosquito species (An. freeborni and An. quadrimaculatus) are known for carrying Malaria.

Mosquito management solutions

Reduce mosquito populations and reduce risks by using an integrated approach that involves prevention efforts, adulticide applications, and recurring treatments.

Adulticides are used to kill adult mosquitoes; they can be applied in a number of ways: ULV sprayer, fogger, truck, or airplane, depending on the size of the area requiring application; and they can easily cover large and small areas where mosquitoes are likely to land and rest such as trees, shrubs, vegetation, and buildings. Insect growth regulators (IGRs) disrupt mosquito growth and reproduction, preventing mosquitoes from successfully reaching the adult stage. IGRs are often used in combination with adulticides – effectively eliminating adults, eggs, and larvae.

Any of these applications should provide your customers with effective and long-lasting solutions and help to create a trusted partnership that will have them calling you for all their future mosquito control needs.

Target Specialty Products provides over 80 years of industry experience and insight for controlling pest populations. If you need help selecting the most effective products to use for eliminating and preventing mosquitoes or other pests, please contact us here. We also have 44 active locations across the country with representatives ready to provide their support.