Even without the threat of West Nile Virus, mosquitoes are annoying and hard to deal with. In order to keep them out of your home and away from your yard, there's a series of steps you can take to get rid of them. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Get rid of anything that holds water. Mosquitoes breed in warm, humid areas with even small amounts of water. Put mosquito rings containing BTI, a bacteria that kills mosquito larvae, in ponds, puddles, bird baths and water barrels. Change water in children's wading pools and bird baths once or twice a week. Empty gardening cans, tarps, garbage cans, buckets, tires, flower pots, toys, car and boat covers and wheelbarrows.
2. Cut your grass short when mowing and remove all weeds. Trim shrubs and bushes, and clean out gutters. Smooth ruts and fill holes in your yard that can fill with water to form puddles. Rake leaves as they can hold enough water for mosquitoes to breed in.
3. Plant a border around your yard of catnip, garlic, onions, lemon thyme, lemon grass, citronella grass, marigolds, rosemary and basil to repel mosquitoes. Hang planters with these plants around areas where you spend a lot of time. Crush the leaves to release the scents that irritate mosquitoes.
4. Hang bat houses and bird feeders in your yard. Mosquitoes are attracted to the warm, moist houses and feeders, and bats and birds eat the mosquitoes.
5. Add between 50 and 100 fish such as gambusia to your pond. They feed on mosquito larvae. Attract dragonflies that eat mosquito larvae and adults.
6. Buy a fogger or spray at hardware or home improvement stores. Foggers heat insecticide and release it to kill mosquitoes on contact, but it wears off after a few hours. Sprays like permethrin or bifenthrin take a little longer to work, but they last longer.
Tags: your yard, mosquito larvae, bird baths, mosquitoes Hang