BUG-OFF! Mosquito Control Pros weigh-in on best way to keep the pests at bay

BOSTON — According to the Norfolk County Mosquito Control District Commission, the first real round of mosquitoes will be hatching at the end of May, and that means the annual battle with mosquitoes is about to begin.

NCMDC Director David Lawson says the bad news is, that there’s no new “silver bullet” on the market year that will get rid of mosquitoes completely.

“There’s been a lot of gimmicks, like put citronella candles or the torches or whatever. I don’t think they’ve been proven to be very effective,” Lawson said. He said those types of devices mainly work only if you’re right next to them.

With more people spending time outdoors since the start of the pandemic, Mosquito Mary’s out of Plainville tells Boston 25 News the professional spraying business has been booming.

“People have gotten a lot of pets, they spent a lot more time outdoors, and they want to be safe. They don’t want to deal with the bugs,” said pest control technician Jesse Bowen.

DOES IT PAY TO SPRAY?

With inflation high these days and money tight, we asked Lawson if it pays to have a professional company spray your property. He said it does, if you have the right yard.

“If people have good low shrubby thick vegetation at the perimeter of the property, that’s a good setup for what these companies are doing to control mosquitoes in in their yard,” Lawson said. He said it works better if your neighbors spray too, but you should still see benefits even if you go it alone. “If you have a great setup in your own yard, that should really work effectively,” Lawson added.

IS IT SAFE?

We also asked if spraying is safe for kids, pets, and pollinators like bees.

“The EPA approves the products that are to be used,” Lawson said. “Follow the label, do it according to the label, and we should be doing right by the environment.”

“The synthetic is, if you’ve ever used a flea and tick shampoo on your dog, it’s very, very similar. So it’s safe,” Bowen said when asked the same question.

Mosquito Mary’s says company technicians will not spray flowering plants – or yards where they see a lot of bees flying around to protect pollinators. The NCMDC says they tend to spray countywide in the evenings to avoid pollinators as well.

WHERE MOSQUITOES LIKE TO HANG:

The pros tell us mosquitoes love to breed in standing water, so it’s always best to clear that from the yard, by emptying buckets, children’s pools, etc. You may want to take consider cleaning out gutters if they’re blocked and standing water is pooling there too.

Mosquitos also like to hang upside along stone walls and underneath porches, so those can be good places to target if spraying.

Lawson says personal sprays are also typically effective, especially if they contain DEET.

Lawson also says it’s too soon to tell if we’ll be faced with a lot of mosquitoes and the illnesses they can carry like EEE and West Nile Virus. Much of that will depend on how much rain we get this season. One thing he can confirm, we’ll need to learn to live with mosquitoes, one way or another.

“I do believe we’re going have to coexist because we’re not going to be able to get rid of them,” Lawson concluded.

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