How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes in Your Yard

There are approximately 200 species of mosquitoes in the U.S. Mosquitos can quickly breed in your yard and become difficult to control, but how do you prevent such a dreadful scenario?

In this guide, we’ll explain the steps and methods for natural mosquito control in your yard. Get rid of those pesky vampires ASAP!

Get Rid of Breeding Sites

Female mosquitoes lay eggs in stagnant water. Such eggs become larvae in 3 days and fly after 12 days, so you can see how fast the life cycle is. Now consider that each female mosquito lays approximately 400 eggs.

Eliminate and reduce breeding sites such as tree holes, discarded containers, potholes, clogged rain gutters, and old tires. Keep grass short and prune bushes and trees to limit resting areas for mosquitos. Yard debris gathered in dark places that easily retain moisture should also be removed.

Garden Plants for Natural Mosquito Control

Plants such as rose-scented geraniums are quite effective at repelling mosquitos because they contain natural repellants such as geraniol and citronellal. This natural mosquito control method is best suitable for lawn care Dallas TX.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is an excellent example of a plant that contains repellents such as geranial, Geraniol, and citronellal. Additionally, it’s easy to grow.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is also one of the plants used to control mosquitoes. It contains essential oils that are 10 times more powerful than DEET.

Gardeners as well note that crushing lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), lemon (Thybasikmus x citriodorus), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) can repel mosquitoes for less than 30 minutes. You can try these plants by rubbing their leaves on your skin. However, some herbs might react with your body, so be cautious.

Soybean oil is also another natural solution used by most people. Soybean-based repellents protect people from mosquito bites for approximately 1.5 hours.

Herbal Mosquito Repellents

You can make a herbal mosquito repellent at home and avoid DEET-based products. This solution has a powerful formula that naturally repels mosquitos. It is advisable that you mix a wide range of oils.

Some examples of essential oils are rosemary, pine, basil, clove, lavender, lemon balm, clove, citronella, garlic, eucalyptus, neem, peppermint, geranium, and clove.

Outdoor Bug Sprays

These sprays are readily available because most retailers sell them. Connect your hose pipe to a bug spray and apply anywhere you want in your yard. You main focus while spraying should be shady places and vegetation.

Bug sprays usually last longer than regular foggers.

Mosquito Predators

One of the easiest natural ways to control mosquitoes in your yard is attracting animals or insects that feed on mosquitoes. Swallows and bats are examples of animals that will help to reduce mosquitos because they love eating mosquitos.

Most people wonder how they can attract such wild animals in their yard. Well, by installing a shelter such as a birdhouse, you will attract birds that will feed on these dangerous creatures. 

Get Rid of Algae from Ponds

You can eliminate mosquito by simply starving larvae. Mosquito larvae feed on small organisms such as algae found in water. If you have a pond in your yard and it contains algae, remove it so that they may not have anything to feed on.

Aquasphere pond cleaners and oxygenating plants are recommended to keep your water garden clear at all times.

Regular Change of Water

Most people tend to overlook the importance of changing standing water regularly to avoid mosquito reproduction. Change water in your pond or water garden at least once a week and kill mosquito larvae before they transform into adults.

You may also use mosquito control rings in your yard to kill mosquito for approximately 30 days.

Use Mosquito Larvicides

It’s challenging to control mosquitoes in some areas, so using larvicides is a great option. Larvicides are highly effective because they stop larvae from maturing into adults. However, larvicides should only be used in places with standing water; flowing water could be risky to environmental health.

Larvicides vary based on their mode of operation. There are those that stop larvae from developing into adults. Some contain bacteria that limit the eating ability of larva.

Larvicides are also available in different formulations such as bricks, water soluble granules, and solid dunks. Always read the label before buying the product to ensure that it’s suitable on the area that you want to treat.

This is one of the best Texas Lawn care methods because it helps to get rid of mosquitos where water collection is uncontrollable. The frequency of larvicide application depends on the amount of rain and the product chosen.

Spray Application

Regular insecticide spray applications help to reduce the number of mosquitoes. Mosquitos are highly active early in the afternoon, in the morning, and at night. The main reason they aren’t active during the day is that the heat of the day isn’t conducive.

These insects hide under decks, dense brushes, leaves, bushes, and tall grass, so you need to concentrate on spraying these areas in your yard. Ensure that you spray the underside of leaves to get rid of adult mosquitos.

If your area has a dense mosquito population, it’s advisable to add insect growth regulators to the spray solution to make eggs infertile and sterilize mosquitoes. Adding insect growth regulators helps in reducing the frequency of re-application because they interrupt the reproduction cycle of mosquitoes.

Pro Tip

If you’re organizing an outdoor event on your yard, add pyrethrin-based insecticides. The main benefits of pyrethrin are:

• It offers a fast knockdown hence quick results
• It provides short term repellency, so annoying insects will stay away during the event

Your Neighbor’s Support Matters

If you want to effectively control mosquitoes in your yard using natural methods, ask your neighbors also to support you in your initiative. Adult mosquitoes tend to fly to nearby breeding sites, so they’ll probably go to neighboring breeding sites.

With these easy yet highly effective methods, there’s no doubt that you’ll get rid of mosquitoes in your yard in no time. Contact us today to reduce nesting areas for mosquitoes around your home and take back your summer evenings outdoors with our monthly control service.