Do the pros outweight the risks of having your yard sprayed for mosquito control?

Question

I am concerned it terms of the residue. I have a three year old that plays outside and also a vegetable garden and berry bush. However, I am extremely concerned about EEE and WNV. I live in the northeast where there seems to be enough infected mosqiutos.

Answer 1

No! Okay, im not a tree-hugger or anything, BUT THAT STUFF IS TOXIC! If you have a three year old, it could cause him to be ill. Also, that doesn't only kill mosquitoes. It kills many different bugs! My advice: bug repellent. the stuff with DEET works best, but that's the same as spraying chemicals in your yard for your three-year old. There are other brands that work well to, although I haven't been up in a mosquito hot-zone for a while. Also, dump out all standing water souces in your yard. even an upterned bottlecap has been found to be home to mosquito larvae, so be rigouros. BUT DON"T SPRAY!!

Answer 2

Definitely not. First of all, your area should not be infested with infected mosquitoes. Most infectious ones are in tropics, where you need to worry about west nile (though it's true, there was a report it was found in NYC, but far from infested), malaria, dengue fever, and so on. Those are with different kinds of mosquitoes, and cannot survive cold climate. If you still want to avoid mosquito bite, you can use repellent made with natural ingredients (such as from Thursday Plantation, Jason, etc), or use essential oil of CITRONELLA (lemony smelling geranium). Other people in the tropics I met use olive oil or fresh lime juice.

I also hope you don't use pesticide/herbicide for your garden, as they are even more toxic, and might leave residue.

Answer 3

How about planting these plants (like some geraniums or Plectranthus etc) that mosquitoes dont like. you know, they smell quite nice, but tey repell bugs.

And what is most important, mosquitoes generally dont fly much far. so the point is that (unless u are living just next to a water table or wetland) that you make sure there is no stilll water whetre they can lay eggs - that is a vase, a garden pond, a bowl with stale water, reservoir of rainwater unless s covered mesh etc. in your garden and encourage neibors to do the same - this way you can eliminate them - mosquitoes wouldnt fly far just to your yard.

btw are u sure u have wnv-carrying mosquitoes in your area? doesn seem right to me.