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March 30, 2021Nothing beats going out of the house to enjoy the weather right outside your doorstep while the weather is warm. Spending quality time in your yard is a perfect way to interact with nature, whether it’s barbecuing with relatives, baking, or just taking a nap in the clean air.
Amicable friends and family, chirping backyard birds, and beautiful butterflies are always welcome, but there is one visitor no one needs to see while spending time outside: mosquitoes.
These bothersome insects can turn a fun outdoor party into an irritated disaster. Nobody enjoys mosquito bites, so it’s normal why you’d suggest paying for pest control services to spray insecticide in your yard.
Unfortunately, considering their commercial promises, these sprays do more than kill mosquitos. The most commonly used industrial mosquito sprays are often particularly poisonous to sensitive pollinating insects, including bees and butterflies, fish, and other marine species.
Here’s what you should know before you start spraying!
The Mosquito Life Cycle
Male and female mosquitoes look and act very differently. Male mosquitoes live for just 6-7 days and do not feed on blood. Fruit and flower nectar is their primary source of nutrition.
Female mosquitoes have a lifespan that is more than twice that of male mosquitoes, ranging from 3 to 4 weeks (and up to 5 months) on average. They are still the ones that bite us and prey on our blood. They don’t do it for food, though. Female mosquitoes, like their male counterparts, feed on flower nectar and other related material.
The eggs can hatch into new mosquitoes after 48 hours to a few months, depending on the temperature conditions. The eggs will grow until they are immersed in water. In 4 to 14 days, these infant mosquitoes will mature and be able to reproduce again.
If mosquito eggs hatch off from water, they will lay inactive for more than a year before laying eggs! Without water, mosquito eggs will not hatch.
When attempting to conduct mosquito treatments, keep this short but vicious life cycle in mind.
What Ingredients Are in Mosquito Sprays?
Mosquito treatments use pyrethrin that are insecticides extracted from chrysanthemum flowers, or, more generally, pyrethroids, synthetic compounds that resemble pyrethrin. These are wide-ranging insecticides, either organic or artificial, extremely poisonous to many species, not only mosquitoes.
Bifen IT, Proflex Encapsulated, and Mavrik Perimeter are examples of industrial insecticides that perform well enough against mosquitoes. When used as a guide, each of these insecticides is considered a practical, reliable, and inexpensive alternative. Mavrik Perimeter has the additional advantage of not harming bees. Proflex Encapsulated Solutions mixes two insect growth promoters (Novaluron and Pyriproxyfen) and an insecticide (lambda-Cyhalothrin) to have better insect protection that lasts 30 days and is rainproof.
ECO Via is a natural, herbal insecticide labeled for mosquito control if you choose an organic alternative.
Insecticides and Their Effects on the Environment
Although insecticides are applied on soil, they will also find their way into a water body, such as a river, ocean, or pond. Insecticides from an orchid, for example, may end up in a local stream due to runoff. Many fish and other animals can die or become ill if a water body becomes polluted with chemicals. This has the potential to upset the whole ecosystem.
Insecticides may also affect groundwater by a mechanism known as leeching. Many people rely on freshwater for their drinking water, but it is unclean and unsafe to drink if the water contains chemicals.
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Insecticides can also disperse and inflict possible damage by volatilization. After being applied, volatility happens when a pesticide transforms into a gas or mist, causing it to pass through the air and disperse to other soil areas. Wildlife, such as frogs, can be affected as a result of this. Some scientists also claim that the chemical atrazine triggers reproductive complications in frogs, impacting the frog’s biological goal of life and reproduction.
Other Harmful Effects of Mosquito Sprays
Mosquito sprays aren’t only detrimental to mosquitoes. Runoff from our yards can wash these contaminants into surface waters, where they can poison marine species like fish and crustaceans, which are especially vulnerable to pyrethroids. When pets are exposed to pyrethroids, they can suffer nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, and other side effects.
Although insecticides’ exposure to humans is comparatively low when used correctly, these drugs are far from harmless to human health. People subjected to high doses of pyrethroids can experience blistering skin, drowsiness, headache, or nausea for several hours. Pyrethroids can invade the body if you breathe in chemicals from the spray, eat food infected by the spray, or contact the spray. Pyrethroids pose the biggest risk to children and babies. This is where a professional pest control company is required, which knows how to use mosquito sprays carefully.
How to Spray Based on the Mosquito Life Cycle?
So, for the first week of mosquito fumigation, spray your designated target every day or every two days to break their reproduction period. This will help you to get rid of all adult mosquitoes and their larvae.
Following that, you should reduce the fumigation interval to once a week, which is also a part of mosquito treatment. But don’t go any longer than that between fumigations. Spraying once a week prevents mosquitoes from breeding, causing them to become less visible in your neighborhood.
When is the Safest Time of the Day to Use Mosquito Spray?
Mosquitoes are most aggressive between twilight and dawn. That means you can mist, spray, and use all other mosquito-killing methods between dusk and dawn.
Mosquitoes are out searching for food at dawn and dusk, making it possible to shoot them with mosquito spray. Furthermore, spraying at those moments will help keep the insecticide in position. Summer heat can cause liquid insecticides to dissolve. Furthermore, ignoring daylight hours stops certain beneficial insects, such as bees and butterflies, from being active.
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Some businesses sell “organic” sprays that are sold as less harmful. Such sprays are usually composed of different plant-based essential oils, although this does not imply that they are safe or without side effects. Since these oils can also be toxic to bees and other beneficial insects when in contact with them, they cannot be used on flowering plants or during the day when bees are busy. More study is needed to completely comprehend these alternate mosquito treatments’ effects on native insects and other species.
The Weather Conditions for Mosquito Control in OKC
When we talk about local pest control, another factor to be considered is weather conditions.
Whether it’s rainy or there’s a touch of wind (anything more than a gentle breeze), you can wait before the weather improves. Otherwise, you’ll have to spray the same place over and over again. Why is this so? It’s that easy. The insecticide-laced spray can drain away quicker as rain and wind blow. This means it won’t sit on the ground or other surfaces to fulfill its work.
The same is true after you’ve sprayed an environment. If it begins to rain or the wind picks up soon after fumigation, the insecticide may be washed or blown away. In this scenario, reapply the medication after the wind has died down or the rain has stopped, and the place will have a chance to dry.
The Bottom Line!
Bear these mosquito facts in mind when you formulate your mosquito-fighting strategy. If you do this, you should be able to reduce the mosquito population. Then you will get the mosquito-free zone of your imagination, suitable for outdoor relaxing.
Champion Pest and Lawn is regarded as one of the best pest control companies in OKC. Our Oklahoma City Pest Control and Exterminators will help you eliminate all of the most toxic insect pathogens. Our OKC Mosquito Control Services will treat you with various Mosquito treatments in Oklahoma City.