How To Have a Cookout With Less Mosquitoes

Father’s Day is only a few days away! If you’re planning to celebrate dad by enjoying his favorite dish in your own back yard, read below for our guide to making sure mosquitoes and ticks don’t get an invite.

7 T’s of Mosquito Control

• Tip items holding standing water in your outdoor spaces. Standing water may be in your child’s plastic toys, areas underneath downspouts, plant saucers, or dog bowls. Other areas may include traps, gutters, and flat roofs.
• Toss excess grass, leaves, firewood, and grass-clippings from your yard.
• Turn over larger yard items that could hold water, like children's portable sandboxes, plastic toys, or birdbaths.
• Tighten tarps stretched over firewood piles, boats, or sports equipment. If they aren't taut, they may be holding water that you should remove.
• Take care of home maintenance needs that can lead to standing water. This includes cleaning out gutters, making sure downspouts are adequately attached, keeping your grass cut low, and checking irrigation systems for leaks.
• Team up with your neighbors.Despite taking all precautions in your own home, talking to neighbors is a crucial component to mosquito and tick control. Homes with little space between lots can mean that mosquitoes breed at a neighbor’s house and affect your property.
• Treat your yard with a mosquito elimination barrier treatment.

6 C’s of Tick Control

• Clear out spaces where lawn and tree debris have gathered.Ticks thrive in moist, shady areas and tend to die in sunny, dry areas. Don't position playground equipment, decks, or patios near treed areas.
• Clean up leaf litter around the house and lawn edges.We also recommend mowing tall grass to keep your lawn short.
• Choose plants wisely.Since deer can bring ticks to your yard, select plants and shrubs that don’t attract deer. Check with your local nursery to determine the best choices for your area. Learn which plants deter deer from HGTV.
• Check for ticks in popular hiding places like fences, brick walls, and patio retaining walls.
• Care for family pets, who can suffer from tick-borne disease and can also carry infected ticks into your home. Talk to your veterinarian about using tick collars and sprays.
• Call the Pros: Professional tick control can offer two levels of service to eliminate ticks before they get to you. Mosquito Squad’s traditional mosquito control treatment kills adult ticks on contact, while tick tubes are placed around your property to entice mice. Mice collect the cotton in the tick tubes for bedding, and since most ticks get their first blood meals from mice, they are exposed to the treated cotton that effectively eliminates them. Strategically placed, tick tubes prompt field mice to incorporate tick-killing material in their bedding. This helps effectively eliminate hundreds of tick nymphs found in each mouse nest.

Let us help you make the most of your yard all summer long. Contact your local Mosquito Squad today!