Don't breed mosquitoes in the landscape!

Adult mosquito drawing by Jane Gates

Mosquitoes can breed quickly in our landscapes with all our warm weather. With the increase of diseases like the West Nile Virus mosquito control is of paramount importance. Mosquitoes are delighted to use pots and other containers around the garden that fill with water from hoses and sprinklers as breeding grounds.  Unwatched fountains and birdbaths become deluxe hotels to these creatures. Fish in ponds will eat the eggs and nymphs, but any area of water without fish is likely to offer the mosquito a chance to breed. Learn to recognize all forms of the mosquito so you won't breed them in your landscape.

Mostly everyone can recognize the nasty but delicate floating predator that adores dive-bombing us in the middle of the night with that insidious high whining sound. But many people do not recognize the larvae of these obnoxious insects. All too often I have been asked what these fascinating little creatures are wriggling in the pond, birdbath, fountain or bucket of standing water. "Fascinating" yuck!

Don't breed mosquitoes in your landscape!  Mosquitoes deposit oval "rafts" of blackish eggs on the surface of calm water. You can recognize them by their pointed ended oval shapes, usually less than 1/2" long. These hatch out into tiny swimming nymphs that enlarge as they grow older. The dead giveaway is the way these critters swim. They may hang out in the bottom or the top of the water, but when disturbed, or when they need to surface for air, they have a peculiar wriggling motion which looks like they are inverting themselves back to front, over and over.

Mosquito nymphs are very active when disturbed and if you find them in standing water, you will save yourself and your neighbors the misery of the adult insects by simply dumping the water. In this stage, mosquitoes cannot live out of water. So, the simplest way to be rid of these pests is to regularly check places where water is captured after any rain or watering. No chemicals needed. If you spy the egg masses floating, just remove these as well. Either way, you will be diminishing the unwelcome population of these bloodsucking (and occasionally disease carrying) insects. No loss there!