Mosquito Repellant

Best Mosquito Repellant

Just like the old sports adage, the best defense is a good offense. I believe the same to be true in backyard mosquito control. The best mosquito repellent for your yard is a multi-tiered approach. Listed below is my advice on the best mosquito repellant for taking back your yard from these pests.

The CDC recommends slathering Deet on you and your kids. While that has been sound advice and insect repellent containing Deet has been an effective personal mosquito repellant and bite deterrent for 50 odd years, what they don’t tell you is that there have been studies that show when you place Deet on your children, within 24 hours they are peeing Deet. Personally, I like to keep my pesticide outside of the house and not on me or my kids. Plus, placing Deet on your family doesn’t cure the problem. You still have mosquitos in your backyard. So, my philosophy is not to play defense and slop on the Deet, rather, take the battle for your backyard to the problem, mosquitos in your yard.

While you might get some temporary relief from citronella mosquito candles or limited relief from propane mosquito systems, mosquito coils or other gimmicks, the best mosquito repellent is barrier spraying your yard. Most barrier sprays are done by licensed technicians using a backpack sprayer. These backpack sprayers are similar to the leaf blowers that landscape maintenance companies use to blow lawn clippings and leaves. Barrier sprays generally employ a pyrethroid or permetherin based pesticide that will kill mosquitos in your yard on contact and provide a protective barrier that will last up to three weeks. There are also organic options that kill mosquitos like cedar oil or Rosemary Oil. It has been suggested that garlic will kill mosquitos. It actually does not. It just repels them. Me, I’d rather kill mosquitos.

In addition to barrier spraying your yard for mosquitos, you need to remove the breeding sources of mosquitos which are water. One female mosquito only needs a soda cap full of water to lay its eggs. Make sure you tip over any standing water in kid’s toys or flower pots. Also check gutters or knobs in trees for standing water. Your professional tech also has in his arsenal larvicide to place in standing water that won’t dissipate. In between your barrier spray treatments, you, as the homeowner, should continue to check your yard for water trouble spots as mosquitos can go from egg to biting adult in as short a time as seven days. So it’s conceivable that you could have a mosquito bloom in between treatments.

Maintain a vigilant eye on the water in and around your yard, employing a barrier spray program is the best mosquito repellent and will keep mosquitos out of your yard.