After a crazy winter like we just had, we find ourselves wanting to get out of the house, do yard work, and set up the outdoor living spaces for use as the weather gets better. But there are always issues with dealing with Mosquito activity and Tick activity.
The spring weather will determine when Mosquito activity begins and the levels of activity that will be present. If you have a yard that is close to a wetland, you most likely experience heavy Mosquito traffic year-round, unlike a backyard that has small amounts of wet areas.
In the 2025 spring season, we saw a lot of rain in May, which created larger areas of
standing water and helped jump-start the mosquito season last year.
CDC RESOURCES
The CDC has great, simple recommendations for Mosquitos, which you can find online at
www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/prevention. The other issue in the backyard is tick activity. The only time ticks are not an issue is when there is snow on the ground.
For the 2025-2026 winter season, we had snow on the ground most of the time, which helps reduce exposure to ticks. Unfortunately, the snow won’t reduce the tick population. Our area is home to many different tick species. Each one of them can transmit different diseases like the American Dog Tick, Blacklegged Tick( Deer Tick), Brown Dog Tick and Lone Star Tick. The CDC is a great resource for tick information, and it can be found on the CDC website: www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/where-ticks-live.html.
There are many ways to address the Mosquito and tick activity in your yard and make the living space areas much more tolerable to enjoy the outdoor space. For mosquito control, the options are adulticide treatments with a synthetic pesticide or the use of plant oils/botanicals. Both applications are completed with a backpack mist blower to treat mosquito resting sites along the property perimeter. Mosquito activity is only found within a 12-foot canopy from the ground up. All treatment areas would be within the ground and 12 feet up. Places that would be treated are low- hanging tree branches and bushes. The frequency of an adulticide treatment service would depend on the type of products used.
MOSQUITO AND TICK TREATMENTS
Mosquito Larvicide Treatments are also an option. There are two systems that have come a long way, and both have great benefits in combating adult Mosquito activity. Both systems reduce the use of chemicals; they do not target beneficial insects like bees or butterflies, are pet-friendly, and work 24 hours a day.
Ticks around the home can be addressed with synthetic pesticides or plant oils/botanicals. The applications are made to the yard perimeter, the leaf litter areas, and the perimeter of the home. Plant oils/botanicals have also come a long way; they have two modes of action when applied. The first action is a contact kill of ticks at the time of application while wet, and the second is that they work as a repellent for three to four weeks after the application. The application frequencies for plant oils/botanicals differ. Some synthetic pesticides can be applied every two to three months versus plant oil/botanical applications every four weeks on average.
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a sustainable, science-based approach to managing pests (insects, weeds, diseases) by combining biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools. It aims to minimize economic, health, and environmental risks, focusing on long-term prevention and using pesticides only as a last resort. Mosquito larvicide and the use of plant oils/botanicals help reduce the use of synthetic pesticides while still providing a tool to improve life in outdoor environments. If you have any questions about solving insect activity around your home, we can do no-cost inspection.
