Tips to Avoid Mosquito Bites Without Spraying Your Yard
✔ ️ Prevent mosquito-borne disease by emptying stagnant pools of water, draining water in flower pots, gutters, etc., and removing invasives- especially English Ivy. Why?
In Maryland, 3 species carry disease. Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti carry the Zika, Dengue and chikungunya viruses, and both breed in temporary pools of water such as flower pots and underneath English ivy leaves. Culex pipiens carry West Nile virus and breed in stagnant pools of water.
✔ ️ Yards with more native plants and less turf grass have fewer mosquito problems.
Grow mosquito repellent plants such as: lavender, marigolds, citronella grass (lemongrass), mint, floss flower (Ageraturm), sage and Allium species such as garlic and chives, thyme, lemon thyme, basil, rosemary, lemon verbena, scented geranium, catmint, eucalyptus, mum and wormwood.
Attract dragonflies, which eat hundreds of mosquitoes a day, to your yard by planting bee balm, black-eyes Susans, coneflower, butterflyweed, Cardinal flower, yarrow and Joe Pye weed.
✔️ Protect yourself.
Wear light-weight clothing to cover up and try placing a fan near your outdoor seating areas. Apply insect repellent. DEET is considered the most effective but IR3535, Picardin and Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus, are less toxic and nearly as effective. Best Plants-Bug Repellents (tested and rated by the Environmental Working Group and Consumer Reports ) Coleman Botanicals, Cutter Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent Aerosol, Off Botanicals, Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent2 Pump.
✔️ Invest in a GAT Trap (Gravid Aedes Trap). (Read out article about these here!)
A GAT targets Asian Tiger (Aedes Albopictus) and yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti). These traps use organic matter to lure the egg-laying female mosquitoes into a trap where they get caught and trapped on sticky paper. The City of Takoma Park sells the GAT for $35, or you can buy them online from Biogents, or Amazon.
Watch this video to learn how they are assembled:
The BG-GAT: Passive Mosquito Trap Against Aedes Mosquitoes
You can make your own trap by adding a mosquito dunk (a larvicide made from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis or Bti), purchased at a hardware store, to a bucket of water to which you add fresh grass clippings.
*Remember to refresh your traps every month.
Climate Action Coffee (CAC) – Takoma Park Mobilization