Being shared on behalf of the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Mosquito Control Program
Asian Tiger Mosquito control
The Asian Tiger Mosquito is the biggest nuisance in Maryland. About 60% of our complaints refer to Asian Tiger Mosquitoes. They are small, mostly black, with a white stripe on the back. They are very skittish. There is a picture attached. These are small mosquitoes and the white stripe can be difficult to see.
Residents can do a lot to control these mosquitoes. Our sprays only work against these mosquitoes a little bit, but residents can do a lot to control or eliminate them.
These mosquitoes do not fly very far. 80% of them will fly less than 500 feet. They can be a huge nuisance when you are close to their breeding location. If you have a problem with them, they are coming from your property or your neighbor’s property. If you eliminate their breeding locations, you will get rid of them.
They breed in containers that hold rainwater – that is literally anything that can hold rainwater. That can be kid’s toys, tarps, abandoned swimming pools and a few cryptic locations. The cryptic locations include plastic extenders people put on the end of gutters, and clogged gutters. Those extenders are almost always bowed, so they hold lots of water. Even if they are not bowed, the ribbing can hold a lot of rainwater. These should be covered with a fine-mesh material and a rubber band. Nothing more permanent than a rubber band should be used because you will want to clean these things of leaves and debris a couple times a year.
For items that cannot be dumped, there are pesticides that kill only mosquito larvae available at most hardware stores and other retailers. These pesticides are very safe for people and the environment. Read the label of all pesticides before use. We recommend mosquito dunks or mosquito torpedoes. Both are designed to be put in water where mosquitoes are developing.
The best approach is to eliminate breeding sites before the weather gets warm and then keep breeding from happening all summer. If you wait until the adult mosquito emerges, you may eliminate breeding, but the adults that are already biting will survive for two or three weeks.
In July, the adults will already be out of the water and biting people. If you dump containers holding rainwater, the adults will still cause a nuisance. The adults will survive another three of four weeks, but you may see a drop in the mosquito population after a week or so. For this reason, it is best to dump containers all winter long, or start before the mosquitoes start to breed in April.
For more information:
Mosquito Control Program Manager
Maryland Department of Agriculture
50 Harry S. Truman Parkway
Annapolis, MD 21401
Tel: 410-841-5875