Healthy Communities
By Virginia Zombek
(Madison County, NY – June 2013) Many of us are preparing backyard gardens and looking forward to the fruits of our labor garnishing or flavoring our favorite meals. As we prepare and primp our gardens and homes for summer, we need to pay special attention to the empty containers and planters lying around.
Water-filled small plastic swimming pools lay unused on the lawn during the cooler, rainy days. Bird baths and wheelbarrows are often holding water as well. What happens when that standing water is left for a few days undisturbed?
Enter the mosquitoes!
Yes, the adult female mosquito finds a nice quiet stand of water in which to lay her raft of eggs that can contain up to 250 eggs! Her raft of eggs on the water will hatch in 7-10 days if the water remains. This is an especially important fact of mosquito biology that has everything to do with how many mosquitoes are living near and around your home. Several mosquito species have been associated with West Nile virus, an infection that can cause serious illness.
If standing water remains more than four days, mosquitoes can develop. Weeds, tall grass and shrubbery provide an outdoor home for adult mosquitoes, which may also enter houses through unscreened windows and doors, or broken screens. Many kinds of mosquitoes will breed in discarded tires.
Take your family on a container hunt around your property. Find as many spots where water may be pooling and eliminate standing water weekly to keep mosquitoes from breeding in the first place. This also eliminates the need to use pesticides against adult mosquitoes and reduces the number of mosquitoes around the house. Here are some other things you can do:
Check for items that might hold water including wheelbarrows, tires, hubcaps, toys, garden equipment, pool covers, tarps, plastic sheeting, pipes, drains, boats, canoes, recycling bins and trash receptacles.
Remove standing water in ponds, ditches, clogged rain gutters, flower pots, plant saucers, puddles, buckets, jars and cans.
To learn more about more ways to protect your home from mosquitoes and from the diseases they carry, please visit the County Health Department’s webpage at www.healthymadisoncounty.org.
Virginia Zombek is a Public Health Educator with Madison County Department of Health.