Summertime insects such as mosquitoes and ticks are severely unwanted, but methods to keep them away can be harmful to bugs important to the environmental, such as bees, moths, butterflies and fireflies. For example, spraying for mosquitoes and ticks with pesticides can kill vital pollinating insects, even when a pesticide is marked “natural.” Bug zappers, too, overwhelmingly kill nontarget insects.
The first step in eliminating mosquitoes without harming other bugs is to find and eliminate standing water, where mosquito larvae hatch and grow. Locations could include drainage pipes, flowerpots and clogged gutters. Get your neighbors to do the same, as controlling insects in a community requires a group effort. You can also create a “bucket of doom,” which is a bucket of water with hay or straw and a mosquito control dunk from the hardware store. This kills mosquito larvae and other aquatic flies.
To control tickets, put down a 3-foot barrier strip with gravel, wood chips or mulch between your yard and a wildlife area and keep the grass short where people spend time. Tick tubes, which are filled with insecticide-treated cotton that mice take back to their nests where ticks reside, can also be used, along with tick boxes, which bait mice and chipmunks into a passageway that brushes them with topical tick prevention.
