How to control mosquitoes around the home and yard?

Walk your property weekly and remove or drain every source of standing water. Empty birdbaths, plant saucers, and pet bowls. Store wheelbarrows, buckets, and containers upside down. Clear clogged gutters. Drill drainage holes in tire swings and recycling bins. Cover rain barrels with fine mesh…

Mow the lawn regularly and trim shrubs, hedges, and ornamental grasses, especially near outdoor seating areas. Remove tall weeds and overgrown vegetation from the foundation perimeter and along fence lines.

Drop a BTI dunk or granular larvicide into catch basins, storm drains, French drains, and any drainage structure on your property that holds standing water. Treat every 30 days during mosquito season.

Have a pest control company install an automatic misting system with nozzles placed around the property perimeter. The system dispenses timed applications of insecticide (typically permethrin-based) on a programmed schedule during peak mosquito hours.

Inspect all window and door screens for tears, gaps, and loose frames. Repair holes with screen patch kits or replace damaged screens entirely. Ensure screen doors close tightly with no gaps at the edges or bottom.

Apply EPA-registered personal repellent containing DEET at 25-30% concentration to exposed skin and clothing before spending time outdoors during mosquito season. Reapply according to label directions.

Spray the undersides of leaves, shrubs, tall grass, and shaded resting areas around the yard with a residual insecticide every 3-4 weeks during mosquito season. Common active ingredients include lambda-cyhalothrin, permethrin, and bifenthrin (pyrethroids).

Place one or more oscillating fans around outdoor seating areas, aimed at body level. A standard box fan or pedestal fan is sufficient. Run fans during outdoor gatherings and evening hours when mosquitoes are most active.

Sprinkle BTI mosquito bits (granular form) into small water containers, plant saucers, puddles, and other breeding sites where dunks would be too large. BTI bits release the bacterium immediately on contact with water, killing mosquito larvae within 24 hours.

Place BTI mosquito dunks in any standing water that cannot be drained — rain barrels, ornamental ponds, birdbaths, drainage ditches, tree holes, and animal watering troughs. Each dunk treats up to 100 square feet of water surface for 30 days. Break into pieces for smaller containers.