Baltimore's Ultimate Mosquito Protection Guide

Why Mosquitoes Bite You

You may know that only female mosquitoes bite you, but are you aware that females don't feed on your blood specifically for food? Female mosquitoes feed on nectar and plant sap, just like male mosquitoes do. They take a blood meal for the purpose of getting what they need for reproduction. Here are a few reasons why this is important to understand.

• You're not going to deter mosquitoes with a little smoke from a campfire or a bad-smelling torch or candle. The females are motivated to bite you. It is a matter of life and death for their species. They will navigate around stinky smoke to get to you and bite you.
• The primary reason why you get mosquito bites when you're out in your yard is connected to the food source female mosquitoes do actually live on. It is the vegetation in your yard. The more vegetation you have, the more mosquitoes you're likely to have. You can reduce mosquitoes by reducing unnecessary vegetation, such as weeds. Flowering weeds should be your first target as they provide nectar and sap. The other option is to have your landscape vegetation treated by a licensed professional.

Limited Success

There are many ways you can have limited success keeping mosquitoes away from you. We can list many, but let's focus on one that gets a lot of exposure on social media. It is the idea that spraying a certain brand of mouthwash can keep mosquitoes off you and away from outdoor recreation areas. Does it work? Yes. But only for a short time. It works because this brand of mouthwash uses essential oils that smell bad to mosquitoes. This scent can fill the air, unlike the scent of torches or candles. It can also be applied directly to your clothing or skin, which makes it even more effective. Unfortunately, the smell doesn't last long and, when it stops keeping mosquitoes away, you're going to get bitten. This is also the case with plants, such as citronella grass, lavender, basil, scented geraniums and more. If you apply the oils from these plants to your skin or clothing, you can get temporary protection, but there is no way to know how long that protection will last, or how complete that protection will be. Do you see the problem? It is far better to not have mosquitoes in your yard at all. Then you can recreate outside without the need for spraying mouthwash or rubbing the oils from plants on you.

Better Control

Many mosquito species lay their eggs in stagnant water. If you remove stagnant water resources from your yard, you can prevent mosquitoes from breeding near your home. Keep in mind that mosquitoes can breed in an inch of stagnant water that sits for more than a week. Here are a few reasons why removing these sources can prevent mosquitoes and mosquito bites.

• When a female mosquito lays eggs in your yard, she does so by the hundreds. One female can create a swarm of 300 mosquitoes in your yard over a short period of time.
• When you go outside into your yard and mosquitoes start swarming around you, they didn't come from your neighbor's yard. Those mosquitoes live on your property.
• A typical mosquito isn't going to travel more than a few hundred yards in its lifetime. While mosquitoes can travel about 1.5 miles per hour, they're generally not going to go very far from where they hatch. So, when you get control of mosquitoes in your yard, you're not going to be immediately attacked by more mosquitoes from neighboring properties. It takes time for mosquitoes to encroach.