My Gutters Are Breeding Mosquitoes!?
In a word, YES! Home gutters are one of the most common breeding locations for backyard mosquitos. If you’ve followed the advice to make sure that the following areas are not holding water, than your gutters may be the culprit for your failure to kill the mosquitoes in your yard.
- Get rid of old tires, tin cans, buckets, drums, bottles or any water holding containers.
- Fill in or drain any low places (puddles, ruts) in your yard.
- Keep drains, ditches, and culverts clean of weeds and trash so water will drain properly.
- Repair leaky pipes and outside faucets.
- Empty plastic wading pools at least once a week and store them when not in use.
- Change the water in bird baths and plant pots or drip trays at least once each week.
Be sure to check your gutters regularly for accumulated debris from surrounding trees and shrubbery. If leaves, flowers, or seed pods are clogging your gutters remove them and rinse the gutters out with your garden hose. If you are uncomfortable up on a ladder, check into hiring a local handyman service or lawn and garden company to come and do this for your at least 2X per year.
But, I have gutter guards up you wail! Unfortunately this does not make your gutters completely maintenance free. While most brands do an excellent job of keeping leaves, pods, and sticks out of your gutter, if you have a shingle roof you can still get debris from the shedding of the coating on the shingles building up in your gutters and causing them to retain water. Keep in mind, hundreds of mosquitoes can breed in just a few tablespoons of water so it only takes a wee bit of water to create a mosquito breeding haven in your gutters.
Finally, particularly if you live in an older home, have your gutters checked for areas that have sagged over the years (either just from age, or the loss of a gutter spike). Remember even a small amount of water standing in your gutters will cause a huge influx of backyard mosquitoes. The solution for this is again to flush your gutters out a couple of times a year using a garden hose.
If you’d like to get the most reliable control of mosquitos for your yard and protect your family please call IMB.
As always if you have a problem with, or even just a question about, mosquitoes or ticks (or any other yard pests) feel free to call Damien Carboneau — “The Mosquito Guy” anytime at 574-527-8852. He’ll be happy to speak with you!
At Indiana Mosquito Busters we want to help you live MOSQUITO and TICK FREE!