Mosquito-Proof Your Yard

How to win the war on backyard bugs

On Wednesday, May 26, 2004, the first human case of West Nile Virus was reported in New Mexico. This confirms our worst fears of another summer of covering up, wearing foul-smelling DEET mosquito repellants and dreading West Nile Virus infection with each and every pesky mosquito bite!

The good news is that we can all do our part to reduce the mosquito population, and it all starts in our own back yards. It's almost impossible to turn on the television without seeing one of the many government health agency public service announcements asking North Americans to take the following mosquito control precautions:

• Check your property for any sources of standing water - drainage ditches, bird baths, trash cans, flower pots, saucer toys, rain barrels, plastic kiddy pools, etc.
• Fill any tree holes or ditches with sand or concrete.
• Drain bird baths weekly.
• Pick up toys or trash cans that can collect water and take them inside.
• Treat shaded standing water with a mosquito dunk (bacillus thruingiensis) a beneficial bacteria that kills mosquito larvae.
• Replace any ripped screens on home windows and doors to keep mosquitoes out.
• Attract bats, birds and dragonflies (the mosquito's natural predators) to your yard by erecting bat/bird houses and a variety of plants and flowers.