Mosquito Control
Mosquito control across the Bay Area
If you are being bitten in your own yard at lunchtime, that is a change, and there is a reason for it. The mosquito responsible breeds in a plant saucer rather than a pond, which is why tidy yards are not spared and why tipping out water matters more than spraying the air. Here is what is biting and what a visit does about it.
Identification
The one biting you at noon is not the one you grew up with
Two very different mosquitoes share a Bay Area backyard, they are active at opposite ends of the day, and almost every piece of advice people repeat about mosquitoes was written for the wrong one.
Telling the two apart
The timing is usually a faster answer than the markings.
- Bitten in daylight, roughly late morning through the afternoon, means Aedes.
- Bitten at dusk or after dark, often indoors, means Culex.
- Aedes are small and dark with bright white bands on the legs.
- Culex are larger and a plain dusty brown, with no banding worth noticing.
- Aedes bite low, around ankles and calves, while you are sitting still.
- Aedes rarely travel far, so the source is usually on your property or next door.
Where the invasive Aedes came from
Aedes aegypti was first found in California in 2013 and Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, followed it. Both have spread steadily since, and both are now established across most of the Bay Area. If your yard has changed in the last few years without you changing anything about it, this is the usual explanation.
Why a tidy yard is no protection
Culex need a proper body of stagnant water, so a clean property genuinely helps against them. Aedes do not. A bottle cap of water is enough to carry a full life cycle, which puts plant saucers, folded tarps, corrugated drain pipe and forgotten toys on the same footing as a neglected pond.
Why they are harder to deal with
Aedes are an urban mosquito. They breed in containers rather than wetlands, they live close to people, and they rarely fly far from where they hatched. That makes finding the water the whole job, and it also means a hidden source in the next yard is effectively a source in yours.
What the actual health risk is here
In the Bay Area the realistic concern is West Nile virus, and it is carried mainly by native Culex rather than by the Aedes doing most of the daytime biting. Most infections cause no symptoms at all. It is worth respecting rather than worrying about, and your county vector control district publishes local activity.
The cause
It is almost never a pond. It is a plant saucer.
Mosquitoes are one of the few pests where the homeowner can genuinely out-perform the treatment, and it comes down to finding water nobody thinks of as water.
A mosquito problem is a water problem wearing a disguise. Every mosquito on your property hatched somewhere within a short flight of it, and for the invasive Aedes that distance is very short indeed. So the useful question is almost never how to kill what is flying, it is where the water is sitting.
The catch is that the water rarely looks like water. People check the pond and the birdbath, both of which are obvious, and walk straight past the saucer under a potted lemon tree that has held a quarter inch since the last time anyone watered it. A tarp over a woodpile collects a pocket in one fold. The elbow of a corrugated drain pipe holds a little at the bend and never dries out because nothing reaches it.
This is why we walk the property before anything else happens, and why a technician will tip out a saucer rather than treat around it. Tipping the water out ends that container as a breeding site, which no treatment applied around it can do.
What we cannot tip, we work on. Stations go where the mosquitoes are already breeding and interrupt the cycle there, which is the part that reduces next month rather than just this afternoon.
Where the water actually hides
A weekly walk with this list does more than most treatments.
- Saucers under potted plants, indoors and out.
- Folds and dips in a tarp over a woodpile, boat or garden furniture.
- Corrugated drain pipe, especially at the bends.
- Clogged gutters, and the low spot in a gutter that no longer drains.
- Buckets, wheelbarrows, watering cans and anything left upright.
- Children's toys, sandpit lids, and the tray under an outdoor fridge or freezer.
- Pet bowls and the water under them, refreshed less often than people think.
- Untended pools, spa covers, and rain barrels without a fitted screen.
The service
What a mosquito visit actually involves
Two things happen on every visit, and only one of them is a treatment. The other is the part that decides whether next month is better.
Step one
Walk the property and find the water
Around the whole exterior, looking in the places that hold water rather than the places that look wet. Anything that can be tipped out gets tipped out, and anything that cannot gets noted so it can be dealt with rather than worked around.
Step two
Place the stations
MosquitoCon bait stations go in around the exterior, positioned against where the mosquitoes are actually breeding rather than spaced evenly for the look of it. They work on the reproductive cycle, which is what makes the difference show up over weeks rather than hours.
Step three
Treat where they rest, not where they fly
Adult mosquitoes spend the hot part of the day sitting in shade. The liquid treatment goes on the shaded lawn, the foliage and the underside of shrubbery, which is where they are, rather than into open air, where they are not.
Step four
Come back before the next generation
Every month, or every sixty days depending on the property and the season. Stations get checked and rebaited, the walk happens again because new water appears, and the shaded areas get retreated. This is the one service where quarterly is not often enough.
One thing we do not do, because people ask for it by name. We do not fog. Fogging drops the adults that happen to be in the air when it is done and leaves every larva in the water untouched, so the yard refills within days, and the application drifts where it should not go. Working on the breeding cycle is slower to watch and it lasts.
Pricing
What changes the price
We do not publish a mosquito price, because the property decides it. These are the things that actually move it.
It rides along with a visit you already have
Mosquito service is added to a recurring plan rather than sold as a separate job, and that is exactly what keeps it inexpensive. The technician is already coming to the property, so what you are adding is the stations and the time to service them, not a whole extra visit with its own callout.
How much ground there is
Mosquito work is priced on the acreage of the property rather than the size of the house, because the stations go around the outside and the treatment covers the planting. A compact lot and a large one can have identical interiors and very different mosquito jobs.
How many stations it takes
Station count follows the ground and the layout, not a formula. More frontage, more planting, more shaded corners and more places holding water all mean more stations, and each one is placed and then maintained on every visit.
Whether the site needs looking at first
Past a couple of acres, and on any commercial site, placement stops being something anyone can judge from a map, so a field service manager walks it before a number is put to it. That inspection is free and it is what makes the estimate real.
Estimates are free and there is no pressure attached to one. We answer the phone with a local team and can usually get to you the same day, typically within twenty four hours. Ask for an estimate, or call (650) 910-1561.
Questions
Mosquito questions, answered
The ones that come up most on mosquito calls around the Bay Area, from daytime biting to why we will not fog your yard.
Why am I getting bitten in the middle of the day?
Because the mosquito doing it is probably not the one you grew up with. Invasive Aedes mosquitoes turned up in California in 2013 and are now established across most of the Bay Area, and unlike our native Culex they feed in daylight, with the heaviest biting from late morning through the afternoon. They are also low flyers, so the bites land on ankles and calves while you are sitting still on a patio. If your bite pattern changed over the last few years without you changing anything, that is almost certainly why. We wrote it up in why mosquitoes bite during the day.
How do I tell an Aedes from an ordinary mosquito?
Size and markings. An Aedes is small, roughly half the size of the Culex most people picture, with a black body, bright white bands on the legs and a white pattern across the back. A Culex is larger, plain dusty brown, and bites around dusk and after dark. The timing is usually the easier tell: if you are being bitten at lunchtime in your own yard, it is Aedes.
What do mosquitoes here actually carry?
In the Bay Area the realistic concern is West Nile virus, and that is carried mainly by our native Culex rather than by the invasive Aedes doing most of the daytime biting. Most people who are infected never develop symptoms. It is worth taking seriously without being alarmed about it, and worth mentioning to your doctor if you feel unwell after a period of heavy bites. Your local county vector control district tracks and reports West Nile activity.
Do you fog for mosquitoes?
No, and it is worth saying why rather than just saying no. Fogging knocks down the adult mosquitoes in the air at the moment it is done, and it does nothing at all about the water they are hatching from, so the yard refills. It also drifts, which is a problem around vegetable beds, ponds and pollinators. What we do instead is place bait stations that work on the breeding cycle itself and treat the shaded places adults rest during the day. It is less dramatic to watch and it holds for longer.
How little water do they really need?
Less than almost anyone expects. A Culex wants something like a neglected birdbath, a clogged gutter or a green pool. An invasive Aedes can complete its whole life cycle in about a bottle cap of water, which means a plant saucer, a wrinkled tarp, the inside of a corrugated drain pipe or a toy left out in the rain is enough. That is the single biggest reason mosquito problems persist in tidy yards.
Can you come out once before a party?
Mosquito service is not sold as a one-time visit, because a single treatment would not hold long enough to be worth what it costs you. It is added to a recurring plan instead, where the stations stay in place and stay serviced. If you are already on a plan with us, adding mosquito is quick and inexpensive, because the technician is already coming.
How often do you come back?
Every month, or every sixty days depending on the property and the season. Mosquito work runs on a tighter schedule than the rest of our service because the stations need maintaining and because a mosquito generation turns over quickly. This is the one service where a quarterly rhythm is not enough.
Is any of it going inside the house?
No. Mosquito work is entirely exterior: stations around the property and a liquid treatment on the shaded lawn, foliage and shrubbery where adults rest through the day. There is nothing you need to clear out of cabinets and no reason for anyone to leave.
What can I do myself between visits?
Walk the property once a week and tip out anything holding water. Plant saucers, buckets, wheelbarrows, tarps, toys, pet bowls, the tray under an outdoor fridge, the gutter above the porch. It sounds trivial and it is the most effective thing anyone does about mosquitoes. Standing water that cannot be tipped, like a rain barrel or an ornamental pond, can usually be handled a different way, so point it out to your technician.
What if my neighbor is the problem?
It is a fair question, because Aedes are urban mosquitoes that rarely travel far from where they hatched, so a hidden water source next door genuinely does become your problem. We treat what we can reach on your property, which reduces what is resting and feeding there. Where the source is clearly off the property and not getting dealt with, your county vector control district can look at it, and that is worth doing.
Do you do commercial properties?
Yes. Commercial sites start with an inspection by a field service manager, who walks the layout and works out how many stations the site needs and where they go. Larger residential lots get the same treatment, because past a couple of acres the station placement stops being something you can judge from a map.
More on the ones people ask about most: why mosquitoes bite during the day, mosquito seasonality in California, when mosquitoes die off in the fall, mosquito bites compared with flea bites and choosing a mosquito repellent for a yard.
Get started
Being bitten in your own yard?
Tell us when you are getting bitten and whereabouts on the property. We will walk it, find the water, and work out what the place actually needs. Free estimate, no pressure attached to it.
Or skip the form and just give us a call at (650) 910-1561