Mosquito season has arrived! Here are some tips from Cherry Hill’s Horsekeeping Almanac to eliminate or reduce mosquito-breeding areas around your yard and livestock areas:
1. Throw out old tires that tend to collect rainwater and make ideal mosquito-breeding conditions.
2. Discard or empty tin cans, buckets, drums, bottles, wheelbarrows, or any vessel that can hold water.
3. Fill in or drain any low spots that turn into puddles.
4. Regularly check drains, ditches, and culverts to ensure they are clean of weeds and trash, so water will drain properly.
5. Repair leaky pipes and outdoor faucets.
6. Manage swimming pools or wading pools responsibly; turn plastic wading pools over when they are not in use.
7. Aerate ornamental pools or stock them with fish. Clean and apply chlorine to swimming pools that are not in use. (Mosquitoes can breed in water that collects on pool covers.)
8. Keep grass mowed and shrubbery trimmed around the barn and house, so adult mosquitoes will not find refuge there.
9. Change water in birdbaths regularly so it doesn’t become stagnant, and empty plant-pot drip trays at least once a week.
10. Keep gutters clean and free of debris and leaves so they drain completely.
11. Flush fresh water through any barn drains at least weekly.
12. Clean out and refill watering troughs at least once a week.
13. Contact your local Extension agent for other suggestions suitable to your particular location.
