It's the time of year when Manitobans start to notice mosquitoes buzzing around, and the current warm weather we're experiencing is only adding to the issue.
While wearing bug spray and avoiding being out during dusk and dawn can help, getting ahead of the issue is the best option available. Entomologist Taz Stuart says getting rid of all standing water is the best way to avoid having mosquito issues all summer.
"A female mosquito may have laid her eggs last year, two years ago, in a depression or a low-lying ditch and it's gonna get filled up with water. With the temperatures being a little... okay obscenely above normal for this time of year, you will likely start seeing spring and summer species coming out in numbers, and the hotter it is, the quicker they will develop from egg, going to the larval stage, pupa, and then the adult stage."
Getting rid of standing water isn't always possible, but Stuart says there are other options to try and limit the number of adult mosquitoes.
"There are some domestic products, and of course, if you're dealing with agriculture you can buy commercial products. We highly recommend using BTI as a control product. It's specific for mosquitoes and biting fly larvae. So if you do have a spreader or a sprayer that you can spray that ditch at approximately anywhere from four to ten kilograms per hectare, you're reducing that problem."
Stuart says it's important to time the spraying of any control product to when they are in the larvae stage.
"You don't want to be spraying it before the mosquito larvae are there, you need to actually look for what they look like. They're called a wiggler for a reason, if you take your finger and bend it in half, when you walk up to a water body, you'll see those things moving, then you know you've got mosquito larvae in your site and you should be treating it with the BTI."
Stuart says if it looks like a comma or a tumbler it'll be a waste to spray it because it's in a non-feeding stage.
