CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's summer, and that means it is peak mosquito season.
Tim Dutcher, the supervisor for Mecklenburg County's Mosquito Control Program, says they typically get the most calls and complaints a week or two after a period of rain.
What You Need To Know
- Anything holding water for up to seven days can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes
- Tip and toss standing water in your yard once a week
- Using repellent with 25% deet to keep mosquitoes away
"The biggest trend is people thinking the mosquito problem is someone else's issue," Dutcher said. "They'll call thinking that the pool next door is causing all the mosquitoes. We'll go to investigate the pool and find out that there's 50 things in their own backyard that's holding a little bit of water and breeding mosquitoes."
He says anything that can hold water for up to seven days has the potential to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The best way to prevent that is tipping and tossing any standing water in your yard once a week.
Dutcher recommends a repellent with 25% deet to keep the insects away. If you're going to be outside for a long time, he says to spray permethrin on your clothes.
If you use a mosquito control company to spray your yard, be mindful of where you spray and the impact it can have on pollinators.
"A lot of the companies will come in and just spray every bush in the backyard whether it's a flowering bush where honeybees may come and rest and land," Dutcher said. "It's just important to make sure things are being done properly to protect the environment."
According to the Mosquito Review, mosquitoes don't officially go away until the first freeze. In North Carolina, that's expected to be around the end of October and mid-November.