Nighttime Spraying for Adult Mosquitoes: The What – When – Why & How!

Beach Mosquito Control District Often gets asked by the public: Why don’t I see the trucks every day spraying for mosquitoes? This question, as well as other questions regarding nighttime adult mosquito spraying are answered below:

   

1. The mosquitoes are always around, why don’t you spray everyday?

A. BMCD must follow strict guidelines outlined in Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.) 5E-13 in order to spray for adult mosquitoes, including: average trap counts, landing rates conducted by field technicians, presence of disease (whether found in bird, horse or human), and service requests.

 

2. I have been bitten while working out in the yard in the daytime, Why don’t you spray during the day?

A. BMCD sprays for adult mosquitoes at night. The reasons why we do this are due to getting greater efficacy during these hours because most of the target species are out and about during this time. Also; BMCD does its best to remain good environmental stewards, therefore we spray at these early hours to help avoid pollinators such as bees.

3. What do I do if I am getting bit during the day?

A. If you are getting bit during the day; more than likely these are container breeding species of mosquitoes. We suggest searching around your yard, and empty any containers that may be holding water for at least a week. We also suggest wearing CDC approved repellants, such as deet or picaridin. You can also call us; that’s what we are here for! We can have a technician come out (free of charge), and inspect your yard and surrounding areas to see where they are coming from, and they can administer treatment if needed.

4. What do you use in the trucks to spray for mosquitoes?

A. We use different materials to spray for adult mosquitoes. Beach Mosquito does what it can to rotate products in order to reduce the possibility of mosquito resistance to one specific family of material. Materials used are usually permethrin, deltamethrin, etophenprox, prallethrin & sumithrin.

5. I used to see the trucks put out a fog that would cover the whole street, but now I see they put out a fine mist; what is the difference?

A. The method we use to spray for adult mosquitoes is called Ultra Low Volume or ULV spraying, which emits a fine aerosol calibrated to a specific droplet size in order to target mosquitoes. The old fog method (thermofogging) uses an active mosquito control product mixed with a fuel of some sort and then super heated to produce that fog that you were used to seeing. BMCD prefers ULV spraying due to its calibration to target mosquito species, and reduce effects to non target species.

6. Birds, Bats & dragonflies eat mosquitoes; so why do you even need to spray?

A. Although birds, bats & dragonflies eat mosquitoes; they do not consume anywhere near enough for effective control. Beach Mosquito sprays for mosquitoes first and foremost to protect public health, then we do what is needed for pestiferous species as well.

7. Will mosquito spray treatments harm me, my kids or my pets?

A. Though some individuals may be sensitive to some pesticides, mosquito control treatments, applied correctly, using EPA-registered products, will not harm humans or pets and are an important practice for protecting the public from mosquito-borne diseases. That said, we do offer residents the ability to be notified by email in advance before a scheduled treatment is to occur, so that these individuals can plan accordingly.

8. What are the impacts of mosquito spray treatments on caterpillars, butterflies, or lightning bugs?

A. ULV treatments used for adult mosquito control distribute a very, very small amount of product specific to mosquito control – usually an ounce or less to treat an acre (which is roughly four typical suburban home lots or a football field). Why so little? Because the dose is specific to mosquitoes, which are much smaller in weight than most beneficial insects. For reference, mosquitoes weigh between 2 and 10mg each. A firefly weighs at least 20mg. The average honey bee weighs 100mg.

Next, that very small amount of product is delivered in super-tiny droplets – think 15 droplets on a pinhead. The droplets float through the air and work by making physical contact with adult mosquitoes in-flight.

And lastly, as we said before, we spray in the early hours when mosquitoes are most active and other beneficial insects are not.

9. The spray truck was going too fast for the treatment to work?

A. BMCD’s spray trucks are equipped with advanced computer control systems for controlling the spray. This computer system changes the volume of spray in relation to vehicle speed to the appropriate amount needed for uniform coverage. The speed ranges from 2 mph. to 20 mph.

10. How do I know when you are going to spray?

A. There are several ways to see if we have a mosquito treatment planned. These are the following ways to know:

Visit the public page of our website: https://beachmcd.leateamapps.com/#/public/map Here you can see our past & present treatment plans, as well as place a service request online.

Visit our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BeachMosquitoControlDistrictPCB/ Treatment plans are posted the day before mosquito spraying is planned.

Get on the notification list: You can get on our spray notification list. Please note that the notification list informs all on the list of a planned spray mission, whether the recipient lives in the area to be treated or not. You can get on the notify list by emailing our operations supervisor directly at: eddie@pcbeachmosquito.com