Links to Mosquito Control Products Under Consideration

By | May 9, 2018

I want to find a mosquito control solution that is safe and effective.   I think we can achieve this, though it will be somewhat expensive to engage a service.  I’m glad we don’t need a long contract, so we can shift if treatments are not effective.

If we can get Meriwether Pest and Wildlife to use the products Ecovia and Altosid, and if I can continue to treat the catch basins with BTI, we should have a reasonably safe and effective protocol.  I have calls out currently concerning the request to address liability of self-treating.  The essential oil products like Ecovia and Essentria are deterrent products “Insects that come in the vicinity of them will be repelled by the vapors.”   BTI (mosquito “donuts” we are generally familiar with) is a LARVICIDE, which means that it keeps the larva from pupating into an adult mosquito.  Altosid / Methoprene is an insect growth regulator.  By acting like an insect hormone, it interferes with insect growth and development. It can prevent normal molting, egg-laying, egg-hatching, and development from the immature phase (i.e. caterpillar) to the adult phase (i.e. moth). This prevents the insects from reproducing.

I particularly liked the Altosid product because although it is an insecticide, it reportedly has minimal toxicity to pollinators .  It is a chemical, and it is not without drawbacks.  It has been used for decades and has the best safety + effectiveness of the products I have researched so far.  It is a hormone disrupter in insects, but studies did not link it to endocrine disruption in mammals, a  cancer risk.   The active ingredient is Methoprene.

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/methogen.html

The two sprays recommended by Meriwether and referenced since are both essential oil products.  You can google the names  Ecovia and the Essentria and find ample information about their active ingredients and effectiveness.  Of the two products, I prefer Ecovia and I don’t recommend us using Essentria.   Ecovia pamphlet:

https://www.domyown.com/msds/EcoViaInsert_FullColor2.pdf
Essentria appears to be more toxic to pollinators.  You have to dig for reference to pollinator toxicity.  Many of these products are used indoors, where pollinators are not an issue, so I’m not saying it’s not a legitimate product.  It just doesn’t appear to be the best option for our goals.
The third product that we have traditionally used with success is BTI.  BTI DOES NOT affect aquatics, amphibians, or other insects except fungus gnats and black flies, and there are decades of studies on the topic.  It is approved for organic farms, safe for animals and humans.  The EPA link is below.
https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/bti-mosquito-control
Excerpt from EPA fact sheet, verbatim:
1. What is Bti? Bti is a biological or a naturally occurring bacterium found in soils. (Bti is short for Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis.) It contains spores that produce toxins that specifically target and only affect the larvae of the mosquito, blackfly and fungus gnat. EPA has registered five different strains of Bti found in 48 pesticide products that are approved for use in residential, commercial and agricultural settings primarily for control of mosquito larvae.

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