Hi, Gene here. I have had many requests to do this video and with spring fast approaching, mosquito season is right around the corner; now’s a great time to talk about it. So, the question is, “When you hear someone say, ‘Non-toxic mosquito treatments’ or ‘plant-based products’ what exactly does that mean?” 

So the words non-toxic sound great, but what does that really mean? It’s important to keep in mind that in order to kill an insect, that insect must come into contact with some product that destroys its life function.

3 Questions to Ask Before Mosquito Treatment

So this “non-toxic” product that is capable of killing an insect, like a mosquito or a tick, rest assured, that same product is killing many other things. To help you navigate this “non-toxic” mosquito treatment space, here are three questions to ask so you better understand what is happening around your property.

Number 1, what is the active ingredient that is being put on the property? Number 2, how much of this product is being used and where is the product being applied? And then Number 3, what piece of equipment is being used to apply the product? I just want to show you most conventional mosquito treatments are done with a piece of equipment similar to this.

So if you see a technician show up to your property with a piece of equipment that looks like this, it’s important to understand what it does. So this is kind of like a leaf blower and this is a smaller unit, there are ones much larger than this. But what happens is the blower unit shoots, say, about a 200 to 300-mile-an-hour jet of air, there is a tank back here where the product goes; so whatever product the technician is mixing goes in this tank, the blower blasts the air just like a big heavy, high-powered leaf blower, and then this hose right here injects a stream of pesticide into the air flow.

This piece of equipment is specifically designed to create a giant cloud of pesticide that is meant to drift and float and move and cover the broadest area possible. So if a technician shows up to your home or business and this is the equipment that they pull out of the truck, just understand that whatever is in this tank is going virtually over every square inch of your property.

Pest Control Products

It’s important to understand that every product used to do a pest control treatment around your home or business must be registered with the EPA and the state’s Department of Agriculture. When the technician shows up to your home to do a treatment, when they finish, by law they are required to provide you with a written document that lists what the EPA number is for the product, the name of the product, how much of the product was used and where it was applied.

You can take this information, do a quick search on the internet, and you can better understand what products are being sprayed around your home and business. So once you understand what the active ingredients being sprayed around your home are, the next important question to understand is where are these products being applied? Many of us have barbecue areas, lounging areas, children play areas, vegetable gardens, flowers and planting beds.

It’s important to know where these products are being put so you understand what’s happening on your property. The third question to have answered is what piece of equipment is the pest control technician using to apply this product. Understanding how the product is being delivered and sprayed on your property goes a long way to helping you understand the scope of what is happening.

Well, to summarize real quick, just keep in mind and remember that if a product has the ability to kill a mosquito, kill a tick, and kill a flea, there’s certainly toxicity there for those organisms. And the question is what else may it be toxic to? So take some time, do some research, understand and enjoy, have a great year, and I’ll see you next time.