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Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 22D
-FORSYTtfCdUMr? Sunday,AprHi 2001
SPRING HOMEIMPROVEMENT
Price tag for early spring: swarms of mosquitoes
By Dan Rahn
For the Forsyth County News
Spring has come early to
Georgia this year, bringing gentle
showers, warm days and swarms
of mosquitoes.
“Without question, we’ve got
some big mosquito populations
much earlier than normal,” said
Maxey Nolan, an entomologist
with the University of Georgia
Extension Service.
Nolan said county extension
agents throughout Georgia have
called him with mosquito-control
problems.
“It seems to be more of a prob
lem in south Georgia, though,” he
said.
Those wonderfully warm,
unseasonably pleasant days have
apparently come with a price tag.
“We seem to have had the
warm weather and the moisture at
just the right times for mosqui-
ANTS from 19D
repeated periodically.
In small lawns with few mounds,
repeatedly treating individual
mounds is an effective, economical
control program.
In larger areas with many
mounds, it’s best to start by broad
casting a bait. Then treat individual
mounds with a contact insecticide.
That costs less and requires less
labor than treating individual
mounds alone.
Early spring is a great time to
implement a fire ant control pro
gram with a combination of baits
and individual mound treatments.
The first step is to broadcast a
fire ant bait across infested areas at
1-1.5 pounds per acre. For the best
results, use fresh bait and apply it
when the ants are actively searching
for food.
Don’t apply baits when tempera
tures are below 65 degrees or above
90. Remember that for the bait to
work, it must be taken into the
mound and fed to all the ants in a
mound. It works slowly, often tak
ing weeks or even months to elimi
nate mounds.
The second step is to treat indi
vidual mounds of particular concern
mounds that you want to get rid
of immediately.
No sooner than three days after
the bait application, treat these
problem mounds with an approved
mound-drench, granular, dust or
aerosol contact insecticide.
Depending on the nrqduct, these
insecticides usually kill the ants in
the mound within 48 hours.
So, the bait will control small,
undetected mounds oyer time, and
the individual treatments will kill
toes,” Nolan said.
Mosquitoes are mostly a nui
sance with their painful bites, he
said.
But they can carry encephalitis
to people and horses and heart
worms to dogs.
Mosquitoes don’t normally
reach troublesome numbers this
early in the year.
“These things fluctuate,” he
said. “But we do have a heavy
population of mosquitoes earlier
than normal.”
Don’t count on that mid-March
cold snap to take care of the early
mosquito problem.
“It’s just going to slow them
down a little,” he said.
“A freeze will kill a ton of
adult mosquitoes, and a hard
freeze will ice over the water and
kill the larvae and pupae. But
we’re not likely to get a hard
freeze.”
'Georgia three-step'
for fire ant control
1. Broadcast baits
• Use fresh baits.
• Apply when ants are active
ly searching for food (best in
spring or fall).
• Don’t apply baits on days
below 65 degrees or above 90.
2. Treat individual mounds
• No sooner than three days
following the bait application,
treat individual problem mounds
with an approved mound-drench,
granular, dust or aerosol contact
insecticide.
3. Maintain control
• Apply a fire ant bait every
spring and fall, or at least every
fall.
• Or broadcast a contact
insecticide every eight to 12
weeks.
the larger, problematic mounds
immediately.
The third step is to maintain
control. Fire ants will reinfest the
treated area within 6 to 12 months if
you do nothing more to control the
ants.
To keep your lawn fire ant free,
apply a fire ant bait every spring and
fall or at least every spring. If you
follow this program, you’ll reduce
fire ant populations in your yard by
more than 95 percent.
Beverly Sparks is an Extension
Service entomologist with the
University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental
The early outbreak of mosqui
toes may have caught some cities
off-guard with their control pro
grams.
“We learned from the 1994
flood that hardly anyone is pre
pared to handle things like this,”
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Nolan said.
“We need to have equipment in
good operating condition for
heavy outbreaks when they hap
pen.
Nolan said some municipali
ties will use their mosquito-con-
trol equipment in nearby rural
areas.
Most rural home owners,
though, are on their own.
Whether you live in town or in
See MOSQUITO, Page 28D
