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Mosquitoes 

The American Mosquito Control Association, founded in 1935, is a scientific/educational, not-for-profit public service association operating under the corporation laws of the state of Louisiana. It is world-wide in scope, with members or subscribers to its publications in over 100 countries. The majority of its members are in the United States. Under its bylaws, only individuals can be "regular" members, and much of its activity is performed by volunteers, approximately 150 of these serving on Committees. It is an "open" association and anyone may join. The Board of Directors is composed of seven members elected by the members at large, nine Regional Directors elected by the members in the regions which they represent, an Industry Director, a Technical Advisor, plus two appointed staff members, a Business Manager and an Administrative Assistant who run the Central Office. The Central Office is located at American Mosquito Control Association, P. O. Box 234, Eatontown, NJ 07727-0234. 

This article was obtained from  the  AMCA website.  Please go to their site to read the articles in detail explaining the control of mosquitoes and the spread of mosquito borne diseases.

Larval Control

"The most effective way to control mosquitoes is to find and eliminate their breeding sites. Eliminating large breeding areas such as swamps or sluggishly moving streams or ditches may require community-wide effort. This is usually a task for your organized mosquito control program. Homeowners, however, can take the following steps to prevent mosquito breeding on their own property:

1. Destroy or dispose of tin cans, old tires, buckets, unused plastic swimming pools or other containers that collect and hold water. Do not allow water to accumulate in the saucers of flowerpots, cemetery urns or in pet dishes for more than 2 days.

2. Clean debris from rain gutters and remove any standing water under or around structures, or on flat roofs. Check around faucets and air conditioner units and repair leaks or eliminate puddles that remain for several days. 

3. Change the water in birdbaths and wading pools at least once a week and stock ornamental pools with top feeding predacious minnows. Known as mosquito fish, these minnows are about 1 - 1-1/2 inches in length and can be purchased or native fish can be seined from streams and creeks locally. 
Ornamental pools may be treated with biorational larvicides (Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) or methoprene (IGR) containing products) under certain circumstances. Commercial products "Mosquito Dunks" and "Mosquito Bits" http://www.summitchemical.com/default.htm - http://www.marchbiological.com/  containing Bti can be purchased at many hardware/garden stores for homeowner use. Recently a product was developed called "Preventative Mosquito Control" (PMC) product that kills developing mosquitoes using insect growth regulator (IGR) technology. Like "Mosquito Dunks" this "Preventative Mosquito Control" can be found at many home/garden and pet specialty stores. 

4. Fill or drain puddles, ditches and swampy areas, and either remove, drain or fill tree holes and stumps with mortar. These areas may be treated with the above Bti or methoprene products also.

5. Eliminate seepage from cisterns, cesspools, and septic tanks.

6. Eliminate standing water around animal watering troughs. Flush livestock water troughs twice a week.

7. Check for trapped water in plastic or canvas tarps used to cover boats, pools, etc. Arrange the tarp to drain the water. 

8. Check around construction sites or do-it-yourself improvements to ensure that proper backfilling and grading prevent drainage problems. 

9. Irrigate lawns and gardens carefully to prevent water from standing for several days.

10. If ditches do not flow and contain stagnant water for one week or longer, they can produce large numbers of mosquitoes. Report such conditions to a Mosquito Control or Public Health Office.  Do not attempt to clear these ditches because they may be protected by wetland regulations."

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