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Adulticiding
Adulticiding is the last component of Integrated Pest Management. Although every effort is taken to eliminate mosquitoes before they become adults, it is not humanly possible to find and treat every breeding source throughout the county. Therefore, we have these adults to deal with, in addition to any neighboring county's mosquitoes that may come visiting in search of a meal or a mate.
Mosquitoes in the adult stage are controlled while resting or flying. Our decision to start spraying for mosquitoes is based on surveillance/trapping results, daily inspections by field aides, sweep counts and nuisance mosquito calls. Backpack sprayers are used to treat vegetation where adults rest during the day. This type of treatment is applied to residential areas, parks, and playing fields. The mist is controlled and can be applied to areas where it will not harm humans or pets. In the evening, mosquitoes come out of hiding making them susceptible to our truck mounted foggers. Cass County has 17 ultra low volume sprayers that put out droplets only 19 microns in size. These droplets are in the air for about half an hour and travel up to 300ft. For information, product labels, and MSDS for all adulticides used by Cass County: Products
There are several exceptions to spraying availability:
1. No Spray Zones - areas where people have phoned in requesting no spraying due to health concerns or other reasons.
2. Bodies of water - By law, adulticiding is not allowed near certain bodies of water due to potential environmental contamination.
3. Inclement weather - Label instructions specify that treatments not be made in winds over 10mph and/or temperatures below 58 degrees.
SPRAY TRUCK HOURS OF OPERATION
Depending upon time of year and degree of infestation, spray trucks are scheduled to operate between the hours of 8 p.m. (dusk) and 6 a.m. (dawn). Typical mosquito season spray hours are between 8 p.m. and midnight .
Spraying Schedule |
