Mosquito Prevention, Tips, and Safe Products for Families from the Brody Brothers

Ah, sweet summer! Cookouts with friends, lazy days by the pool or running through the sprinkler, bike rides, and wait–what?! Itchy mosquito bites from just a few minutes enjoying the great outdoors. But before you stock up on calamine lotion, we’ve got you covered. The pest control experts at Brody Brothers shared their most helpful tips to make the most of summer fun without those pesky pests ruining your outing.

Here are the best tips to safely protect yourself and your property from mosquitoes.

To DEET…or not to DEET

Deet gets a bad reputation, but if used properly it works, and has a great safety record. Levi and Talis Brody put DEET spray to the test during a camping trip to Pleasure Island, part of Maryland’s Hart-Miller Island State Park in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. DEET was the only thing that kept the biting flies away! To use safely, make sure the DEET concentration in your spray is less than 30 percent—more is not better! And do not use DEET products on infants younger than 2 months. Adults should apply bug spray to kids and avoid getting on children’s face and hands.

The Brody Brothers also recommend Sawyer products with 20 percent Picaridin or Lemon Eucalyptus spray with a concentration of 30 percent of higher to keep the mosquitoes at bay while enjoying outdoor summer fun.

Sunrise, Sunset…

Choosing the right time of day to head outside can make a big difference. “If you can finish your outdoor activities before dusk when mosquitoes are at their worst,I would highly recommend that,” suggests Levi Brody.

And while you can’t plan events around unpredictable weather, you should take advantage of breezy days. Mosquitoes are poor flyers and hate the wind, so you can get in a few hours of bite-free fun when the gentle winds are blowing.

Keep Out!

Want to keep mosquitoes away from your next cookout? There are actually many steps you can take to create an inhospitable environment. Mosquitoes hate the sunlight and the wind. You can keep the pesky bugs out by pruning dense shrubs around your property to let in sunlight. Thinning the crowns of trees can also allow in sunlight and air movement so these pests will get packing.

The next best thing you can do is to remove breeding sources. “Most mosquitoes biting you in your yard did not travel very far from where they were born,” explains Levi Brody. Removing breeding sites can greatly reduce mosquitoes on your property. The most common areas are clogged gutters, corrugated downspout extensions and all of those abandoned items collecting water under your deck or in your yard. Forgotten toys, like buckets, bubble containers, and yard toys, as well as tarps, trash cans without lids, and gardening supplies can trap water. All it takes is a few drops of water for larvae to live and thrive until they are ready to attack unsuspecting ankles at your next cookout.