Mosquitoes

• WHAT YOU SEE

Mosquitoes at dusk, the kind that show up the second you step outside for a few minutes in the evening. Sometimes it's just a nuisance; sometimes it's enough to keep everyone indoors after a certain hour all summer. They tend to be worse in some corners of the yard than others, closer to shade or standing water, even if you can't say exactly why.

• WHAT WE SEE

Mosquitoes rest in shaded leaves and brush during the day rather than flying constantly, so yard treatment goes on the resting spots, not into the open air where they're only briefly present. Standing water is the other half of it, and it doesn't take much: a gutter elbow holding an inch of water, a saucer under a planter, a low spot that doesn't drain, any of them can serve as a breeding site close to the house. A shaded, humid corner of the yard near standing water is usually the specific source of the worst activity, more than the yard as a whole.

• HOW WE FIX IT

Treatment targets the resting spots directly, shaded brush and foliage where mosquitoes wait out the day, rather than fogging the whole yard for a few hours of relief. We'll flag standing water sources we find, a gutter elbow, a low spot, anything holding water for more than a few days, since removing the breeding site does more than any single treatment. Products used are pet-safe, which matters here more than almost anywhere else in the yard. This is a seasonal add-on rather than part of the year-round quarterly plan.

• WHEN THEY SHOW UP

Late spring through the first frost is mosquito season in the Midwest, with activity peaking in the humid stretch of mid-summer. Standing water after a heavy rain can turn into new mosquito activity within about a week, which is roughly how long it takes a batch of eggs to develop. The yard is the only room this one really touches; mosquitoes are strictly an outdoor, dusk-and-dawn problem.

• WHAT THE PROS KNOW

Mosquitoes rest in shaded leaves during the day. Yard treatment goes on the resting spots, not into the air. A gutter elbow holding an inch of water is a nursery.