The Lake Martin Mosquito Survival Guide

Lake Martin is at its best from March through October, right up until the sun drops behind the ridge. Then the porch, the patio and the dock belong to the mosquitoes. This season-long guide is for Lake Martin homeowners and weekend property owners who want to reclaim them: where the mosquitoes come from, what professional mosquito control can and cannot do here, what to skip, and what you can handle yourself.

Our Alexander City pest control office serves homes all around the lake, and our family has done pest control in Alabama since 1958. Here is what actually works on a lake lot, what does not, and how to think about mosquito control if you live (or weekend) on the water.

Why mosquito pressure runs higher at Lake Martin

Mosquitoes need still water to breed. The open body of Lake Martin is not that: it moves, it has waves from boat traffic, and it is full of fish that eat larvae. The trouble is everything around the open water. A lake lot packs more small, shaded, wind-sheltered spots into one acre than a typical backyard in town, and the hot, humid Alabama summer speeds up every stage of the mosquito life cycle.

Here are the mosquito breeding sites we find most often on lake properties:

• Tree holes in the big oaks and hardwoods on the lot. Rot pockets hold rain for weeks and nobody ever looks in them.
• Boat covers, tarps and pontoon covers that sag and collect a half-inch of rainwater after every storm.
• Clogged gutters, especially on houses under a heavy tree canopy. Leaf litter dams the water and keeps it shaded.
• Containers of every kind: planters, kayak hulls stored upright, dog bowls, kid toys, a forgotten bucket by the shed.
• Shallow cove edges where the main flow never reaches and algae mats or leaf mats trap still water along the shoreline.

In summer heat, a mosquito can go from egg to larva to biting adult in about a week, and it only needs a bottle cap of water to do it. One sagging boat cover can turn out a startling number of mosquitoes before the next rain. That speed is the reason mosquito repopulation is constant at the lake and the reason a single spray in June does not carry you through August.

Where mosquitoes rest during the day

Adult mosquitoes are weak fliers. When the sun is up, they sit still in cool, damp shade close to where they hatched and close to where they will feed. On a Lake Martin lot that habitat is predictable: the underside of leaves on shrubs and hedges, ivy and ground cover, the shaded side of the house, the crawl space vents, the undersides of decks and stairs, the boathouse rafters, and the brushy strip along the shoreline.

That resting habitat is the target. You cannot treat a cove, and you would not want anyone to try. You can treat the places the insects spend their days.

How our mosquito treatment works

Our technician walks the property, notes the breeding sites and the resting areas, and applies an EPA-registered product according to label directions to the shaded vegetation and structures where adult mosquitoes rest. The residual sits on those leaf and surface areas, so mosquitoes that land there over the following weeks are knocked down. Sunlight, heat and rain wear that residual down over time, which is why the treatment is repeated on scheduled visits throughout the season instead of once.

Treatment near water uses products labeled for that use, applied according to label directions. The technician does not treat the water itself. On every visit we also point out standing water we find, because removing breeding sites is the part of pest management that pays off the longest.

Be clear-eyed about the result. A monthly barrier program reduces mosquitoes in the treated zone a great deal and keeps the population knocked down so the porch and the patio are usable in July. It does not remove every mosquito from a lake. Insects drift in from the cove and from untreated lots next door, so a treated yard has far fewer mosquito bites, not zero.

If you want the specifics of treating a dock, a boathouse and the strip between the house and the water, we wrote a separate how-to: mosquito control for a lake house dock and boathouse.

The EnviroCare mosquito program and price

• $45 per month for an average-size yard.
• Eight treatments, March through October.
• Firm price after a free inspection, so the estimate you get is the price you pay.
• Equal monthly ACH payments spread across the whole year.
• $34 a month only when the mosquito plan is paired with a general pest control plan.
• Mosquito + Tick is quoted after inspection and covers ticks and chiggers in the same zones.

No one has to be home for a routine outdoor visit as long as we can reach the yard, which is how most weekend lake places are handled.

What we do not recommend spending money on

Bug zappers. The blue light draws moths, beetles and other harmless night-flying insects. Mosquitoes find you by your breath and body heat, not by light, and research on backyard zappers found biting insects made up a tiny fraction of the catch. You end up killing the insects that feed birds, bats and fish.

Citronella candles. They do a little in a small circle on a dead-calm night. On a dock with a breeze coming off the water, the smoke is gone before it helps.

Ultrasonic repellers. They do not work. Mosquitoes do not steer by sound, and federal regulators have gone after sellers of these devices for unsupported claims.

Bat houses as a mosquito plan. We like bats, and a bat house is a fine thing to put up. But bats mostly eat moths and beetles. Do not count on one to fix a mosquito problem on the shoreline.

What you can do yourself between visits

1. Walk the lot once a week from spring through fall and dump anything holding water. Check tarps, toys and anything on the dock.
2. Store kayaks, canoes and paddleboards upside down.
3. Clean the gutters in early spring and again in late summer.
4. Fill rotted tree holes with sand or expanding foam so they cannot hold water.
5. Run a fan on the porch or dock. A steady breeze clears a seating area better than almost anything else you can buy.
6. For personal protection, use an EPA-registered insect repellent and follow the label.

Our Lake Martin home pest checklist covers the rest of the house, and if you are weighing a store-bought hose-end spray against a professional service, read yard spray versus professional treatment.

A season at the lake, month by month

March and April

The first warm spells wake up overwintering adults and hatch eggs laid last fall. This is when the first treatment goes on and when cleaning gutters and clearing containers does the most good, because you are cutting off the first generation.

May through August

Peak pressure. Afternoon storms refill every container on the lot, and heat shortens the life cycle. Keep up the weekly water check, and expect the treated zone to stay quieter than the neighbor's.

September and October

Mosquitoes return after every fall rain until the nights turn cool. The last treatments of the season matter, because Labor Day and fall weekends are some of the best time on the water.

Ticks and chiggers on wooded lake lots

If you have woods, tall grass or a path down to the water, you have ticks and chiggers too. Deer move through most lots around the lake, and they carry ticks right to the edge of the yard. Our professional mosquito and tick control services cover the brush edges, the shaded transitions between lawn and woods, and the paths you walk, with pricing confirmed after inspection for the March-through-October season. That plan does not cover fleas, which are handled separately. More in our post on tick control in Alabama and on our tick control service page.

A word on mosquito-borne illness

In Alabama, mosquitoes can be a vector for illnesses such as West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis. Most bites are just an itch, but if you or someone in your family feels sick after a lot of bites, talk to your doctor. We cover the general picture in mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama.

Take back your yard this season

Mosquito season at Lake Martin is long, but it is manageable with steady treatment and a little help from you between visits. Call our Alexander City and Lake Martin office at (256) 234-6162, or stop by 1785 Tallapoosa Street, Alexander City, to schedule a free inspection and get a free quote with a firm price. You can also see everything we do around the water on our Lake Martin page.

No One Cares Like EnviroCare.