When I worked as a gutter cleaner and cleaned out gutters in the late summer and early fall, I noticed that there were different types of mosquito and fly larva that were growing in standing water in gutters around a lot of homes. Not all gutters are installed properly. Some of them hang a little crooked and as a result, water can pool up in them pretty easily. These areas are probably some of the best places for insects such as mosquitoes and flies to lay their eggs. After these eggs hatch, they will develop into larva and the the larva will turn into flies and mosquitoes.
The good news is that once you know where the flies and mosquitoes are coming from, you can deal with them a lot easier. One way to get rid of them is to start by cleaning gutters around your house on a regular basis. When you find there are pockets of water in your gutters, simply add a tablespoon of bleach to each pocket. Or if you want to spend more money, you can buy some poison tablets and put these in those areas. One thing that is nice about the tablets is that they can usually work for up to a few months. This means that even if mosquitoes lay their eggs later on in the month, the tablets will keep on killing them.
Another way to get rid of the problem is to simply clean up the water in the gutter every time that it rains. You can do this quite easily by using a gutter cleaning rake and a dry towel. If you live in a desert, it’s not that difficult. But if you live in places like Seattle, you may want to stick with using the tablets so you don’t have to dry out your gutters every time that it rains.
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Written by Genie Simmons
Topics: Cleaning - Tips and Tools