Zika started it.
Mosquito control services have been around for decades with misting machines mostly used in municipal or commercial livestock facilities, says Jeff White, president, MosquitoMax, Houston. “But the demand is up because of Zika. When the CDC said it was an emergency two years ago, mosquito control, in general, increased.” White’s business installs and services the misting system, which is a tankless device that disperses the repellent on a timed basis. (The company sells this equipment to other businesses, too.) It also makes a larvicide dispensing product that fits into French drains, catch basins and sump pumps to kill off larva so they don’t become mosquitoes.
“Ninety-nine percent of our business is mosquito misting, and that is how we control mosquitoes the best, in our opinion,” White says.
The more common control practice is using backpack misting sprayers for applying barrier applications. And because of Zika – and, of course, other mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile, Lyme disease from ticks (the pesticide kills those, too), and the fact that bugs are a nuisance in the outdoors – there is an increased demand.
