Online resources & key organizations
The best place to start:
University of California, Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM). www.ipm.ucanr.edu. Search: Mosquitoes.
California Department of Public Health (CDPH). www.cdph.ca.gov. Search: Mosquitoes. Key document: “Best Management Practices for Mosquito Control.”
California Department of Pesticide Regulation. www.cdpr.ca.gov. Promotes “sustainable pest management,” which aims to accelerate adoption of IPM.
San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District (SGVMVCD). www.sgvmosquito.org.
The local authority directly responsible.
American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA). www.mosquitoes.org.
Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC). www.mvcac.org.
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OTHER PESTS
The UC IPM website, www.ipm.ucanr.edu, has detailed advice on controlling many kinds of pests found locally, including ants, fleas, and venomous spiders (as well as mammals such as mice, rats, opossums, raccoons, gophers, and coyotes—and others).
No-see-ums (biting midges). These tiny flies found in MSAG cause painful bites that can itch for days. Methods for abatement are generally the same as for mosquitoes. Small-mesh window screens offer better protection than standard screens but can reduce air flow.
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ANNUAL RISK OF MOSQUITO BITES AND DISEASE TRANSMISSION IN CALIFORNIA
https://www..ccdpha.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document%20Library/SeasonalMosquitoRiskGraphic.pdf
What's the threat?
>> Top of page: The invasive Asian Tiger Mosquito (Aedes albopictus)
>> Above: The Southern House Mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus (m/f)
The kinds of mosquitoes that live in MSAG can carry viruses and bacteria that cause serious illness. In a warming climate, insect-borne diseases once found only in the tropics are expanding northward.
WEST NILE VIRUS
This is the most common and serious vector-borne disease in California and locally. More than 8,000 human cases and nearly 400 deaths have been reported in California since 2003. West Nile is spread by medium-sized, brown Culex mosquitoes (illustration above).
AEDES VIRUSES
Two species of invasive Aedes mosquitoes arrived in Claremont and Pomona in 2016-2017, Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, and Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito. Both are small, black mosquitoes with white stripes on their back and legs. The large image at the top of the page is of the tiger mosquito; the yellow fever mosquito is very similar. These insects bite during the day and can transmit some of the most debilitating and deadly mosquito-borne viral pathogens known to humans, such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. In California, only dengue fever has been found so far.
PPROTECTING
rotecting pets and nontarget wildlife
Insecticides must be applied in ways that minimize harm to our pets as well as to vulnerable and beneficial wildlife such as hummingbirds, butterflies, ladybugs, and dragonflies.
The lizards under our feet also need protection. They are the reason Lyme disease is rare in our region. Called western fence lizards, they are the main hosts for the ticks that carry Lyme disease bacteria. They have a protein in their blood that kills the bacteria in ticks that feed on them.
Moving the Gardens toward Integrated Pest Management
Moving the Gardens toward Integrated Pest Management
We don’t need to stop using insecticides suddenly or entirely, but the Gardens should move toward “integrated pest management” (IPM), the effective method called for by California state and local authorities.
The University of California’s Statewide IPM program, www.ipm.ucanr.edu, has been a leader globally in developing this method, defined as “an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage . . . Pesticides are used only after monitoring shows they are needed . . . and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, beneficial and nontarget organisms, and the environment.”
USING INSECTICIDES WHEN NEEDED
The state health department cautions that insecticides “must be used by trained personnel and after careful planning.” It calls for applying insecticides selectively to the proper life stage of the mosquito, and in a manner that will “minimize personal hazard to the applicator and other people in the vicinity.”
WHERE MOSQUITOES BREED AND HANG OUT
Mosquitoes go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Some species lay eggs on stagnant water and usually hatch within a day or two. Others lay eggs on moist soil and don’t hatch until the surfaces are flooded, which may occur months later. Our koi ponds have moving water and were free of mosquito eggs and larvae when tested in 2024; testing will continue. Adult mosquitoes often rest on the back of large leaves of trees and shrubs.
WORKING WITH Working with MSAG’s landscape renewal and infrastructure updating projects
Pest control will be taken into account in choosing new plantings and updating irrigation, drainage, wiring, and outdoor lighting systems. A variety of flowering plants repel mosquitoes, e.g., marigold, sage, and mint.