By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
With the Trail of Lights, cold weather approaching, and normal street work, city of Great Bend employees are usually plenty busy in November. This fall, area city staffs have another battle on their hands: the one against mosquitoes. The city of Great Bend continued to combat the pests with nighttime spraying. Public Works Director David Dunekack explained how it works.
“There are two different products,” he said. “One actually kills the mosquito, and the other one is a sterilant. We split the city – Washington is the split of it east and west. One week, somebody sprays sterilant on the east side of the town and the west side of town gets killing. The next time we go out, we swap. It hits them with both things and keeps them from getting immune or used to it.”
The city’s efforts have proven effective, but there are many things homeowners can do to reduce mosquito populations, namely eliminating standing water in items like old tires, bird baths, and gutters. Local pesticide application can also be beneficial.
“Citizens can help out a little bit with that too, keeping things cleaned up,” Dunekack said. “I use Cutter that you can pick up at Walmart. You screw it onto your garden hose, spray it out there, after an hour, your pets can go on it and everything. That’s something that helps out.”
The increased mosquito populations this year are a result of late precipitation and cooler weather. Alicia Boor, agriculture and natural resources agent in the Cottonwood District of K-State Extension, said the development from egg to adult typically takes 7-14 days. The cooler temperatures have allowed the adults to live longer, causing multiple generations of the insects to remain present at the same time.