Vector Control Specialist Tom Noftsinger, with St Louis County Vector Control, responded Thursday that individual cities contract with St. Louis County for mosquito fogging.
Maplewood and Richmond Heights has contracted fogging from the county, and Richmond Heights sprays in addition to the county. Brentwood sprays using in-house staff and uses the county for larviciding services. Larviciding is the treatment of standing water to eliminate mosquito eggs, larvae, and pupae.
Maplewood Ward 3 Councilman Barry Greenberg is opposed to fogging. He commented on a previous article that the pesticides “lingers on plants and lawns for weeks and gets transferred to children and pets plating outside and is ingested by birds that eat mosquitoes.”
Noftsinger said the south central part of the county is sprayed on Thursdays. Spraying begins at sunset and ends by 11 p.m. No one municipality is sprayed every week.
A hotline can be called (314-615-4284) after 6 p.m. on Thursday to hear a message of which municipalities will be fogged that evening.
The county will also send an email message to anyone wishing to be notified if spraying will be in their neighborhood that evening. Send an email to: [email protected] with your name and home address to receive that message.
The National Pesticide Information Center lists other ways to reduce mosquitoes bites.
- Empty water from containers such as flower pots, birdbaths, pet water dishes, cans, gutters, tires and buckets regularly to disrupt the mosquito breeding cycle.
- Keep windows and door screens in good working order to prevent mosquitoes from entering your home.
- If possible, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants while outdoors, consider staying indoors early in the morning and evening when mosquitoes are most active.
- Use mosquito netting over infants carriers when infants are outdoors.
- Consider using an insect repellent, be sure to follow the label directions for applying the repellent. For help selecting a mosquito repellent, try our Insect Repellent Locator.