If you are getting bitten in your own back garden, the mosquitoes are almost certainly breeding there too. Mosquitoes are weak fliers most of the ones landing on you were born within a few hundred feet of where you are standing.
That is genuinely good news, because it means the problem is largely within your control.
Quick Answer
Mosquitoes need still water to breed, and the amount is tiny a bottle cap is enough. Find and empty the water in your own yard first, then treat the shaded foliage where adults rest during the day. Illinois sees West Nile virus activity most summers, so this is a health issue, not just a comfort one.
Seven Places Water Hides in an Illinois Yard
When our technicians walk a property, these are the spots that produce mosquitoes week after week. Almost none of them look like standing water at a glance.
Check These This Weekend
- Clogged gutters — the single most productive breeding site on most homes, and completely out of sight.
- Corrugated downspout extensions, which hold a cup of water in every ridge.
- Plant saucers and pot rims, especially under a covered porch where rain never flushes them.
- Tarps and covers on grills, firewood, boats and pools, where every fold becomes a pond.
- Birdbaths and pet bowls left more than a week without changing.
- Tyres, buckets, wheelbarrows and children’s toys stored upright in the yard.
- Low spots in the lawn and clogged window wells that stay wet for days after a storm.
What Professional Mosquito Control Adds
Source reduction handles what you can find. A treatment program handles the rest. We larvicide the water that cannot practically be drained catch basins, drainage swales, ornamental ponds and then apply a residual to the places adult mosquitoes actually spend the daylight hours.
That is not your open lawn. It is the underside of leaves, dense shrubs, ivy, tall grass, fence lines and the shaded space beneath your deck.
Treatments are repeated through the season because sun and rain break the residual down, and because new adults keep arriving from neighboring properties.
Most Illinois customers on a seasonal program run treatments from late spring through early autumn.
Four Habits That Make a Visible Difference
Between Treatments
- Refresh birdbaths and pet water weekly mosquitoes need about a week of still water to complete the cycle.
- Keep the lawn cut and thin out dense plantings so shaded resting sites are reduced.
- Run a fan on the patio. Mosquitoes struggle in moving air, and it works better than most people expect.
- Repair torn window and door screens, which is what keeps them outdoors in the first place.
Book Your Mosquito Treatment
Call +1 (833) 425-2058 or request a free inspection and we will walk the property, show you what is producing mosquitoes, and treat it. See our mosquito control in Illinois page, or read the complete guide to full-service pest control in Illinois.
Take Your Yard Back
Seasonal mosquito programs across the Chicago metro and throughout Illinois. Serving the state since 1980.