There’s been an uptick in mosquitoes in St. Louis in the past couple of weeks, and the worst may be yet to come. While mosquitoes thrive in hot, humid environments and puddles of water, too much rainfall can hinder their breeding cycle.
“When we have heavy rains, that washes out storm drains and sewer pipes where Culex [common house] mosquitoes tend to reproduce,” said Jean Ponzi, green resources manager at the Missouri Botanical Garden. “But when the rain slows down and the heat kicks up, then it’ll be mosquito world.”
Even during peak mosquito season, Ponzi advises local governments and homeowners against fogging, a technique that uses pesticide aerosols to kill insects in the air and ones that may land on treated surfaces later on…