I've got standing puddles of water after rains that I can't do
anything about. I need to spay something on the water surface to
prevent mosquito breeding. What are the options? And, most important,
are there any options that don't poison the environment (non-toxic.)

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 24 Jun 2003 09:06 PDT

Can we know more about the puddles? Are they in holes on the ground
that you can't fill in or cover, and are there many of them?

Hello, Tivoli,
Pardon me for suddenly putting the question up. As I researched
further on the Net, I found the substances that you may be referring
to. Substances that you can apply to those water puddles that you
couldn’t removed would be larvicides. There substances contain a
component, like a certain bacteria, to arrest the growth of the
mosquito larvae in the water and prevent hatching. They are usually
applied in granule form, not sprayed. Applied properly, they won’t
harm the environment. There are commercially available larvicides.


Floridian: Thinking like a mosquito by Jeff Klinkenberg, Aug. 24, 2001
http://www.sptimes.com/News/082401/Floridian/Thinking_like_a_mosqu.shtml

EPA: Pesticides - Larvicides for Mosquito Control
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/larvicides4mosquitos.htm

Collier Mosquito Control District – with information on larvicide
http://www.collier-mosquito.org/larvalcontrol.asp


Examples of Larvicide:
Altosid Larvicide
http://www.altosid.com/

Prestrike Mosquito Larvicide 1lb
http://petvetsupply.com/allpetvetsupply/insmlov008.html

Siphotrol Mosquito Larvicide Granules (12oz) at the Yahoo Store
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/entirelypets/simolagr.html
- Look at your local pet store or pest control shop for larvicides.

I still include however articles on mosquito prevention and
pesticides, because they contain common sense procedures of mosquito
prevention that you might have missed. Nothing beats removing the
nasty puddles of water, or covering them at least, maybe with
mosquito-proof screen or plywood sheets, and cleaning the roof gutter,
but without that option, larvicides may be the best way to go.
Pesticides are a no-no, since they certainly can affect more than the
pest.


Information on general Mosquito Prevention and pesticides:
West Nile Virus Information
http://www.town.brookline.ma.us/Health/WNV.html

Mosquito Prevention from the Leisurewoods Bulletin Board 
http://www.leisurewoods.org/_bulletin_2002/0000004c.htm

Information on Mosquito Spraying
http://www.ci.round-rock.tx.us/news/mosquitoes.html

EPA: Pesticides - Pesticides and Mosquito Control
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/mosquitocontrol.htm

Document on Mosquito control and West Nile virus, from the Department
of
http://www.canton-mi.org/images/WestNileInfo.pdf
HTML preview for the file
http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:EBZ3_GW9RMQJ:www.canton-mi.org/images/WestNileInfo.pdf+mosquito+puddle+spray&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Skeeterbites.Com -- Nationwide Mosquito Alert Information provided by
Cutter(R)
http://www.skeeterbites.com/mosquito-defense-tips.html

City of Sioux Falls – tips on mosquito avoidance
http://www.siouxfalls.org/health/environmentpages/mosquito.asp


Other products:
Mosquito Terminator Product
http://www.mosquitoterminator.com/pricing.htm

Google Search terms used: 
mosquito puddle prevention
mosquito puddle spray
mosquito hatching prevent substance
mosquito larva toxin

I hope this has been a most helpful answer. If you have any problem
with it, do please post a Request for Clarification and I shall
respond. Thank you.

Thanks. Just what I was looking for.  Info and commercial sources. Great!

Thank you very much for the five star rating and the tip! Oh, I also
forgot to add "mosquito larvicide" to the search terms used. :)

I once saw on the news where mineral oil was sprayed onto puddles of
standing water. The reason it worked is because it prevented the water
from absorbing oxygen thus killing off the larvae through suffication.