Mosquitoes love NJ but here’s how to keep them away

A wet weather run up to the spring season will make it easier for Jersey's mosquitoes to proliferate.

The lawn care company TruGreen is out with a list of the 10 U.S. cities most bothered by mosquitoes. And the city of Trenton was 5 on that list. But there are many other areas of New Jersey that are due for a major pestering this spring and summer.

Joseph Conlon, technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association in Mount Laurel, says "rain, temperature, humidity — mosquitoes like all three of those."

On the other side of the coin, Conlon says dry weather is the bug's enemy.

"One of their greatest enemies is desiccation — drying out. They prefer humid weather. Once the humidity goes down below 35 percent, they tend to find places where they can stay and not get desiccated. If you have high winds, mosquitoes will tend to stay away. They are very poor flyers. They do not like to get caught up in wind currents."

He says that wind factor can actually work in your favor.

"One thing that you can do to keep mosquitoes off of your porch is use floor fans. That will keep the mosquitoes off of your legs, no question about it."

For the Garden State, the Asian tiger mosquito is our number one nemesis. Conlon says removing standing water from objects around the outside will deter the bug.

"It is the containers that you have, the toys that you have outside that gather water. Plants that you have outside that have a dish underneath them to keep the water available. Also, if you have a lot of trash out, you are going to have a lot of Asian tiger mosquitoes."

Even corrugated rain downspouts on your house are excellent breeding points, so keep them as clean and clear as possible.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5