Mosquito Management in Meadows Place & Fort Bend County
Our goal in mosquito management in Meadows Place is to reduce the breeding grounds on city property and by educating our homeowners (Private Property Owners) on how to maintain their property to help reduce the breeding of mosquitoes on their private property.
Please keep in mind that the City of Meadows Place cannot treat for mosquitos on private property. We can only educate you on the best practices to prevent or reduce breeding grounds for mosquitoes. It is up to each private property owner to do their part in the seasonal fight against mosquitoes.
Always remember to protect yourself from mosquitoes when you are outside in the early morning and the evening. Use spray that contains “Deet”, wear long sleeves and long pants if you want to avoid being bitten. You also have an option of not going outside if you feel the mosquitoes are present in heavy numbers.
Four Best Practices for Mosquito Management in Meadows Place: 
- Educating the public
- Surveillance
- Treatment (city property/facilities)
- Spraying (Last Resort)
Educating the public– We have mosquitoes that breed here that we have to stop and mosquitos that fly to our city from the coast called “Salt Water Marsh Mosquito” that we either have to tolerate or spray as a last resort.
To put an end to mosquitoes breeding here in Meadows place we must all do our part! Mosquitoes need an area that will hold water for at least six days to lay an egg boat and completely develop into a young mosquito. In just six days and those mosquitos will have to seek out a food source and that food source is us “Warm Blooded Creatures” including our loved animals.
If you have low areas on your property, containers around your house, kids toys in the lawn, well then you are most likely breeding mosquitoes on your property.
All property owners need to fill in those low areas in their lawn with sand or dirt. Remove anything that holds water for at least 5 days like kid’s toys, yard art, planting containers, baby pools, etc…
Property owners with irrigation systems who are over watering are definitely contributing to the mosquito population in the city. If you have water running down the street after your sprinkler runs then you are over watering. Reduce the runtime on your irrigation time clock by a few minutes or until the system runs and water is not running down the street. This will also save water and money
Mowing your yard regularly and keeping bushes trimmed to allow air flow under, behind and along the side the landscaped area makes a big difference whether you are harboring mosquitoes as well.
The city can only treat city facilities & city property. We cannot treat private property. That is why it is so important that every property owner does his or her part to stop mosquito breeding.
Surveillance – is achieved by using traps twice per week in two locations in Meadows Place. Once trapped the County Road and Bridge will pick up the samples, count the mosquitoes, determine the species and send to the health department in Austin Texas to be analyzed for viruses like “West Nile”.
Treatment – Is achieved by using larvicide tablets (T30 & XRT) and a liquid called FLIT 10EC. The tablets are used in storm drains after rains. The FLIT 10EC which is a larvicide and a Adulticides will be sprayed in the 14 acre power easement and 9,300 feet of our bayou system (Drainage Ditch).
The power easement and bayou has been a breeding ground for the mosquitoes for a long time now, but hopefully we will put an end to those breeding grounds. The FILT 10EC will destroy the larva and young mosquitoes that lay low in the tall grass until the sun goes down. The city recently leased the easements so we could mow and do our own mosquito control. This should make a BIG difference in the city!
Spraying – Spraying is always a last resort. The County will only spray for mosquitoes in Meadows Place for good reasons, like the following:
- West Nile Virus – the county will spray if mosquitoes are sampled in the city with West Nile Virus or any virus that mosquitoes carry.
- Salt Water Marsh Mosquito – if the counts are high the county will spray.
- If we are breeding mosquitoes here and the counts are high then the county will spray. This also says we are losing the battle on preventing the breeding here in Meadows Place.
Everyone should make an effort to eliminate breeding grounds in and around their property. With all of us in Meadows Place working towards the same goal we should be able to put a bid dent in our mosquito breeding problem.