Mosquito Squad, the company that helps you eliminate mosquitoes and ticks from your backyard, outdoor living space, outdoor event venue or commercial property area, was featured in the Washington Post’s Home & Design section today, Thursday August 13, 2009. Two franchises here in the DC Metropolitan area were featured: Damien Sanchez of Mosquito Squad of Greater Washington, DC (covers MD, DC and VA inside the Beltway) and co-owners Michael Nevarr & Patrick Harders of Mosquito Squad of Northern Virginia (covers Northern VA outside the Beltway).
Mosquitoes Be Gone!
Fed Up With Swatting and Scratching, Homeowners Turn to Mosquito Busters
By Jura Koncius, Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Holly and Steve Hartell moved to a 1940s Alexandria farmhouse so their two daughters and dog Grady could have a big corner lot to play in. But daughter Nellie, 5, kept getting attacked by Asian tiger mosquitoes, out for blood even during daylight hours.
“She had welts the size of quarters,” says Holly Hartell. “She told me she didn’t want to go out there.”
August is peak mosquito season in the Washington area. Lighting a citronella candle and praying, or tucking a dryer sheet inside a bra (an urban-legend mosquito repellent) aren’t enough for a growing number of local households. Many families are tired of having to spritz their legs with DEET every time they go out to get the newspaper. Some, like the Hartells, are bringing out the big guns.
Every 21 days from April through October, two men carrying backpack blowers and dressed in “Ghostbusters”-like get-ups of white Tyvek coveralls, goggles, respirators and gloves pull up to the Hartells’ house in Del Ray. They are bug busters from Mosquito Squad, one of a handful of area spraying services that have opened in the past few years. For an annual fee of $699, the Hartells’ property is treated with encapsulated pyrethroid, a longer-lasting, synthetic form of pyrethrum, the botanical-based insecticide derived from chrysanthemums. They spray in the dark and shady places where mosquitoes hide, including under bushes and decks and along the foundation and fences.”
…Patrick Harders, co-owner of the Northern Virginia Mosquito Squad franchise, stands behind his product. “There is a lot of misinformation about pyrethroids. They have been used for years and years in flea and tick shampoo for dogs and sprayed on fruits and vegetables as they travel across the country,” he says.”
To read the full article click here.
Damien Sanchez, owner of a local Mosquito Squad franchise, treats a yard in Alexandria where 5-year-old Nellie Hartell, next photo, can now play without getting welts from mosquito bites. The Hartells have the yard sprayed every three weeks from April through October. (Photos By Mark Finkenstaedt for The Washington Post)
Kids can play outside in the backyard again without worrying about mosquito bites. (Photos By Mark Finkenstaedt for The Washington Post)
1st annual 5k for Lyme Disease!
