STARKVILLE — In the city of Starkville, Joseph Goddard is a mosquito”s worst enemy.
The 22-year-old Mississippi State graduate has been on a mission to control the city”s mosquito population for each of the past three summers. He places mosquito larvicide tablets in standing water to kill the insects before they hatch; he sprays chemicals to kill mosquitoes in areas where they”ve become a problem, including the city”s streets and neighborhoods; and he has eight New Jersey mosquito traps set up throughout town.
A New Jersey trap, Goddard, who works part-time for the city, explained Wednesday while checking one of the devices, contains a light, which is meant to attract mosquitoes. Below the light is a fan, which sucks mosquitoes into the trap. He counts the mosquitoes caught in each trap twice a week to monitor the population in different parts of town.
If a trap contains five to 10 mosquitoes, the area probably isn”t too heavily infested, he said. If a trap contains 50 or more, however, he might decide to spray the area with an adulticide, which kills adult insects, he said.
When the number of mosquitoes increases, like they do a week to 10 days after a heavy rain, Goddard tries to locate the source of the insects, larvicides the standing water in that area and sprays to reduce the adult population. He also takes other steps to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds, like picking up tires and trash where water might accumulate.
“Anything that holds water, we try to either larvicide it or eliminate it,” Goddard said.
The use of New Jersey traps and larvicides has helped Goddard reduce the amount of spraying he must perform on city streets.
“A lot of people don”t like pesticides,” he said. “If you don”t have to spray as much because you”re doing other techniques, it all helps. It all works together to help you monitor the population. If this area, for example, doesn”t have very many mosquitoes and we”re spraying routinely, we”re wasting money, we”re wasting pesticides, when other areas could use that focus. So, to me, it all works together: larvicides, adulticides and monitoring their progress.”
In the warmer months in Lowndes County, two trucks spray pesticide called Anvil 2+2 for three hours every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night, said Road Manager Ronnie Burns.
City employees who man the spraying trucks keep logs of the roads on which they spray and change routes.
“Some people say we don”t spray enough,” Burns said. “We have to try to get around to everybody, you know?”
This year the county started spraying in early June and will continue to do so through August — “until we run of spray,” he said.
One truck sprays east of the Tombigbee River and the other sprays west of it.
Lowndes County stopped spraying with the truck reserved for county land east of the river after the sprayer”s motor gave out two weeks ago. Burns has been getting quotes on a new sprayer, which will cost about $7,500, he said Wednesday. He hopes to have the truck spraying again next week.
Burns said the hot weather so early in the summer has put a damper on the kinds of conditions in which mosquitoes thrive and multiply. He said he suspects the count this time in the year is “a little bit lower, I”d say, than usual.”
Goddard encourages Starkville residents to call the city and report mosquito breeding grounds, such as standing water. The number residents can call is 662-323-2652.
Lowndes County residents who perceive mosquito problems may call the Road Department at 662-329-5802.
Dispatch reporter Jordan Novet contributed to this story.
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