CINCINNATI — Swarms of insects are causing many across the Tri-State to wonder ... What is going on with all these bugs?
Those who feel like they're swatting away more mosquitoes or any other insects this summer are not alone. According to entomologist Dr. Gene Kritsky the insects are worse than usual this year.
Josh Tyler said he couldn’t escape the bugs at Kings Island on Saturday.
“They were just so bad,” Tyler said. “Like no matter where you were at, what you were doing.”
Tyler said he tried swatting them away, but nothing was working.
“We ended up just going inside some of the stores, just to take a breather for a bit but they were everywhere,” Tyler said. “Someone else pointed at table, it was a fully white table and there was like all these little black spots on there and they were the bugs.”
The bugs were so bad, Tyler said he ended up leaving the park early.
Kritsky said there's a reason people might be noticing an abundance of insects.
“This year we've had a perfect storm,” said Kritsky. “We had a cool spring. We've had now very warm temperatures and a lot of rain for the last few weeks. And that has been very conducive for things like swarming ants.”
Kritsky said it’s also been very conducive for mosquitoes, and he’s seen a large number of mosquitos in several areas.
“They were really bad on like the shrubs and stuff like that and trash cans and tables, but I don’t know what they were,” Tyler said.
After looking at Tyler’s photos, Kritsky said it appears to be flying carpenter ants. Kritsky said carpenter ants are common in the area, but normally we see them as wingless. We don’t always see them in their swarming stage.
“This year, because of the cooler spring and the wet temperatures we’re seeing now, we’re seeing more of the flying ones,” Kritsky said.
Kritsky said there won't be much improvement until it gets cooler, but in the meantime, there are things you can do to make your home less attractive to mosquitoes.
“The thing you want to do is walk around your yard. Look for areas where you might have standing water,” Kritsky said. “Let's say you have a flowerpot that has water, or if you have a trash can that it's open and collected water in the water the trash can, that those are ideal breeding sites.”
Kritsky said later in the summer as it gets drier and warmer, ticks could be more of an issue.
He said the way to make your garden tick friendly is to create a barrier around the yard with mulch or gravel.
Below are some other tips from the CDC:
- Clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edge of lawns.
- Place a 3-ft wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas and around patios and play equipment. This will restrict tick migration into recreational areas.
- Mow the lawn frequently and keep leaves raked.
- Stack wood neatly and in a dry area (discourages rodents that ticks feed on).
- Keep playground equipment, decks, and patios away from yard edges and trees and place them in a sunny location, if possible.
- Remove any old furniture, mattresses, or trash from the yard that may give ticks a place to hide.
- Refer to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s Tick Management Handbook for a comprehensive guide to preventing ticks and their bites through landscaping.
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