Best Insecticides for Foggers that are Surprisingly Effective

Many of us are unfortunately well acquainted with mosquitoes. These blood-sucking pests can completely ruin a backyard barbeque, hiking or camping trip, and even find their way into your house, interfering with your ability to enjoy a sound night’s sleep – their constant hovering, buzzing, and irritating, itchy bites are enough to drive even the most patient individuals to the brink of insanity. And that’s not all! Mosquitoes are known to carry some of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases – including Malaria, Ross River Virus, West Nile River Virus, Dengue Fever, and the Zika virus – which they transmit to us humans as they feed upon our blood.

Mosquitoes, indeed, have an almost freakish ability to find homo sapiens – and the human blood that they crave. They are drawn to us by, among other things, the warmth given off by our bodies, and the smell and odor of carbon dioxide and other natural bodily secretions emitted by our skin. Although they have a short lifespan (only 2-3 weeks), mosquitoes breed very quickly; most females of the species will lay many hundred eggs and spawn large numbers of offspring in a very short of time.

When it comes to protecting ourselves from mosquitoes during the warmer months, most of us think no further than slapping some mosquito repellent onto our skin. Whilst effective enough as a short-term solution, a far more effective way of controlling mosquitoes is to cut them off at the source.

Mosquito foggers do precisely that. These devices disperse insecticide over areas that mosquitoes are known to congregate and breed. The insecticide comes in the form of a mist or ‘fog’ of small droplets of the chemical. The mosquitoes that come in contact with the poisonous insecticide are killed outright, and often instantly. Foggers can discharge their contents directly onto foliage and lawn, or your home’s indoor surfaces or they can be sprayed into the air and land on those surfaces indirectly.

Foggers are the devices of choice for pest control professionals tasked with regulating mosquito populations.

Whether thermal or electrical, mosquito foggers make use of mosquito control insecticides. There are many different types of insecticide on the market, and quality foggers tend to be compatible with most of them. A lot of these products can be purchased at home and garden stores, and although prices vary considerably, most of them should be pretty affordable to the average householder. Generally speaking, these chemicals can be divided into two types: residual chemicals and non-residual chemicals.

Residual chemicals

Due to the chemical residue they leave, residual chemicals are not recommended for use outdoors due to the effect they have on other wildlife. They may be more suited to indoor applications.

Non-residual chemicals

For outdoor applications, you should be looking at non-residual pesticides. Fogging with these chemicals is much like going over your garden with a very large can of mosquito spray. With a mosquito fogger, you can apply this type of insecticide to large stretches of the mosquito-infested area, including foliage, lawns, and gardens – or spray directly into the air. Unlike residual chemicals, non-residual insecticides have a much shorter half-life, ie their potency rapidly decreases after application resulting in a much-reduced impact on other wildlife. When applied directly to foliage or lawn, the insecticide will continue to work for a number of days before it is broken down (particularly by rain). When released into the air, it is usually only effective for a few hours before it dissipates and becomes too diffuse to be effective.

Some popular insecticides (by ingredient) that are used in fogging applications (and which are also available in handheld mosquito sprays) are:

• Malathion: this is an organophosphate that is often used as a crop-spraying insecticide, though it is also commonly used in mosquito fogging devices. You can spray it directly on vegetation, like the bushes where mosquitoes are known to dwell or use it in a 5 percent solution for fogging your yard.
• Permethrin – permethrin is one among a number of chemicals known as pyrethroids, a synthetic replica of a naturally occurring insecticide found in certain species of the chrysanthemum flower. Generally mixed with oil or with water and applied as a mist, permethrin kills the mosquitoes by interfering with the central nervous system of the creatures (this is how malathion works as well).

Both of these ingredients are powerful insecticides, and can also be toxic to fish and small birds (something to bear in mind if you care about the other fauna in your yard). But they are generally safe for humans when applied in the quantities used to control mosquitoes. Permethrin is probably a more eco-friendly ingredient that malathion.

If you need an insecticide for your thermal mosquito fogger or ULV fogger, that will efficiently kill pests like mosquitoes, ants, flies, fleas and other insects, then this list of the greatest insecticides is meant just for you. Each and every one of these solutions are worthy of the title best insecticide, so if you need a fogger insecticide that is efficient, safe and reliable then all of those listed in this article will fit your needs.