ADULTICIDING

General:  Adulticiding is a term used by mosquito control to describe spraying for adult  mosquitoes. There are two kinds of adulticiding. Aerial adulticiding, by fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter, is done only in the event of a public health emergency. Ground adulticiding, or truck spraying, is done selectively in accordance with an individual municipality's Best Management Practice plan.

Ground Adulticiding:  In the past, truck spraying was the primary means of controlling mosquitoes. Routine, area wide applications were the norm. Over the years, technology has advanced and the focus of mosquito control programs in the northeast is now on managing mosquito populations in there aquatic or larval stages. Adulticiding is limited to targeted applications in response to surveillance data, board of health requests, response to complaints, or as a disease intervention measure.

Ground adulticiding is accomplished by means of truck mounted Ultra Low Volume (ULV) aerosol sprayer.  A ULV sprayer sprays 1 to 6 ounces of insecticide, based on formulation, over 1 acre. The material is atomized to an 8 to 15 micron droplet size.  A computerized variable flow system automatically calibrates the correct amount of material, based on vehicle speed, to create a 300 to 400 foot swath.  This swath will drift from the road and these tiny droplets will impinge on mosquitoes, effectively controlling the mosquitoes in the area.

Insecticide:  Currently the District uses the following products for ULV applications:

Anvil (EPA Reg.  No. 1021-1688-8329) and Duet (EPA Reg. No. 1021-1795-8329).  Both products contain Sumithrin as the active ingredient, which has very low mammalian toxicity with no significant risk from exposure.  Duet also contains Prallethrin, a benign aggitator that acts to draw more mosquitoes in the spray cloud without causing a biting frenzy. Both products are registered for use by the U.S. EPA and the Massachusetts Pesticide Bureau.  All District personnel are certified applicators and annually attended seminars to obtain credits required to maintain their certification.

Product labels and MSDS sheets are available upon request.

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