CHICAGO — Everyone's least favorite guest is back: Pest control company Orkin says mosquitoes love Chicago.
An article this spring in Better Homes & Gardens magazine cited an Orkin study that ranks the cities with the most mosquitoes each year.
Topping the list are the cities of Los Angeles and New York, which come in first and second respectively, while Chicago, with its humid summers and somewhat frequent rainfall, comes in third.
Dallas and Atlanta rounded out the top five.
Orkin welcomes your calls, but most people create their own mosquito problems by allowing standing water on their property.
Look around your home for areas where water may be pooling or pooling when it rains. You may have an upturned street in your backyard or gutters that are clogged with leaves.
If you already have mosquitoes, there are plenty of plants that can repel the blood-sucking insects.
Lavender, mint, rosemary, basil, marigold, lemon balm, and peppermint are all effective, according to epicgardening.com. Citronella, another plant, doesn't naturally repel mosquitoes, but when crushed, the plant's oils repel mosquitoes.
Last week: Rose pests and how to get rid of pesky weeds using vinegar
Viewer email no. 1: When to remove the cicada net
Vicky from Batavia is writing about the cicada netting she uses to protect young trees in her yard and wants to know if it's okay to take it down now.
Most of the periodical cicadas have already emerged, but as the weather gets warmer a few more may arrive, and there are still some annual cicadas around that usually emerge in late June/early July, so if you're sick of seeing your nets you can remove them now, but if you want to be safe I recommend waiting until around the second week of July.
Viewer Email #2: Quarantine plants before introducing them to the houseplant community
Thomas, from Chicago, wrote about how long you should quarantine a new houseplant before adding it to your houseplant collection.
Great question, Thomas! I had never thought about it either until a few years ago when I added the plant to my collection without doing thorough research.
I ended up exposing all of my dining room plants to mealybug infestations, but I should have known better, as I regularly shop the discount sections of nurseries and hardware stores for plant projects and to provide new forever homes for my little leafy friends.
Best practice is to keep your new plant in its original container in a room away from other plants for about a week to monitor it for any potential problems and resolve those issues before fully incorporating it into your collection.
But the good news is that many houseplants are native to the tropics and can survive outdoors in Japan's climate at this time of year, giving you even more options for where to store your plants until you can see if they're disease or pest free.
If you have any gardening questions, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at the address below with a picture of your area and the plant you're having trouble with.
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