How To Fix Your Mosquito Hawk Texas Takeover

Taking a walk around the block lately I have noticed that the mosquito hawks, or crane flies, are having a banner year. Swarms of hundreds of these individuals are flying all around and getting into everything.

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Though harmless to people, unless you count being super annoying, they aren't completely harmless to your lawn. The amount of rain that we got in the past few months was the perfect way to cultivate their larvae, called leather jackets.

Though not classified as a pest, Mosquito Hawks will eat your grass according to Webmd. We can also take their huge numbers as a pre-curser to what is coming with the upcoming mosquito season from March to October.

Mosquito Hawks got their names from the fact that their larvae sometimes eat mosquito larvae. The adults don't eat much of anything but nectar and live just long enough to lay more eggs.

To have fewer Mosquito Hawks in your Texas yard you can do the following:

1. Keep your grass at 3-4 inches high.
2. Drain your soil.
3. Treat with nematodes.
4. Treat with insecticide.

If they are thriving, you can almost guarantee that the mosquitos will be in full force this year. We had an exceptionally mild winter compared to recent years, so we can expect a lot of bugs out this year.

Another fan-favorite bug for Texas is lovebugs. It has been a while since we have seen a major infestation. This could be another year of scraping them off of your windshields in record numbers.