Ortho’s innovation in mosquito control

Quick take: We’re not just selling a bucket of water; we’re selling an invisible infrastructure of protection. By harnessing the natural behavior of the pest itself, we’ve created a self-scaling solution that proves sometimes the best way to win a war is to let your enemy do the work for you.

In the venture-backed world of pest control, the "better mousetrap" is usually just a bigger zap or a deadlier spray. But our latest innovation, a consumer-grade adaptation of professional abatement tech, is pivoting away from the brute-force approach. Instead, it’s leaning into a design strategy that’s part behavioral psychology and part biological control.

The concept? Stop trying to chase mosquitoes and start hiring them.

The new Ortho mosquito station is an unassuming device. It’s a low-profile, black-and-red bucket designed to disappear under a shrub. But to a female mosquito, it’s a five-star nursery.

"We designed it to be the perfect breeding ground," says Controls R&D Director Dr. Laura Dillard. By utilizing a specific color palette—red and black are high-contrast beacons to mosquitoes—and a fermenting yeast tablet that mimics the "stinky," organic-rich water they crave, we have built a product that exploits an insect's most basic survival instinct: the need to lay eggs.

In traditional models, if a mosquito doesn't land on a treated surface in your yard, it lives. Our trap flips that script.

When a female enters the station, she lands on an electrostatically charged mesh. This mesh coats her legs and body in a specialized mix of active ingredients. She doesn't die immediately. Instead, she flies away, unknowingly carrying the treatment to every other water source she visits—the clogged gutter three houses down, the neighbor’s forgotten birdbath, or a tiny soda cap hidden in the grass.

She becomes a Trojan Horse, targeting the unreachable, deploying larvicide into hidden breeding grounds to ensure no further eggs can develop.

To make this work without broadcast spraying your entire yard, we use a highly targeted dual-action formula:

• The growth regulator: An insect specific larvicide called Pyriproxyfen. It’s the same ingredient used in pet flea and tick collars. It doesn't kill the larvae instantly; it simply prevents them from ever reaching adulthood. They never bite, and they never breed.
• The pathogenic fungus: A soil-based fungus called Beauveria bassiana. It’s a slow-acting adulticide that infects the mosquito, eventually killing her from the inside out about nine days later. This "slow-kill" is a deliberate design choice, allowing her enough time to contaminate other breeding sites before she expires.

For the consumer, the UX of this product is counterintuitive. There are no zaps, no smoke and no piles of dead bugs to provide instant gratification.

"It’s hard to take credit for the absence of something," Laura notes. But the data speaks for itself. Because the trap targets the next generation, the population doesn't just move—it collapses. Within 30 days, the "noise" of the backyard disappears.

While the North American market often views mosquitoes as a "nuisance," the stakes are far higher than mere comfort.

“Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals on the planet,” says Ortho Entomologist Dr. Ngan Nguyen Rawlings. “With the rise of West Nile and Zika, the stakes for backyard protection have moved beyond simple convenience.” 

This is especially critical as climate change accelerates the spread of mosquitoes into areas like Las Vegas that historically did not face these specific disease risks.

This technology was once reserved exclusively for expert practitioners and municipal abatement programs, but now it is available to all.