No Spray Registry

Suffolk County has a law establishing a “no spray” registry for people who don’t want their property subject to adult mosquito control (aerosol and fog applications). Larval control (application to water that’s breeding mosquitoes) is not included (However, the County helicopters fly at a very low level over marsh areas and take other precautions to prevent drift into inhabited areas, and only Bti is used in the marsh sprayings.)

To be part of the No Spray registry, a county resident must complete a request form and send it to Vector Control. You can find the form on the web by searching for Suffolk County No Spray Registry. Once they receive your completed form, the County has 20 working days to place you on the list. Then they promise “a good faith effort to exclude each registrant’s property by stopping adulticide spraying from trucks within 150 of either side of the registrant’s property”, from a cutoff on the street in front of the property and 150 feet on either side.

The law doesn’t apply to treatments in response to a public health emergency, i.e. West Nile Virus, as determined by the Commissioner of Health. In such a situation, Vector Control will attempt to contact registrants in treatment area by telephone, but this cannot be guaranteed in a health emergency.

The registry is public information. Vector Control will make listings and/or maps of registered locations (minus names and telephone numbers) available to the public through the Internet and by other means.

Should you wish to be on the registry, fill out the form and send it to Suffolk Vector Control. Forms must be signed and contain all the required information. Accurate and complete information, including tax map number of the registered property, is essential to make the registry work.

Best, we can only spray our own properties with harmless things like garlic or other repellents, or contact an organic pest control firm. The less pesticides entering Accabonac, the healthier our precious Creek and the safer our groundwater.

Professional pest control companies must notify adjoining neighbors when they are applying pesticides to a client’s property. Should you notice such activity next door without prior notice, call Suffolk Health Dept. at (631) 853-2250 or 853-5810.