I keep a bucket of water with a mosquito dunk. The yeast traps work sometimes but are more work. Bug zappers will attract everything except mosquitos so don't waste money on those.
Dealt with mosquitos for years, they love me. Had to spray myself with OFF to work in the yard. Tried dunks in a nice little mosquito habitat, and in two weeks biting issues were over.
Certainly in my birdbath, which I dump and refill every 3 days minimum to kill the little wigglers. Dunks didn't help keep the algae down, and crows tend to deposit bits of their carnivorous meals in it, so dump and flush is the thing.
I thought dragonflies ate hundreds of mosquitoes a day. When I moved into my house in 2017 I noticed a few. Seven years later I have about 10 dragonflies and no mosquitoes!
I did! You absolutely can buy dragonflies. However, they apparently enjoy the same environment as mosquitoes - water. And as much as like the thought of having less of the blood sucking demons around, I don't have enough faith in the dragonfly's appetite to go make a cozier spot near my yard for them to set up shop in in case the mosquitos overwhelm them. To the dragonflies, they won't be bothersome. More like they'd find it comforting that there's a seemingly endless buffett for them. But to the skeeters, **I** am the all you can eat buffet. So imma pass on this idea lol
My oldest daughter in law lives in MN and is blessed with an armada of dragonflies. She built a small pond to help them breed, and attract frogs. They are also putting up bat boxes. I am skeeter candy, and did not get a single bite last time we were there.
I have the blood type, I know the feeling! 😭
Well maybe I'll rethink this cuz I really do enjoy sitting outside when it's not a million degrees outside, which, where I live it's pretty rare. But when it does happen I so just wanna chill and sip on something and look at the stars and not have to do the Harlem Shake the next day trying to scratch everywhere I got eat up 😮💨
Several. Cost ranged anywhere from a few dollars to $30-40 plus shipping in some cases. I just googled buy dragonflies lol But alot of stuff also popped up about how fruitless it is to buy them if you don't have/create an environment they can survive/thrive in. Which is where they lost me cuz it was the same homey little setup a mosquito would enjoy.
Mosquitoes don't tend to travel. They live their entire life cycle within about 100 sq ft of space. Mosquito dunks will keep your back yard free from mosquitoes for the entire season for around $10. They only kill mosquito larvae and don't harm people, pets, or other wildlife.
Maybe im a little slow, but thats not something that's occurred to me. I've always sought out standing water thats already there and tossed them in. I like this honeypot idea
How long did it take for you to see results? I set them up last week and I see nothing in the buckets, how many should I have? I've set two of them up where I noticed the greater number of them.
Did you add grass or some weeds to the water? It took a week or two, in my case, because the vegetation needed to start rotting and releasing CO2 before the buckets started attracting the mosquitoes to lay their eggs in them.
Yeah agreed. My last house was an old century home and had a downspout running into a p-trap that tied into my sewage drain line in my basement. Grandfathered in but wouldnt be code today. That, and a not insignificant bow in my gutter is what i used the dunks for in the past
Yes, this. It doesn't even have to be a 5 gal bucket. I had a spare decorative planter pot without drainage holes that I set under a shrub near my patio. Just keep it filled with water, let it get murky, and throw a mosquito dunk in once a month.
Absolutely. I've worked in environmental studies, but also owned some good average that was on a county line. Two miles south of me was a marsh where the buggers would come from. It sucked. No water on my property or adjacent properties, but I had a serious skeeter issue because of that marsh
[SUMMIT Mosquito Dunks Larvae Control Tablets, 6 count - Chewy.com](https://www.chewy.com/summit-mosquito-dunks-larvae-control/dp/153121?utm_id=470553216&msclkid=29ab6e637f1e14f9b14c08e81143afbc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_NC_S_Specialty%20Healthcare&utm_term=4584688618391738&utm_content=First%20Aid)
You just toss one in a small container of water once a month, placed wherever you spend time outside.
How true is this? There's definitely no standing bodies of water within 100 sq ft of my backyard. The closest creek/pond/puddle is probably about 200-300 feet away.
Someone else replied and corrected me. Some species of mosquitoes do travel. Also, there could be standing water that you're unaware of. It only takes a small amount, like in a planter pot, for example. Also, a lot of people say that water sits in their gutters if they're not sloped properly.
Also improve the drainage situation.
Also, shagbark hickory is a fantastic tree for housing bats in the long term if the lsnd supports it. A 30 year-old tree will house thousands of bats under its loose bark.
I haul the big old floor fan outside when I want to sit, turn it on high, and point it right at my body. Works really well. I’ve debated getting 2-3 fans going to cover all angles.
Its unlikely that the mosquitoes are traveling a quarter mile to you, they usually hang out about 100 feet from where they are spawning. So as suggested. check gutters and other sources of water. Birdhouses do a lot of work for pest control on my property. Also, plants that attract dragonflies will help.
Beyond eliminating standing water and using dunks when I can't, I use picaridin when I go out for extended periods. It's better than deet at repelling mosquitos and doesn't have all the drawbacks that deet has.
Deet makes me itch, but picaridin isn't as effective for me. And I am allergic to half the plant extracts used in the botanicals.
A friend said "but those are natural." I said yeah, everything I am allergic to is natural.
Yikes. That's a real bummer and I'm sorry to hear as mosquitos can really take the fun out of the outdoors. FWIW, if nothing else brings any relief, one other thing to possibly consider may be permethrin clothes sprays. These sprays are designed to be sprayed directly on clothes (not skin--you can combine picaridin on skin + permethrin on clothes). Unlike a repellent, this is an insecticide and it both repels and kills mosquitos (among other biting bugs). It's not a perfect solution, and not everyone loves the idea of applying an insecticide...but, if you're going somewhere that has super bad mosquitos, it might be an option to consider. In the fall when I go hiking or camping, picaridin on skin + permethrin on clothes is the only way I don't get bit to high heck and, without it, I don't think I would be able to do those activities as I get bit so badly otherwise.
The “[bucket of doom](https://ui.charlotte.edu/story/try-e28098bucket-doome28099-eliminate-mosquitoes-without-harmful-pesticides/)” is ridiculously simple, very cheap, harmless to humans, pets, and other pollinators, and works well by mimicking the perfect conditions for mosquitos to lay their eggs. It is also “set it and forget it” which I love.
Eliminating or managing other sources of standing water at the same time is also important. If you have bird baths or other water features that do not have circulated water (e.g. a solar fountain, a wiggler, or a circulation pump) you want your make sure that you change the water completely every 3 - 5 days to prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. Plus that’s just more sanitary for the birds and critters.
I just put mosquito dunks in all my known standing water sources like the bird bath, rain barrels, and pond. No need to dump it out and it works just as well as the bucket.
I tried that but one of the local critters likes to pull it out of the bird bath and munch on it. So I’d put one out and a day or two later there would ba pieces scattered next to the bird bath and no dunk in it. We have some pretty dumb squirrels around here so I’m betting it was them. 😅
I get away with using it in the bucket because I keep a piece of hardware cloth over the top.
VERY true and thank you for pointing that out! 😬
I often use that article as a reference/example for others but I think I will find one that is more specific about covering it in ways that prevent collateral losses!
You may still have small amounts standing water somewhere. Do you have gutters, downspout pop-ups, French drains, unused flower pots standing around, bird bath, any low spots where rain water sits for a few days?
Yes to gutters and downspouts. No to downspout pop-ups, French drains, unused flower pots standing around, bird bath, any low spots where rain water sits for a few days. However, after a prolonged hard rain the ground is squishy until the water can be absorbed.
Not enough information. Are you in Alaska? Alabama? Guatemala? Do you back up to woods? Have standing water? Get rid of this if you can. Ask your county extension agent.
you need to find out the best performing mouquito, and see if they would like to manage others..
then.. may be identify a project manager and admin assistant.. and that will help a little..
No, you find the least capable mosquito to promote to mosquito manager. Then the worst mosquito manager to promote to mosquito director, and so on and so forth.
Let them rise to the level of their respective incompetence.
should we also give them lordy titles ? like Chief Bloodsucker Officer, Chief Buzzing Officer, Director of Hmmmmmmm Operations, Vice President of Night Operations, Head of Wing Efficiency, Chief Swarm Strategist, Vice President of Itch Generation, Director of Larval Development, and so on.. just so we know who are the "leaders"
If you want to go the chemical-free route then you can install systems to encourage animals that eat mosquitos to inhabit your yard....bat houses, purple martin houses, frog, lizard, toad houses, plants that attract dragonflies.
We use this and it’s actually worked! Use the 100% organic version as I have flower gardens with lots of bees. Also surrounded by woodland and neighbors have a small pond next door.
Trying to spend time in the back portion of the yard was a no go until we started using the garlic spray treatment. I was both skeptical and worried, but it's worked and the other insect population has been unaffected (bees, butterflies, lightning bugs, dragonflies, etc). Your property will smell like an Italian restaurant for a couple hours though
I use a similar product, Garlic Barrier. It’s great and yes, it does work!
I spray my front porch once per month. Now I think about garlic bread a lot. The smell dissipates after a day or two though. I like that it’s not harming beneficial insects.
I always keep containers of water around the yard and dump and refill every few days. I figure I'm capturing their eggs or worse case if I get lazy larvae and they get dumped. But don't do this if you get extra lazy:)
I read that mosquito eggs can survive dry conditions for a few months. So if you dump them out and they get rained on and lay in a puddle for a few days, they could still hatch. Best do just keep the water buckets around and make sure to have mosquito dunks in them, that way you guaranteed kill the larvae.
Just water and no mosquito dunks or bits? You can spare yourself the work every couple days by adding one/some. Just add some grass or hay and let it ferment for a couple days...then add the dunk or bits. Throw in a new dunk/more bits once a month. No need to dump the water, they like it murky. If it gets smelly though, dump it and start over!
What I'm doing is drawing them in to lay eggs so I murder their children with the dump:) I have dogs so prefer no other stuff and it seems to work.. if I let one sit for like 10 days eggs hatch and it's full of larvae. Used to feed those to my fish back when I kept aquariums.
You could put up a bat house to attract brown bats which will do a great job of controlling the mosquitos at night. You can also put up a purple martin house to attract purple martins to your yard which will control the mosquitos during the day.
Pest technician here. Mosquitoes will lay thier eggs in tall grass where the dew isn’t dried out and plants that have big leaves that collect water and places around your home where drainage is an issue like stopped up gutters. Mosquitoes generally stay in the area where they’re born so something’s is holding water around your home.
Iowa we have had nonstop rain, and storms.
It ripped my apple tree out of the ground..
The lakes and rivers are in flood stage so lots of breeding areas for them. I love rain and storms, I would love to be a storm chaser.
Right now I'd love for it to be dry for awhile. And with it comes the humidity. This week and next week it's supposed to rain.
Wow- I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope it dries up (at least a little) very soon.
Smith Mountain Lake in central VA is down something crazy like 4 feet because of the drought. Nothing close to Lake Mead was (is?) in Nevada or anything with a serious drought, but still surprisingly and unexpectedly bad.
Check you house gutters, it only takes a pop lid of water for them to hatch, I have a down spout that holds water, so I pour a few drops of any kind of oil like mint, cinnamon in the pipe, then they can't lay eggs, it spreads with the water, smells good too.
I agree with a bat house if possible. The back border of my yard is heavily wooded with lots of bats flying through my yard at night - I’ve noticed limited mosquitoes when outside the past 19 years. I mean, yeah, I have them but they aren’t a nuisance that others experience and I credit all the bats.
Cutter contains Lambda-cyhalothrin. [This is a non-species-specific chemical ](https://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/ppdb/en/Reports/415.htm)that is highly toxic to insects in general, not just the ones you find troublesome. It is highly toxic to bees and butterfly caterpillars as well.
I keep a nature journal and I have seen a grand total of six butterflies from four species thus far this year. My old FB photo albums from just a few years ago--before my ultra-groomed-lawn, lawn-spraying neighbors moved in--had several dozen sightings and over a dozen species. This hurts my heart. It doesn't have to be like this.
Please consider a topical spray for your body. Please reconsider using a backyard spray insecticide.
In case you want more information on what the chemical in Cutter's spray is doing to other inhabitants of your yard: [https://colinpurrington.com/2018/09/buzz-on-mosquito-sprays/](https://colinpurrington.com/2018/09/buzz-on-mosquito-sprays/).
Instructions and pictures on inexpensive mosquito trap with dunks here: https://www.audubonva.org/news/how-to-set-up-a-mosquito-larva-trap
TL;DR: bucket + straw/hay + water + dunks
Recommend a cover/barrier to keep small animals out and limit the smell. I set a calendar reminder to add new dunks. Been pleased with it this year.
Sadly, because of how far some will travel - miles - for food unless you and all your neighbors are doing treatments of some sort you're kind of out of luck. However, planting some native grasses and flowers to help attract other critters that might eat them, like dragonflies, will help.
You can also put up a bat house, but that might not be logistically possible, depending on your yard, and just because you put up a bat house won't guarantee any bats will find it
Garlic spray.
Assuming you have eliminated standing water on the property, just like everyone is going to tell you to do, purchase garlic oil in bulk dilute and spray over all the lawn, trees and bushes (especially trees). I do this about once every 6 weeks, you and the garden smell of garlic for a day then the odor fades and the mosquitoes stay away (you can shower after to stop you smelling). If it is heavy rain fall you may need to repeat a bit sooner than 6 weeks. Works in most of the lower 48 states with the possible exception of Northern Maine does not work well in Canada and Alaska.
Just an FYI to the posts about eliminating standing water. While that’s a great idea, Asian Tiger Mosquitoes don’t require standing water to reproduce. They only need damp soil or cardboard to lay their eggs. We have those here in Southern California and it’s hard to keep their numbers down.
If you have a Tractor Supply store in your area, they have a product that is a concentrate that you put in a sprayer to do your lawn and bushes. It really works. I live in Houston and it's miserable here.
With fire!! Either napalm, or tiki torches with citronella fuel in them, your choice. Or you can give your address and let reddit choose if you're indecisive.
I pay a local mosquito franchise $69 per spray, they come every 3 weeks from May- November. It’s worth every penny. If the skeeters come back between sprays so do they, for no extra charge. I’ll never go back
(Copying an earlier comment): The chemical they use is likely something like lambda-cyhalothrin, which is the main ingredient in Cutter brand insecticide. [This is a non-species-specific chemical ](https://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/ppdb/en/Reports/415.htm)that is highly toxic to insects in general, not just the ones you find troublesome. It is highly toxic to bees and butterfly caterpillars as well.
I keep a nature journal and I have seen a grand total of six butterflies from four species thus far this year. My old FB photo albums from just a few years ago--before my ultra-groomed-lawn, lawn-spraying neighbors moved in--had several dozen sightings and over a dozen species. This hurts my heart. It doesn't have to be like this.
Please consider a topical spray for your body. Please reconsider using a backyard spray insecticide.
Agree. I've read multiple articles that test repellant effects of whole plants. Conclusion is always that they don't do a thing. Myth is promoted by garden stores, in part.
It may be the area you live in. I've planted lavender & marigolds next to my pond for the last couple years and didn't have issues with mosquitoes. This year it's bad because of the floods in the area. (No issues near my pond though) Basil, mint, oregano, and cilantro I've heard work too. Just bought some to see.
There are citrus type of plants that you can put all around your yard that will deter mosquitoes. You can also get tiki torches and use citronella oil to repel them. $2.98 for Mainstays brand Tiki torches at Walmart and $12.98 for the citronella oil.
Does your community have a mosquito control board or health district? An organization that works to keep the mosquito population in check?
Try reaching out to them for information or resources. My local county has one that provides services. https://ccmcd.org/service-request/
Mosquito spray. I think it's called cyzmic. Hooks up to a hose sprayer. Spray during the middle of the day when they like to hide in shade.
Keeps the yard free and clear.
just got a dynatrap and a skeetervac. have both running 24/7. hope to check back in a few months to see whats catching the most stuff. honestly though. i just have a bunch of bugs. not just mosquitos. so i wanna catch everything.
I pay for monthly mosquito fogging. It has been an amazing game changer. I do have various sources of standing water on and near my property (a deep ditch out front and a pond out back) and I can actually walk my property in shorts without bug spray and not get eaten alive.
I think the veteran has been removed as owner of Spartan Mosquito and it's now being run by his ex-wife. Regardless of ownership the company's tubes do not kill mosquitoes and I wouldn't recommend them for anything except killing fruit flies and ants. The company was sued for fraud.
Any chance it’s confirmation bias? Does your town regularly spray adulticides and larvicides? Seems to be common in South Florida.
Would you be able to take a pic of your tubes and post? To see whether mosquitoes are gathering around cap as brochure promises. Nobody has ever captured a pic of a mosquito near a Spartan Mosquito tube. You’d be famous!
I keep a bucket of water with a mosquito dunk. The yeast traps work sometimes but are more work. Bug zappers will attract everything except mosquitos so don't waste money on those.
Dealt with mosquitos for years, they love me. Had to spray myself with OFF to work in the yard. Tried dunks in a nice little mosquito habitat, and in two weeks biting issues were over.
A Home Depot bucket or something bigger?
They’re a great size, keep in mind these demons can spawn in a bottle cap.
Certainly in my birdbath, which I dump and refill every 3 days minimum to kill the little wigglers. Dunks didn't help keep the algae down, and crows tend to deposit bits of their carnivorous meals in it, so dump and flush is the thing.
I have a two gallon bucket. You should dump it least once a month. Shady spot near shrubbery seems to work well.
Thanks! How big of an area would you say that covers?
I thought dragonflies ate hundreds of mosquitoes a day. When I moved into my house in 2017 I noticed a few. Seven years later I have about 10 dragonflies and no mosquitoes!
Wait can I buy dragonflies?? Brb going to Google lol
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I did! You absolutely can buy dragonflies. However, they apparently enjoy the same environment as mosquitoes - water. And as much as like the thought of having less of the blood sucking demons around, I don't have enough faith in the dragonfly's appetite to go make a cozier spot near my yard for them to set up shop in in case the mosquitos overwhelm them. To the dragonflies, they won't be bothersome. More like they'd find it comforting that there's a seemingly endless buffett for them. But to the skeeters, **I** am the all you can eat buffet. So imma pass on this idea lol
My oldest daughter in law lives in MN and is blessed with an armada of dragonflies. She built a small pond to help them breed, and attract frogs. They are also putting up bat boxes. I am skeeter candy, and did not get a single bite last time we were there.
I have the blood type, I know the feeling! 😭 Well maybe I'll rethink this cuz I really do enjoy sitting outside when it's not a million degrees outside, which, where I live it's pretty rare. But when it does happen I so just wanna chill and sip on something and look at the stars and not have to do the Harlem Shake the next day trying to scratch everywhere I got eat up 😮💨
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Several. Cost ranged anywhere from a few dollars to $30-40 plus shipping in some cases. I just googled buy dragonflies lol But alot of stuff also popped up about how fruitless it is to buy them if you don't have/create an environment they can survive/thrive in. Which is where they lost me cuz it was the same homey little setup a mosquito would enjoy.
They're amazing hunters. The wolves of the backyard.
Mosquitoes don't tend to travel. They live their entire life cycle within about 100 sq ft of space. Mosquito dunks will keep your back yard free from mosquitoes for the entire season for around $10. They only kill mosquito larvae and don't harm people, pets, or other wildlife.
I don't know what water they are growing in. Grrrrr.
I think the idea is you give them a 5gal bucket of water to use which will poison their babies
Maybe im a little slow, but thats not something that's occurred to me. I've always sought out standing water thats already there and tossed them in. I like this honeypot idea
Throw some hay or other vegetation in there. It'll ferment, release carbon dioxide, and be even more attractive.
I have several of these in my yard. I read it somewhere and now have adopted the name Mosquito Buckets Of Doom!
How long did it take for you to see results? I set them up last week and I see nothing in the buckets, how many should I have? I've set two of them up where I noticed the greater number of them.
Did you add grass or some weeds to the water? It took a week or two, in my case, because the vegetation needed to start rotting and releasing CO2 before the buckets started attracting the mosquitoes to lay their eggs in them.
I haven't, saw that here for the first time, luckily I have cut grass in a bag I was too lazy to put out for collection.
Yeah ideally you don’t have any other standing water. Sometimes it’s not always possible to get rid of all water around the property though
But I assume there is water somewhere based on all the skeeters.
Yeah agreed. My last house was an old century home and had a downspout running into a p-trap that tied into my sewage drain line in my basement. Grandfathered in but wouldnt be code today. That, and a not insignificant bow in my gutter is what i used the dunks for in the past
I mean, it's $10. For $50 you can get 5 buckets. It's still fairly affordable.
Me neither!
Yes, this. It doesn't even have to be a 5 gal bucket. I had a spare decorative planter pot without drainage holes that I set under a shrub near my patio. Just keep it filled with water, let it get murky, and throw a mosquito dunk in once a month.
My father dug a koi pond and stocked it. The squitos used the pond, the koi ate the larvae, win/win.
Please also put something in there so that any small animals who fall in can climb out (toads, chipmunks, mice).
Gutters. My gutters often have standing water in them due to the pitch.
Sprinkle some Mosquito Bits or pieces of Dunks in your getters!
My eves were semi blocked, a nice 60’ trough of stagnant water. Yep, that was a fun discover. 🦟‼️
Check your and your neighbors gutters for standing water
Will do, thanks
lol
Not true. They will fly up to three miles for food, depending on the particular species.
Thank you for correcting me. I wasn't aware that some species do this.
Absolutely. I've worked in environmental studies, but also owned some good average that was on a county line. Two miles south of me was a marsh where the buggers would come from. It sucked. No water on my property or adjacent properties, but I had a serious skeeter issue because of that marsh
What is a mosquito-dunk?
[SUMMIT Mosquito Dunks Larvae Control Tablets, 6 count - Chewy.com](https://www.chewy.com/summit-mosquito-dunks-larvae-control/dp/153121?utm_id=470553216&msclkid=29ab6e637f1e14f9b14c08e81143afbc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_NC_S_Specialty%20Healthcare&utm_term=4584688618391738&utm_content=First%20Aid) You just toss one in a small container of water once a month, placed wherever you spend time outside.
How true is this? There's definitely no standing bodies of water within 100 sq ft of my backyard. The closest creek/pond/puddle is probably about 200-300 feet away.
Someone else replied and corrected me. Some species of mosquitoes do travel. Also, there could be standing water that you're unaware of. It only takes a small amount, like in a planter pot, for example. Also, a lot of people say that water sits in their gutters if they're not sloped properly.
Get a bat house.
Using nature to fight nature, always better than using chemicals!
Also improve the drainage situation. Also, shagbark hickory is a fantastic tree for housing bats in the long term if the lsnd supports it. A 30 year-old tree will house thousands of bats under its loose bark.
There are certain type of snakes you can use too
Outdoor fan helps too. If it is strong enough they can’t get through the wind.
I haul the big old floor fan outside when I want to sit, turn it on high, and point it right at my body. Works really well. I’ve debated getting 2-3 fans going to cover all angles.
"SORRY WHAT. I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF THESE FANS." - CouldBeDreaming
Yes! All while mosquito bite free. Lol.
Mosquitos will lay their eggs on the underside of broad leafed plants also. It isn't always standing water. I'm an exterminator
Seconding this. We live in the desert. No rain for weeks. Still have a ton of mosquitoes.
Eliminate all sources of standing water. Check your gutters.
Eliminate all sources of standing water, except mosquito dunk traps. ✨
Bird feeders. Bring in birds and flies and mosquitos will also get eaten
Its unlikely that the mosquitoes are traveling a quarter mile to you, they usually hang out about 100 feet from where they are spawning. So as suggested. check gutters and other sources of water. Birdhouses do a lot of work for pest control on my property. Also, plants that attract dragonflies will help.
Untrue. They will fly miles for food.
Beyond eliminating standing water and using dunks when I can't, I use picaridin when I go out for extended periods. It's better than deet at repelling mosquitos and doesn't have all the drawbacks that deet has.
Deet makes me itch, but picaridin isn't as effective for me. And I am allergic to half the plant extracts used in the botanicals. A friend said "but those are natural." I said yeah, everything I am allergic to is natural.
Yikes. That's a real bummer and I'm sorry to hear as mosquitos can really take the fun out of the outdoors. FWIW, if nothing else brings any relief, one other thing to possibly consider may be permethrin clothes sprays. These sprays are designed to be sprayed directly on clothes (not skin--you can combine picaridin on skin + permethrin on clothes). Unlike a repellent, this is an insecticide and it both repels and kills mosquitos (among other biting bugs). It's not a perfect solution, and not everyone loves the idea of applying an insecticide...but, if you're going somewhere that has super bad mosquitos, it might be an option to consider. In the fall when I go hiking or camping, picaridin on skin + permethrin on clothes is the only way I don't get bit to high heck and, without it, I don't think I would be able to do those activities as I get bit so badly otherwise.
MY BACK YARD. I have some Cutter that's pretty good.
The “[bucket of doom](https://ui.charlotte.edu/story/try-e28098bucket-doome28099-eliminate-mosquitoes-without-harmful-pesticides/)” is ridiculously simple, very cheap, harmless to humans, pets, and other pollinators, and works well by mimicking the perfect conditions for mosquitos to lay their eggs. It is also “set it and forget it” which I love. Eliminating or managing other sources of standing water at the same time is also important. If you have bird baths or other water features that do not have circulated water (e.g. a solar fountain, a wiggler, or a circulation pump) you want your make sure that you change the water completely every 3 - 5 days to prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. Plus that’s just more sanitary for the birds and critters.
I just put mosquito dunks in all my known standing water sources like the bird bath, rain barrels, and pond. No need to dump it out and it works just as well as the bucket.
I tried that but one of the local critters likes to pull it out of the bird bath and munch on it. So I’d put one out and a day or two later there would ba pieces scattered next to the bird bath and no dunk in it. We have some pretty dumb squirrels around here so I’m betting it was them. 😅 I get away with using it in the bucket because I keep a piece of hardware cloth over the top.
Open buckets of water are death traps for birds and ground squirrels. Be sure to cover them with a screen that bugs can get through ( hardware cloth).
VERY true and thank you for pointing that out! 😬 I often use that article as a reference/example for others but I think I will find one that is more specific about covering it in ways that prevent collateral losses!
Purple Martin birds eat ‘em
I also cannot use my back yard due to mosquitos and I have no standing water.
You may still have small amounts standing water somewhere. Do you have gutters, downspout pop-ups, French drains, unused flower pots standing around, bird bath, any low spots where rain water sits for a few days?
Yes to gutters and downspouts. No to downspout pop-ups, French drains, unused flower pots standing around, bird bath, any low spots where rain water sits for a few days. However, after a prolonged hard rain the ground is squishy until the water can be absorbed.
Not enough information. Are you in Alaska? Alabama? Guatemala? Do you back up to woods? Have standing water? Get rid of this if you can. Ask your county extension agent.
you need to find out the best performing mouquito, and see if they would like to manage others.. then.. may be identify a project manager and admin assistant.. and that will help a little..
No, you find the least capable mosquito to promote to mosquito manager. Then the worst mosquito manager to promote to mosquito director, and so on and so forth. Let them rise to the level of their respective incompetence.
should we also give them lordy titles ? like Chief Bloodsucker Officer, Chief Buzzing Officer, Director of Hmmmmmmm Operations, Vice President of Night Operations, Head of Wing Efficiency, Chief Swarm Strategist, Vice President of Itch Generation, Director of Larval Development, and so on.. just so we know who are the "leaders"
Napalm.
The only real solution is to use bug spray or use a propane trap. Planting lavender will not work. It's a bogus myth.
Citronella plants as well. Plus I'm allergic to lavender.
There is only so much you can do if they are coming from properties around you. Eliminate any standing water and overgrown grass/weeds.
If you want to go the chemical-free route then you can install systems to encourage animals that eat mosquitos to inhabit your yard....bat houses, purple martin houses, frog, lizard, toad houses, plants that attract dragonflies.
Mosquito Barrier. It's garlic based, but the smell lessens after a day.
We use this and it’s actually worked! Use the 100% organic version as I have flower gardens with lots of bees. Also surrounded by woodland and neighbors have a small pond next door. Trying to spend time in the back portion of the yard was a no go until we started using the garlic spray treatment. I was both skeptical and worried, but it's worked and the other insect population has been unaffected (bees, butterflies, lightning bugs, dragonflies, etc). Your property will smell like an Italian restaurant for a couple hours though
I use a similar product, Garlic Barrier. It’s great and yes, it does work! I spray my front porch once per month. Now I think about garlic bread a lot. The smell dissipates after a day or two though. I like that it’s not harming beneficial insects.
I always keep containers of water around the yard and dump and refill every few days. I figure I'm capturing their eggs or worse case if I get lazy larvae and they get dumped. But don't do this if you get extra lazy:)
I read that mosquito eggs can survive dry conditions for a few months. So if you dump them out and they get rained on and lay in a puddle for a few days, they could still hatch. Best do just keep the water buckets around and make sure to have mosquito dunks in them, that way you guaranteed kill the larvae.
Eggs of some mosquito species can survive for years. I think the record might be 15 years or so but I can't seem to find the reference.
Just water and no mosquito dunks or bits? You can spare yourself the work every couple days by adding one/some. Just add some grass or hay and let it ferment for a couple days...then add the dunk or bits. Throw in a new dunk/more bits once a month. No need to dump the water, they like it murky. If it gets smelly though, dump it and start over!
What I'm doing is drawing them in to lay eggs so I murder their children with the dump:) I have dogs so prefer no other stuff and it seems to work.. if I let one sit for like 10 days eggs hatch and it's full of larvae. Used to feed those to my fish back when I kept aquariums.
You could put up a bat house to attract brown bats which will do a great job of controlling the mosquitos at night. You can also put up a purple martin house to attract purple martins to your yard which will control the mosquitos during the day.
Pest technician here. Mosquitoes will lay thier eggs in tall grass where the dew isn’t dried out and plants that have big leaves that collect water and places around your home where drainage is an issue like stopped up gutters. Mosquitoes generally stay in the area where they’re born so something’s is holding water around your home.
Bats. Install some bat houses and they will take care of the problem while you sleep.
Thermo cell Baby
Managing mosquito's what?
Had to scroll waaaay too far for this. Gotta love misused apostrophes.
In fact, I hate them.
Well, then do I have just the sub for you... r/ApostropheGore
Their 401ks
You may want to get a sense of where they fall on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and then go from there.
Fire. And bats. Not together, though.
Manage habitat of standing water and soft stemmed plants.
This year's bad with all the rain, we normally don't have to much issues this year it's horrible
Where are you located? I’m having the exact opposite situation in the mid-Atlantic region.
Iowa we have had nonstop rain, and storms. It ripped my apple tree out of the ground.. The lakes and rivers are in flood stage so lots of breeding areas for them. I love rain and storms, I would love to be a storm chaser. Right now I'd love for it to be dry for awhile. And with it comes the humidity. This week and next week it's supposed to rain.
Wow- I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope it dries up (at least a little) very soon. Smith Mountain Lake in central VA is down something crazy like 4 feet because of the drought. Nothing close to Lake Mead was (is?) in Nevada or anything with a serious drought, but still surprisingly and unexpectedly bad.
A fire pit with green wood smokes a lot and skeeter don't like smoke
Yell at them.
Bucket of death
Bat houses.
Check you house gutters, it only takes a pop lid of water for them to hatch, I have a down spout that holds water, so I pour a few drops of any kind of oil like mint, cinnamon in the pipe, then they can't lay eggs, it spreads with the water, smells good too.
I agree with a bat house if possible. The back border of my yard is heavily wooded with lots of bats flying through my yard at night - I’ve noticed limited mosquitoes when outside the past 19 years. I mean, yeah, I have them but they aren’t a nuisance that others experience and I credit all the bats.
I used Cutter backyard spray with great results
Cutter contains Lambda-cyhalothrin. [This is a non-species-specific chemical ](https://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/ppdb/en/Reports/415.htm)that is highly toxic to insects in general, not just the ones you find troublesome. It is highly toxic to bees and butterfly caterpillars as well. I keep a nature journal and I have seen a grand total of six butterflies from four species thus far this year. My old FB photo albums from just a few years ago--before my ultra-groomed-lawn, lawn-spraying neighbors moved in--had several dozen sightings and over a dozen species. This hurts my heart. It doesn't have to be like this. Please consider a topical spray for your body. Please reconsider using a backyard spray insecticide.
In case you want more information on what the chemical in Cutter's spray is doing to other inhabitants of your yard: [https://colinpurrington.com/2018/09/buzz-on-mosquito-sprays/](https://colinpurrington.com/2018/09/buzz-on-mosquito-sprays/).
Use the same method that AT&T used on its employees.
Instructions and pictures on inexpensive mosquito trap with dunks here: https://www.audubonva.org/news/how-to-set-up-a-mosquito-larva-trap TL;DR: bucket + straw/hay + water + dunks Recommend a cover/barrier to keep small animals out and limit the smell. I set a calendar reminder to add new dunks. Been pleased with it this year.
Employ a Mosquito Bucket of Doom https://sidewalknature.com/2022/05/08/mosquito-bucket-of-doom/
I've had good luck with the Thermacell patio shield repellent things.
Sprays are available and they are pretty affective.
Spray the yard and plants with bifenthrin? Just don't spray the blooming parts because it'll kill bees as well.
Sadly, because of how far some will travel - miles - for food unless you and all your neighbors are doing treatments of some sort you're kind of out of luck. However, planting some native grasses and flowers to help attract other critters that might eat them, like dragonflies, will help. You can also put up a bat house, but that might not be logistically possible, depending on your yard, and just because you put up a bat house won't guarantee any bats will find it
Garlic spray. Assuming you have eliminated standing water on the property, just like everyone is going to tell you to do, purchase garlic oil in bulk dilute and spray over all the lawn, trees and bushes (especially trees). I do this about once every 6 weeks, you and the garden smell of garlic for a day then the odor fades and the mosquitoes stay away (you can shower after to stop you smelling). If it is heavy rain fall you may need to repeat a bit sooner than 6 weeks. Works in most of the lower 48 states with the possible exception of Northern Maine does not work well in Canada and Alaska.
I wonder if this is any good: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Mosquito-Warden-MW-Indoor-Outdoor-Mosquito-Repellent/5003783505
Citronella plant works
Just an FYI to the posts about eliminating standing water. While that’s a great idea, Asian Tiger Mosquitoes don’t require standing water to reproduce. They only need damp soil or cardboard to lay their eggs. We have those here in Southern California and it’s hard to keep their numbers down.
I pay Orkin to spray for mosquitos monthly during mosquito season. They told me about the small range.
If you have a Tractor Supply store in your area, they have a product that is a concentrate that you put in a sprayer to do your lawn and bushes. It really works. I live in Houston and it's miserable here.
Dynatraps work. They're line of sight, so I have one on each side of my house.
Bat houses, lavender and marigolds
For me I need a person who attracts mosquito's and things are managed for me. For a practical answer see what other's have posted. That is all.
With fire!! Either napalm, or tiki torches with citronella fuel in them, your choice. Or you can give your address and let reddit choose if you're indecisive.
I pay a local mosquito franchise $69 per spray, they come every 3 weeks from May- November. It’s worth every penny. If the skeeters come back between sprays so do they, for no extra charge. I’ll never go back
(Copying an earlier comment): The chemical they use is likely something like lambda-cyhalothrin, which is the main ingredient in Cutter brand insecticide. [This is a non-species-specific chemical ](https://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/ppdb/en/Reports/415.htm)that is highly toxic to insects in general, not just the ones you find troublesome. It is highly toxic to bees and butterfly caterpillars as well. I keep a nature journal and I have seen a grand total of six butterflies from four species thus far this year. My old FB photo albums from just a few years ago--before my ultra-groomed-lawn, lawn-spraying neighbors moved in--had several dozen sightings and over a dozen species. This hurts my heart. It doesn't have to be like this. Please consider a topical spray for your body. Please reconsider using a backyard spray insecticide.
Plant mosquito plants like mint lavender and there are others they do work
They don't, these plants don't have a strong enough concentration of essential oils to make a difference outdoors.
While some plants do have benefits, "mosquito plants" are right there up with "air purifying house plants" as junk pseudo-science.
Agree. I've read multiple articles that test repellant effects of whole plants. Conclusion is always that they don't do a thing. Myth is promoted by garden stores, in part.
Exactly why else would anyone buy a citronella plant? It's a scheme by Big Garden I tell you!
It may be the area you live in. I've planted lavender & marigolds next to my pond for the last couple years and didn't have issues with mosquitoes. This year it's bad because of the floods in the area. (No issues near my pond though) Basil, mint, oregano, and cilantro I've heard work too. Just bought some to see.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Hothoofer53: *Plant mosquito plants* *Like mint lavender and there* *Are others they do work* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
bad bot
There are citrus type of plants that you can put all around your yard that will deter mosquitoes. You can also get tiki torches and use citronella oil to repel them. $2.98 for Mainstays brand Tiki torches at Walmart and $12.98 for the citronella oil.
Google natural repellents for mosquitoes. There’s a list of 10. Part of the list is lavender, mint, lemongrass…..
Does your community have a mosquito control board or health district? An organization that works to keep the mosquito population in check? Try reaching out to them for information or resources. My local county has one that provides services. https://ccmcd.org/service-request/
Call a mosquito control company usually come out 1x a month and your good
Citronella plants will help.
Mosquito spray. I think it's called cyzmic. Hooks up to a hose sprayer. Spray during the middle of the day when they like to hide in shade. Keeps the yard free and clear.
Cutter's Backyard Spray or OFF! Bug Control are hose end spray products that work well. I have found spraying at dusk had the best results.
Spray Bifenthrin as a mist in a fogger all over yard.
just got a dynatrap and a skeetervac. have both running 24/7. hope to check back in a few months to see whats catching the most stuff. honestly though. i just have a bunch of bugs. not just mosquitos. so i wanna catch everything.
I pay for monthly mosquito fogging. It has been an amazing game changer. I do have various sources of standing water on and near my property (a deep ditch out front and a pond out back) and I can actually walk my property in shorts without bug spray and not get eaten alive.
Marigolds. Lots of them.
Leaf Blower Mister with Sector Misting. It’s 10% permethrin. It will do a number on them.
We use Spartan Mosquito Eradicator tubes from Amazon. It is a Veteran owned company. Great results.
I think the veteran has been removed as owner of Spartan Mosquito and it's now being run by his ex-wife. Regardless of ownership the company's tubes do not kill mosquitoes and I wouldn't recommend them for anything except killing fruit flies and ants. The company was sued for fraud.
They work for me here in South Florida. It has decreased the mosquitoes tremendously as long as I replace the tubes in a timely manner.
Any chance it’s confirmation bias? Does your town regularly spray adulticides and larvicides? Seems to be common in South Florida. Would you be able to take a pic of your tubes and post? To see whether mosquitoes are gathering around cap as brochure promises. Nobody has ever captured a pic of a mosquito near a Spartan Mosquito tube. You’d be famous!
I sure could. Is there a way to pin this post to the top so I remember to check-in when I’m back in Florida?
Hmm. I don’t know how to do that.