Disclaimer

Before we begin, there is something you need to know about me: I take things too far. I spent an unjustifiable amount of time, energy and money killing all of the mosquitoes on my property. This is how I did it. You’re welcome.

The Mosquito Method

ELIMINATE

Standing Water

If you have standing water on your property, you are not a serious person. Get your drill and put a hole in anything you can’t tip over.

CLEAN

Gutters & Downspouts

Gutters are ground zero for mosquito breeding. Keep them clean or pay the consequences. And be wary of gutter guards.

CLEAR

Trees & Brush

Mosquitoes like shade. If you have to keep the trees, make sure they are trimmed. But clear all brush, no excuses. Get it done.

ACTIVATE

Mosquito Traps

You’ve secured your property, now go on the offensive. Arm yourself with traps, dunks, coils and fans. No mercy. No quarter.

01

Eliminate Standing Water

Your Drill is Your Best Friend

Here is a good rule of thumb, if you can’t tip it over, drill a hole in it. Flower pots, children’s toys, buckets and trash cans are a threat to civilized society when it comes to standing water. Get out your cordless drill and put holes in the bottom of everything you can get your hands on.

I even drilled holes in our kids’ playground slide because water was pooling at the bottom. Bonus points for drilling on an angle so your kids don’t scape their legs.

Check the Deck

If the area underneath your deck isn’t draining it can become a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes. You have three options here: 1) fix the drainage issue, 2) buy a roll of industrial window screen and build a physical barrier around the bottom of the deck or 3) toss some mosquito pellets through the gaps in the boards. Or do all three.

Koi Ponds, Bird Baths & Water Features

This should be obvious, but you need to throw a mosquito dunk into any kind of ornamental water situation you have going on. I looked it up and the internet says they are safe for fish and birds. If that turns out to be wrong and you end up with a bunch of dead blue jays in your backyard, that’s on Google. DYOR I guess.

Pull Tarps Tight

We had an old boardwalk style surrey under a tarp in our backyard (don’t ask). The tarp was super tight an secured with bungee cords. But one night, we had a storm and a branch fell into the middle of the tarp, creating a little pocket of water, which turned into a big pocket of water, which turned into a mosquito colony before I noticed it.

Even the best slip up once in a while. Tighten your tarps, people.

02

Clean Gutters & Downspouts

Clean Your Gutters

Every summer, mosquitoes use your gutters to copulate, propagate and stage attacks on your backyard. Prevent this at all costs.

Clean your gutters annually. Or bi-annually. Pay someone to do it. Whatever. Just clean them a lot. And careful on the ladders.

Dealing with Insolent Neighbors

Our elderly neighbors had trees growing out of their gutters. This is not an exaggeration. Actual tree seedlings had taken root. When I offered to uproot these unwelcome invaders and clean the gutters, they politely declined.

So I politely went out under the cover of darkness and put mosquito dunks in all of their gutters. Desperate times and all.

The Cruel Irony of Gutter Guards

You know those neighbors I was talking about. They had gutter guards. As such, they believed it was impossible for they gutters to be clogged. They were very wrong. Dirt builds up over time, water pools and the sun can’t dry anything out with the guards blocking all light.

Instead of expensive gutter guard systems that I promise you do not work, I recommend getting a few boxes of “Gutter Stuff”. This approach seems to work much better and you can replace them easily every 3-4 years. I also vacuum them with a shop vac each year to keep things clean and extend the life by a year or two.

03

Clear Trees & Brush

Trees = Shade = Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes need water to reproduce. Female mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water and those larvae need water to survive. The more shade you have on your property, the wetter things will be.

The best way to get rid of standing water on your property is to eliminate shade and let the sun do it’s job. Take down trees near your house whenever possible. If you enjoy the shade or can’t take them down, at least keep everything neatly trimmed.

Dealing with Undergrowth

All of the undergrowth has to go. No exceptions. If you are using pachysandra or some other ground cover in your backyard, you need to strongly reconsider.

At the end of the day, this is all about shade management. There are tradeoffs between mosquito killing and landscaping. Get rid of whatever you don’t need. Ultimately, I’ve never heard anyone complimenting the horticultural prowess of someone’s garden while being destroyed by a raging swarm of blood sucking insects.

04

Activate Mosquito Traps

Your Weapon of Choice: Dynatraps

Prevention is great and all, but it’s a bit like abstinence. Easier in theory than in practice. You need to be prepared for the inevitability that you will be facing mosquitoes at some point in the summer. Arm yourself with Dynatraps.

My setup: 3 half acre Dynatraps on my one acre property. Put them away from doors so they draw bugs away. I recommend firing them up early in the season (I start in May) and just letting them run all day and night. They don’t use much electricity and every female mosquito you catch can prevent hundreds.

Secure the Perimeter

Whenever we plan to spend time outside, we fire up a handful of mosquito coils. I recommend getting a few decorative metal coil holders and establishing a perimeter around your outdoor seating area.

As Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore once said, “I love the smell of prallethrin in the morning. It smells like victory.”

The Heavy Artillery: DIY Fan Traps

DIY fan traps are your nuclear option. Yes, they are loud. Yes, they require some work on the front end. And yes, you need to maintain them daily. But damn do they work.

I recommend the DIY fan trap in two situations: 1) You need to clear your yard fast for an event. 2) You have a major problem and the other methods aren’t making a significant impact.

~~Here is a complete Tutorial on what you need to build your own DIY mosquito killing machine~~. It’s not that hard, just takes a little more effort. I’ve found it to be well worth the energy.

Kill Them Where They Breed

We covered this in Step 01 but it bears repeating: no standing water. Mosquito dunks go in everything else. I even throw one into my gutters for good measure. Don’t be shy. They are cheap and effective.