The Skinny on Skeeters

May 23, 2022

We’re slipping into the Dreaded Mosquito Season. I’m one of those people who’s a mosquito magnet; they swarm to me while ignoring my husband who’s RIGHT THERE. I also develop huge welts to commemorate every sting. Try though I might, it’s hard for me to gin up affection for them. There’s a reason the collective noun for this particular insect is “a scourge.”

Yes, all of our native critters, even mosquitoes, have a role to play in the ecosystem. Mosquitoes are in fact pollinators, and they provide food for many bats, fish, turtles and birds, including yellow warblers.

"Yellow Warbler in the Willows" by kdee64 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

But I’m not here to talk about the virtues of mosquitoes. My message today is that even if we wanted to eradicate them from our lives altogether (a thought that would never, of course, cross our minds), it would be neither possible nor advisable. However, if we need to control the volume of them in our yards, there are better and more ecologically sound ways to do it than spraying pesticides.

The problem with insecticides is that they kill other insects, such as bees, moths and butterflies, which guts pollination while decreasing food for other native wildlife. Also, those sprays target adult mosquitoes, which is an inefficient strategy. Entomologist Doug Tallamy argues that if you’re going after adults, you need to kill 90 percent of them to make a real difference. Yet, in his assessment, a DIY or commercial mosquito-fogging job will get only about 10 percent. Targeting mosquito larvae, rather than adults, gives you far more bang for the buck, while sparing the rest of the ecosystem.

If you get reincarnated as a mosquito, make sure it's as a male. It seems all the guys have to do is sip flower nectar all day. No stinging is required or even possible. The females, on the other hand, have to spend their days dodging swats in order to sting humans and other animals for their blood. They need the protein for egg production. Then they have to lay all those eggs. Thousands in a lifetime. Over the course of 5-7 days, their floating offspring will hatch, become larvae, then pupae, and finally winged adults, some of them equipped with stingers aimed in my specific direction.

The trick to mosquito control is understanding – and then exploiting -- female mosquito behavior. In particular, they require standing water to lay their eggs. Also notable is that those mosquito gals apparently like to party. And who can really blame them?

How To Target Larvae

Here’s what you need:

A bucket
A handful of wheat straw or hay
Water
A mosquito dunk

A mosquito dunk is a little donut-shaped item you can buy at hardware stores or garden centers. They contain a bacteria that’s lethal to mosquito larvae, but nontoxic to everything else.

You partially fill the bucket with water, add the hay, and let it ferment for 2-3 days. Then you add the mosquito dunk. Tuck the bucket in a spot that’s inconspicuous but close to wherever humans may congregate.

Turns out, the fermented hay-water is irresistible to female mosquitoes. Woot! Free beer! They’ll flock to your bucket and lay their eggs there. The dunk will then do its thing. The dunks stay active for around 30 days, so throw the brew out after a month and start the process over. If you have a big space to cover, put out several buckets.

We tried this method last year. While I can’t say our yard was 100 percent mosquito-free (as noted above, no method is or should be perfect), we did seem to have significantly fewer than in the past. Being outside at dusk became much more tolerable. This year we’ll put out 2-3 buckets and see if that makes an even bigger difference.

But you don’t have to take my word for it, here’s a video explainer from Tallamy himself:

Additional Strategies

Eliminate any unintentional breeding spots. This means being vigilant about removing standing water. Check gutters, playsets, flower pots, trash bins, firepits and any other bits and bobs that can collect water. I’ve read that an upturned bottle cap is sufficient to serve as a nursery. If you have a bird bath, either refresh the water every few days, add a pump or fountain to keep it moving, or throw in a mosquito dunk (they’re harmless to birds).
Wear repellants and long sleeves and pants (not so fun in the summer heat, I know).
Set up some large fans when you’re outdoors. They’ll cool you down while creating hurricane-like wind conditions for the mosquitoes, diminishing their chances of reaching you, however magnetized you may be.
Support mosquito predators by planting native plants that will attract birds (see: yellow warblers, above), dragonflies, bats, salamanders, lizards, frogs and spiders.

With poisons avoided and skeeters under control, I hope your summer evenings will look, feel and sound something like this infectious (in a good way) Jon Batiste Grammy-winner:

The Bees' Knees

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