From https://dcist.com/story/23/04/03/how-to-make-nontoxic-diy-mosquito-trap/
By Jacob Fenston, April 3, 2023
Summers in D.C. can be a little brutal — not just the heat
and humidity, but the MOSQUITOS. After a very warm winter this year (January
and February were both the third-warmest on record), this could shape up to be
an unpleasant — and long — mosquito season.
You may be tempted to call a mosquito control company to
spray your property. While this might make your backyard barbecue more
comfortable, it’s not good for the environment: the insecticides used kill not
just mosquitos, but whatever other insects happen to be there, like
butterflies, ladybugs, and bumblebees.
“We as humans will not be on this earth for long if we kill
all the insects. It’s that simple,” says author
Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware.
Insects are essential to keeping ecosystems functioning,
Tallamy explains. Insects pollinate plants — both in the wild and in
agriculture — and they are themselves a major source or nutrition. Insects also
break down organic matter when a plant or animal dies, returning nutrients to
the soil.
Though mosquito fogging does kill a lot of bugs, it isn’t
very effective at what it’s supposed to do, Tallamy says.
“You don’t control mosquitoes in the adult stage because you
have to kill 90% of them for that to work. These fogging companies kill between
10% and 50%,” Tallamy says. “So your yard becomes a dead zone without
controlling the thing you’re really trying to control.”
To fight mosquitos effectively, you need to interrupt their
life cycle at the larval stage, he says. This can be done by setting a trap to
attract female mosquitos, then killing their babies with the bacteria Bacillus
thuringiensis, available in a product called Mosquito
Dunks. People often use dunks to keep mosquitos from proliferating in
decorative ponds, bird baths, rain barrels, or other standing water.
The bacteria only kill the larvae of mosquitos and other
aquatic diptera, such as midges (small flies), but do not harm most insects or
other animals.
To create our DIY mosquito trap, we’re going to
intentionally create an ideal mosquito breeding ground.
What You’ll Need
- A
5-gallon bucket
- Straw,
hay, dead leaves, or grass
- Some
Mosquito Dunks
- Chicken
wire or a mesh bucket lid (typically used in hydroponic growing)
Step 1: Lay The Trap
- Toss a
few handfuls of straw, hay, dead leaves, or grass into the bucket, then
fill the bucket up halfway with water. Cover the bucket with the mesh lid
or wire, to keep pets and squirrels out. (H/t to Jill Spohn of the Audubon
Society of Northern Virginia for the mesh lid idea!)
Step 2: Let It Brew
- Put
the bucket in a sunny spot for a few days to let the watery mixture
fester. “That builds up populations of diatoms and algae — that’s what
mosquito larvae eat,” says Tallamy. “That becomes an irresistible brew to
ovipositing mosquitoes. The female mosquitoes in your yard will come lay
their eggs in your bucket. Nothing’s going to out-compete that.”
- You
can wait until you start seeing mosquito
larvae in your bucket. Or just wait a few days.
Step 3: Dunk The Dunk
- Put a
dunk in your bucket and put the lid back on.
- You’ll
need to check your trap periodically to make sure it still has water in it
and to check the status of the dunk. The dunks dissolve slowly over time,
and should last 30 days, according to the manufacturer. Once the dunk is
dissolved, you should add a new one to keep the trap going.
Step 4: Check For Other Standing Water
- Make
sure you’re not providing other places for mosquitos to lay eggs: check your
gutters, drains, sewers, planters, and anywhere else where water could
build up. It only takes a tiny bit of water, and one mosquito can lay 100
eggs at a time. You can put dunks in any standing water you can’t get rid
of (or use the smaller Mosquito Bits).
Step 5: Talk To Your Neighbors
- If
your neighbor’s yard is filled with old tires collecting water, all your
mosquito control efforts will be in vain.