I am using a biogents active trap with the CO2 attachment, and two passive traps.

This was the result of hours/days of research.

I have seriously considered building a lanai or screen porch because in recent years the mosquitoes render my yard unusable for the duration of the season I want to use it.

This year the torture is very minimal. The trap seems to be incredibly effective, when the co2 tank runs out, I starting getting lots of bites.

It’s not cheap but I think it is far and away the most evidence based option for a homeowner.

The other day I was ruminating on the feasibility of creating a honeypot for mosquitos. Basically a breeding basin that purges itself on an interval shorter than the egg laying to larval stage.

Essentially mechanical pest control.

I've created a project with overview of existing solutions and to brainstorm together: https://github.com/mariusa/mosquito-eradication

Would you please share the details of your idea?

Great initiative! Starred and watching.

Interesting idea. The passive traps I have either need to be manually emptied and/or use donuts or bits.

Some challenges:

The purging is a difficult part to get right. You need to be absolutely sure no larvae or eggs survive it.

Also if you purge the water regularly it will be less brackish, so less attractive to many species for egg laying. I include decomposing plant matter in my traps in the hopes it makes it more attractive.

I would say definitely check out the biogents passive trap design, it has some clever ideas in a very very simple design.

That would be super simple to create, no? Essentially a big bowl with a paddle that would make waves once a day?

I was recently thinking about making something like this, too! It'd be a fun thing to develop in the open.

Let's do it! I've created a project with overview of existing solutions and to brainstorm together: https://github.com/mariusa/mosquito-eradication

I'd love to know if either of you follow through with this. Sounds interesting.

I've heard a lot of good things about mosquito dunks as a "potentially" safe-ish alternative. They're used as honey pots by putting them in sitting water.

My personal preference this year was to walk around like an idiot swatting at mosquitoes with an electric flyswatter in shady grass areas. Though this is painstaking & I keep thinking I need a bigger flyswatter.

Spraying poisonous chemicals can be very effective, but may harm life forms other than mosquitoes.

I wear a bug shirt as an effective alternative to bug spray.

https://www.bugshirt.com/

Some DIY trap/attractant research and ideas:

  https://permies.com/t/115296/critters/trapped-mosquitos
  https://www.bg-sentinel.com/ (see design of device)

  -yeast (do not stir), brown sugar, filtered water
  -common trap design uses 2L bottle cut near top with top inverted and placed into lower section. mosquitoes fly into funnel-like area and lay eggs. important: opaque cover to block light, black supposedly attracts mosquitoes.
  -things to experiment with:
    -5 gal bucket design: inverted funnel, insect screen lid, fan to disperse attractant
    -other attractants: used clothing / shoes (soles) / octinol lures
    -soap to reduce surface tension to drown mosquitoes
    -some say bread works instead of yeast
    -other types of sugar
    -baking soda / citric acid or vinegar CO2 source (quick reaction, need to slow down)
    -mason jar (hydroponic) net pot - line with screen and make hole in bottom
    -fungus / mushroom CO2 sources
    -bt dunks in areas with standing water
    -3d print container/components
    -build bat house (benefit: guano for compost)

Try and make sure you don't have any pools of stagnant water around. (long lasting puddles, buckets, other random concavities water can collect in.)

It can be very difficult to find them all. Very small amounts of water can host larvae as long as it is persistent. Potted plants that are watered often and outside drip lines for AC's are really common spots for unintended mosquito farms.

Unless you live on a very large property, the range of the mosquitoes usually far exceed the range of your control over standing water.

That depends on the species. Some species tend to stay within a few hundred feet of their breeding grounds, while others can travel for miles (but even then many will still tend to stay very close by).

The Aedes mosquitoes that are invading Los Angeles will apparently breed in an upturned bottle cap or "in the depression of a wrinkled old bag of chips that gets hit by a sprinkler.". Good luck finding all pools of water that big on any significant property. (LA Times semi-paywalled article: https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-aedes-m... )

Other than environmental controls (eliminate standing water), this might be the stuff:

https://www.domyown.com/deltagard-insecticide-p-16550.html

That stuff works unreasonably well. Mosquitos so much as landing on surfaces treated with it weeks prior die within minutes, yet its so safe for mammals, farmers spray it directly onto cattle.

The terrible downside is that it is ridiculously toxic to marine life. Use with care and forethought.

That, and toxic to other pollinating insects.

Is this the pyrethrine family? There are various wall-plug mosquito repellants that contain pyrethrines, I didn't want to use tablets/liquids etc but if they're safe they would be a lifesaver.

My flat doesn't have mesh screens and I would much rather open a window than turn the AC on at night, but I then get lots of mosquitos.

Yes they are prethrine based. I've never found the plug-in types to be too effective. But I probably wouldn't detect a 30 or 50% reduction.

Get mesh screens! I never understood why they're non-existen in Europe (and probably other places). Or a mosquito net over the bed?

So deet?

Nope, pyrethrin insecticide. Like lice treatment.

Aha. Thanks.

Spend more time with them. I grew up in the tropical Fijian bush and never noticed mosquitoes. I left for a few years and when I went back, every mosquito bite left an itchy red bump that sometimes got infected (turned into a boil).

After a couple of weeks of this, I redeveloped my resistance to them and no longer even notice them anymore.

Of course this doesn't apply if there's an ongoing mosquito-borne epidemic in your area, but that doesn't happen often. When they're not carrying a disease (which is most of the time), they're pretty harmless.

This varies a lot from person to person. My mom doesn’t have any kind of reaction to mosquito bites. My dad gets angry red welts. They grew up in the same town and have been living together for 50 years. Spending more time in a place with mosquitoes is not going to help him.

I read once that CO2 traps work much better if cow sweat is added to them.

Certain species of plants are naturally mosquito repelling. I don't provide recommendations because they depend on your zone but it should be easy enough to find. They are not as effective as chemicals, but you just need to make your outdoor living spaces slightly less desirable for them for it to work.

I'm not sure about the co2 traps - you may just be attracting mosquitos from nearby, where only some of them go into the trap and the others find different targets.

The co2 system might work well if you can have it on your property but 50'+ away from where humans hang out.

>>They are not as effective as chemicals, but you just need to make your outdoor living spaces slightly less desirable for them for it to work.

So basically make your place a bit less desirable than your neighbor's backyard.

Reminds me of this joke:

You don’t have to run faster than the bear to get away. You just have to run faster than the guy next to you.

I am thinking of planting more trees and bushes around the yard especially closer to the windows and doors to attract spiders and other predators to set up shop (and also because plants aromatic and pretty and good for the environment).

Has anyone else done this and noticed any difference in mozzie numbers? I live in Brisbane Australia.

Mosquitoes live in trees too unfortunately.

We had a large number of mosquitoes hanging around our back screen door (which opens into a yard, under a covered concrete area).

We had a gardener trim the trees extensively along our back fence for unrelated reasons. We took a couple of metres from the top and branches from the side. The mosquito problem went away overnight. The level of shade/cooling near the door didn't change appreciably, so I assume they were just living in the lush trees and once that went away so did they.

One thing I was looking into before that was bat boxes, since they eat mosquitoes.

https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/building-a-bat-b...

I've created a project with overview of existing solutions and to brainstorm together: https://github.com/mariusa/mosquito-eradication

Beyond netting, the problem requires a large scale solution.