Mosquitos suck. Get it? Not only is that a play on words, but it’s also a generally accepted opinion.
If you’re still reading, thank you for sticking around!
We all want to be able to enjoy our outdoor spaces without being eaten alive. Although you’ll never be 100% safe from mosquitos, there are a few things you can do to help.
Mosquito Facts
- Mosquitos can fly up to 3 miles.
- Only female mosquitos bite.
- Mosquitos are attracted to CO2.
- They’re thin-skinned and poor flyers.
- They lay their eggs in water and the larvae are aquatic.
Predators
From a ecological standpoint, often times the best way to get rid of it is to introduce more of its predators. It’s not like you can just breed their predators (well you can, but it’s a lot of work), so you need to make your yard as attractive to them as possible.
Some common predators of mosquitos include:
- When adult:
- Bats
- Birds
- Dragonflies
- Frogs
- Spiders
- When eggs and larvae:
- Tadpoles
- Fish (Especially the Gambusia Affinis)
- Turtles
- Dragonflies
Although dragonflies are on both lists, they actually don’t do a lot of population control for you. They’re one of the weaker options for controlling mosquitoes, but why not have all of the above, right?
Like all living creatures, these predators have to have a specific habitat to thrive. That means they need to have food, shelter, water, and security. If your yard is full of mosquitos, you obviously have food, but maybe feed them in the winter too, just to keep them around.
For housing, it’s easy to find bird, frog, and bat houses in stores or online. As we all do, animals tend to eat food closer to home.
Bats are your number one mosquito eater. You might want to learn to love them now!
Preventative
A few small actions can help reduce the mosquito population.
First and foremost, address any standing water on your property. If you can, empty it out. If it is meant to be there, treat it with mosquito pellets or a drop of environmentally friendly soap or oils. These kill larvae either by contact or by drowning them.
Spraying your yard with something like cedar oil smells great and can kill off mosquitos as well. These nasty biters have a thinner membrane than most other bugs, so things like cedar oil can kill them without killing beneficial insects like bees.
Mow your lawn! Lawn care is important to keeping your pest populations down. Thick overgrown grass keeps moisture in and can create great breeding grounds for these jerks.
Beneficial Plants
Some plants repel mosquitoes. Some don’t. My approach is to have a wide variety of the ones that claim to repel mosquitoes. That way, if I’m wrong about one, I have the others. A recent study came out proving that catnip was a strong repellant.
Other plants that might repel mosquitoes:
- Citronella
- Bee Balm
- Lemongrass
- Basil
- Lavender
- Rosemary
- Marigolds
- Mint
- Sage
- Garlic
Garlic is another one that is a super repellant. I’ve heard of great success making a garlic spray and spraying your entire yard to keep away mosquitos. Your yard will smell like garlic, but that might be worth it.
Regular Treatments
Finally, you can treat your yard. Whether you’re using something like the garlic spray above, or you’re hiring a company to create an ecological disaster in your backyard, there are many options.
The biggest downside to yard treatment options is that your yard isn’t the only place the bugs are living and breeding. Unless all of your neighbors in a very wide radius are treating, you’re still going to be what’s for dinner. That’s why I like the repellant options. I know for a fact that several of my neighbors don’t treat, so although I do treat my yard, the repellant is doing most of the work.
Last Word on Mosquitos
You’ll never be fully mosquito free, but if you follow this four-pronged approach, you can have a far more enjoyable summer.
- Predators
- Preventative
- Repellant
- Treatments
And, don’t forget your bug spray!
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