Rewilding My Lot

Mosquitoes are a common annoyance in our area (Central Texas). I am not too bothered by them in the garden here, perhaps because there are so many other things that eat them (e.g., dragonflies, birds, fish). Nevertheless, I do my best to discourage them without disrupting the general insect population.

Mosquito larvae may appear in standing water and they hatch quickly, so it’s always a good idea after rains to tip out any water that has accumulated in objects outside and to frequently rinse out bird baths. As an added protection against mosquito larvae developing, I use Mosquito Dunks in the rain barrels and there are Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) in the pond.

A whole-yard approach to reducing mosquito populations without killing other insects also includes the use of “mosquito buckets,” otherwise known as “mosquito buckets of doom.”

Mosquito buckets are traps that attract mosquitos to lay eggs, but which kill the larvae so that they never become adults. So this is a long-term approach that over time reduces the biting population of mosquitoes, as long as you also take other whole-yard approaches, such as eliminating or treating additional sources of standing water.

The components are simple:

• a 5-gallon bucket — apparently black works best, but this is not essential
• Mosquito Dunks, active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis (Bti), a natural soil bacterium — each bucket uses a quarter of a piece per month
• random organic matter, such as grass clippings or leaves
• water
• a mesh lid or rescue stick to prevent other creatures entering, or to allow them to escape

I made two buckets. I filled each of them about 2/3 with water from the rain barrels, added a handful of weeds and 1/4 of a Mosquito Dunk, and prepared a rescue stick from an old pruned branch.

The purpose of these buckets is to ATTRACT mosquitoes so that they will lay eggs in water that will kill the larvae. Therefore, I don’t want them close to places where people sit.

I put one bucket under a shrub at the corner of the front of the house, so it’s far from our front porch and that of our neighbors, and fairly hidden from view.

The other bucket went at the far end of the back garden, near the wood pile.

The plan now is to add another quarter Mosquito Dunk per month, and to add water as needed. It’s important to add the Dunk pieces monthly, because otherwise the buckets would become prime mosquito breeding grounds and I definitely don’t want that!

One thing I haven’t done but I could do in the future, is to drill holes at the maximum water level. That would prevent the bucket overflowing in major rain events.