by jvanderbot on 7/30/25, 5:58 PM
I live near a swampy lake.
I _thought_ these would not make a dent in mosquito populations.
But all summer I've been able to sit outside without many bites, as long as I keep them rotated every month or so and stay away from the lake.
4 home depot buckets + a pack of dunks are magic.
For those asking - a bucket of sticks and leaves gets stagnat pretty quick. My guess is that it's so attractive that it just manages to attract most the mosquitos? I put one near the shore in two places, and two near the corners of my property. Our lake has just enough surface distrubance that the bucket might be better for them.
by johnthedebs on 7/30/25, 5:14 PM
The comments saying that other sources of water need to be removed are spot on.
Another technique I've tried which works (observably) well is described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ
tl;dw: Get a big drum fan with a screen on the back, attached with small/powerful magnets. Mosquitos are such poor flyers that they get pulled against the screen and can't escape, and they pretty quickly desiccate and die. Most other flying insects don't get caught, although there is a bit of collateral (some moths and lacewings, unfortunately). Another benefit of the fan is that you can hang out in front of it and mosquitos mostly won't bother you there either.
I did this in our shared backyard space in Brooklyn and would catch hundreds/thousands of mosquitos per week. Despite that, there were still a ton of mosquitos in the area so it's best combined with other methods of control.
edit: better/updated video link
by pavel_lishin on 7/30/25, 4:00 PM
One question - how does this prevent mosquitos from breeding in other bits of standing water that I can't locate?
I have no idea where ours are coming from; I suspect they hatch somewhere, and then migrate to the shaded areas of my yard, which is where I typically get bit.
Adding a bucket will prevent some mosquitoes from laying eggs elsewhere, but not all, right? Or is the bucket so attractive to mosquitoes that they ignore other water sources?
by happyopossum on 7/30/25, 2:27 PM
The key to this working is ensuring that the buckets are the only standing water around. If even 10% of the females decide to use your clogged gutter, broken water fountain, or forgotten livestock waterer instead of your buckets, you will still have a mosquito problem.
by tqwhite on 7/30/25, 2:26 PM
Every time I have read science guys about things that you can do to kill mosquitos there is an analogy to putting a drain in the ocean. You can kill mosquitos at a fantastic rate but, unless you are also killing them in all your neighbor's yards for a mile around, they are just going to keep coming as fast as they die.
by Spagbol on 7/30/25, 2:32 PM
Currently I've been using these to deal with fungus gnats in my indoor plants; they are quite effective, just put one in my watering can, keep the watering can full so it can steep, and water as normal. It kills the larvae in the same way and after about a month I had no more fungus gnat problem (after trying many other things with no success)
I do wonder about the eventual mosquito adaption to this if it is employed on a large scale though.
by fanatic2pope on 7/30/25, 2:57 PM
Note that instead of the mosquito dunks you can also buy "mosquito bits" which are the same thing in granular form. Last time I bought one they were cheaper per unit cost and they easier to use because you don't have to break them up.
by mchusma on 7/30/25, 7:00 PM
I tried the water based approach before and didn't work, but this may be a good one. What does work for me is a CO2 based trap. I have 4 neighbors on the street using them now. Mosquitos follow CO2 to find their targets, and get sucked into the bucket. Its kind of expensive (upfront cost of about $200 then about $60 in CO2 per summer, but I have a large bag full of mosquitos regularly so i know it works. And I can tell when the CO2 runs out because mosquiotos are back.
No affiliation: https://us.biogents.com/
by steve_adams_86 on 7/30/25, 6:05 PM
If you'd like to use tap water without waiting, you can add ascorbic acid to water straight from the tap and it'll neutralize the chlorine and chloramine.
Ascorbic acid is a great, environmentally-safe reducing agent that readily donates electrons to these compounds. A 500–1000mg Vitamin C powder capsule will contain enough ascorbic acid to neutralize 5 gallons of even the worst city water with a good buffer to spare. What's left is harmless to most life, so you can throw your organic matter straight in.
by rendaw on 7/30/25, 2:23 PM
I don't entirely get this. If you have more spots with water, doesn't that just mean mosquitoes will lay more eggs? Which will then die, but +/- 0. How effective is this, actually.
by diggan on 7/30/25, 2:19 PM
> The dunks contain an unhealthy—for the mosquito larvae—dose of the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT. Don’t worry about your dog, Moonpie, or your cat, French Fry. They can drink straight from the bucket and be perfectly fine. Hey, it’s probably better than when they drink from your toilet, right?
Here I was under the impression that the water in the toilet is the same water as go into the taps, potable water, at least that's common here in Spain. Is it not the same in the US? Then both of them may have stagnant water or even "polluted" water in one way or another, but seems more or less the same.
by filleokus on 7/30/25, 3:09 PM
Many people with mosquito issues around here (Sweden) uses something like
https://www.clasohlson.com/se/Mosquito-Magnet/p/31-7190 which burns propane to produce Co2 to lure in mosquitoes and then sucks them in with a fan towards a metal grid to zap them with electricity.
Non-poisonous and from what I've heard fairly effective. Not sure if these exists in the US?
by jonjes on 7/31/25, 3:14 AM
Another excellent way to get rid of mosquitos is to attract their predators. Both hummingbirds and bats eat a surprisingly large number of mosquitos. Putting up hummingbird feeders and a bat house took care of it. I've seen only one mosquito in my yard this summer so far, even though I live next to a small wetland. Before the hummingbird feeders, we had lots of mosquitos.
by nicolaslem on 7/30/25, 3:01 PM
I ended up building this entirely by accident. Last summer I wanted to have aquatic plants in my garden, so I made a small container pond.
As you can imagine it quickly got invaded by mosquito larvae. By the time I realized I was getting raided by mosquitos each night, much more than previous years.
After getting hold of the bacteria (not sure if it's completely allowed here, only Amazon would sell it to me) mosquitos are completely gone, in the pond and around.
by thekevan on 7/31/25, 8:16 AM
I run a more risky method of this. I put two containers out and fill them with water. I check them every day, multiple times a day and when I see the squiggly larva in there, I dump it on a dry, sandy part of the yard. It bakes in the sun.
I have a dog and do a lot of yard work, so I honestly am in my backyard in the summer 5 to 10 times a day. When I have the traps out, I don't think I've gone more than 18 hours without checking them.
They are going to lay eggs somewhere, might as well give them a place to do it and then kill them before they mature. It isn't foolproof, I'm not sure I recommend it to others, but it has worked well for me for years.
by telecuda on 7/30/25, 10:02 PM
by giardini on 7/30/25, 3:43 PM
Thinly-veiled SPAM for the trademarked products Mosquito Bits and Mosquito Dunks, which ARE excellent products.
But skip the bucket - just buy a bag of Mosquito Bits. Scatter them whereever water settles. Once the organism is established nature takes its course.
I used Mosquito Bits for years to minimize mosquitoes in our condominium project. After two years of doing this, mosquitoes were almost absent.
by noelwelsh on 7/30/25, 3:19 PM
by brianjlogan on 7/30/25, 3:57 PM
Interesting. I am a native of Florida and happen to have a really horrendous backyard for mosquitoes. I've had county officials out to examine the area and can't find sources of water causing them.
I'd like to know how to empirically measure a population of mosquitoes to be able to evaluate the over time effectiveness of the treatments I've used as nothing seems to help.
Mosquito tubes with pesticide placed around the property, butane dispersers, zappers, citronella candles. I've tried everything! More than willing to try this.
That being said on an ecological level I am concerned about wiping out sub species non biter mosquitoes.
https://www.alieward.com/ologies/culicidology
Great episode going over them but I'm curious as to whether science should step in and eliminate human menacing mosquitoes. Why? Well clearly we're trying to accomplish it ourselves and there's no selection for sub species here.
We always hear about mosquito science rumors down here in the land of UF inventing love bugs (myth). I wonder if it would be capable of impacting only a single species. (Neutering males with a generic modification ruining breeding efforts.)
by svantana on 7/30/25, 2:54 PM
With modern electronics, wouldn't it be possible to build a device that detects bugs using some type scanner (radar or whatever) and zaps them with a microwave laser? That seems like it could be 100x more efficient than this solution.
by vecter on 7/30/25, 2:34 PM
How quickly would the local population of mosquitos adapt to the MosquitoDunks, such that within a few generations, the only surviving ones would be the ones that are unaffected by the dunks? Or is that not a real concern?
by 8organicbits on 7/30/25, 3:48 PM
My neighbors and I have been using the dunks and mosquitos have been significantly reduced this year in Northern Virginia.
I'd prefer not to use the dunks as I'm uncertain they only impact mosquitos, but my insect population seems healthy. I saw a stag beetle two weeks ago! There are certainly fewer spiders though.
by yrcyrc on 7/30/25, 2:14 PM
Very interesting we’ve had infestations here (France) while I was living in the south, adding biogents moquitaire traps is also successful as a complement, April onwards to October.
But I love the name bucket of death. Tiger mosquitoes are such an annoyance
by itsanaccount on 7/30/25, 2:19 PM
This is the same idea as the propane mosquito traps, that when run for a few weeks can eliminate a local population.
But the only places where they're useful is exurban, edge of the city kinds of places. Places where we've already disturbed the local ecosystem so much that the populations aren't kept in balance. Otherwise your other environments don't need them:
- a place where they're spraying so many pesticides that nothing survives, ie most cities
- a place where the bats, barn swallows and larval predators are so plentiful mosquitos are kept in check.
- a place where there are seasonal swarms of small bugs you simply cant put a dent in. people tend to visit these in-between seasons.
by siliconc0w on 7/30/25, 2:22 PM
You can also try a simple fan blowing over the sitting areas, mosquitos (and other bugs) have difficulty flying in the breeze. I sometimes bring a small fan camping since the breeze is nice and I hate applying deet.
by jrs235 on 7/30/25, 10:17 PM
I've heard of some other possible additions and improvements to this setup. One is to cover it with Saran wrap and poke or cut a small hole in the middle of it and let it drape down a little bit so that any mosquitoes that find their way in can't find them way out to lay eggs again elsewhere. Another option is to add some yeast and a little bit of sugar so that CO2 is emanated from the bucket particularly the little hole if you use the previous "improvement".
by jiscariot on 7/30/25, 3:11 PM
I'd love to find a way to encourage more dragonfly's to come hang out in my yard (middle of forest). I think of them as little organic mosquito-eating drones.
by bob1029 on 7/30/25, 3:43 PM
I recently moved ~70 miles from a relatively open plain to a hilly forest biome and the reduction in mosquito density is shocking to me. I suspect predation is the biggest factor given the climate is virtually identical.
I make a very strong point to not kill arachnids and similar creepers. I'm not a fan of gigantic spooky looking spiders and their homes, but I recognize they are much more efficient at killing my enemy than I am.
by not_the_fda on 7/31/25, 2:35 PM
by bodhi_mind on 7/30/25, 2:28 PM
I definitely notice an increase in local (my backyard) mosquito activity if I accidentally leave standing water around. So I can see this working.
by supermatt on 7/30/25, 4:12 PM
These are a form of ovitrap:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OvitrapThere are many forms that require even less investment. I made some out of some plastic water bottles and a few pairs of old socks, for example.
There are also lethal ovitraps, which kills the mosquito, but I havent experimented with those.
by jrs235 on 7/30/25, 6:28 PM
Is it possible to get the dunks/bits wet in some water then use a hose sprayer attachment to disperse the bt laced water around your yard to get the bt into soil and other places that are holding water (like spray anything along the side of one's house if they have a bunch of stuff that might be holding water sitting next to the house)?
by xtiansimon on 7/31/25, 12:24 PM
I put these into my yard a few weeks ago using 1G containers from the $1 store and a similar mosquito water treatment (dunks were sold out).
I’m not sure how to judge their effectiveness. I’m still bit. Is it down some significant percentage? I have no idea. I’m going to continue until I run out of the product. Jury is still out.
by ruralfam on 7/30/25, 7:46 PM
Mandatory if you have water troughs/tanks for animals such as goats or horses. Also a very good idea to encourage swallow nesting. Many an evening I watch a dozen or so swallows on our property dipping and diving in a sort or aerial mosquito feeding dance. Swallows are very cool btw. HTH, RF.
by fho on 7/30/25, 5:58 PM
I heard about a similar but different method:
Put some cloth in a bucket, fill it with water and wait. Once in a week, remove the cloth. This removes all eggs and larvae.
Apparently this is quite effective as mosquito "pheromones" (?) build up in the bucket. This makes the bucket a preferred breeding ground .
by lenerdenator on 7/30/25, 2:17 PM
This might actually be worth my time.
I hate cutting my grass and don't spray because I don't want to decimate the ecosystem in my yard (also, I'm lazy and it's hot out, so mowing sucks) but mosquitoes are a real problem.
by logankeenan on 7/30/25, 3:43 PM
Has anyone had luck with bat boxes to help control the mosquito population?
by bitbasher on 7/30/25, 3:46 PM
Does this even cull the population down? If you're creating a perfect nesting area and then killing off the babies, you haven't really culled any of the active/dangerous mosquitos.
Am I missing something?
by togume on 8/3/25, 11:16 AM
That’s too much organic material in the water and it will start competing with the BTI when it starts decaying (spoke with manufacturer/inventor’s son).
A couple improvements are to:
- Add bifenthrin to the sticks
- Use a black bucket for better attraction
- Consider spinosad vs BTI for longer lasting larvicide action
I have a big Obsidian file if anyone’s interested.
by 2OEH8eoCRo0 on 7/30/25, 2:29 PM
Cool. I had an idea recently of creating breeding buckets that automatically flush the water onto the ground and refill every day or two. Mosquito breeding decoys without chemicals.
by beala on 7/30/25, 4:31 PM
A bit of a tangent, but BT is also great for getting rid of tomato hornworms. The bacteria is harmless to humans, but fatal to the hornworms. A single application saved my tomato plants last year.
That said, the more I garden, the more I find the entire process a bit horrifying. Waging biological warfare on the critters is not what I thought I was signing up for.
by CommenterPerson on 7/30/25, 10:47 PM
We have a wooded area in the back, with small shallow pools of water that appear and disappear depending on rainfall. I tried mosquito dunks for a few years and gave up. Felt it needed too many to cover the area.
I will try again with buckets. The HW store actually has green buckets so it won't even look like a dump! Thanks for the posting!
by ape4 on 7/30/25, 2:48 PM
There are "Honey Pot" programs. "Mosquito Bucket of Death" is a name waiting to be claimed.
by boringg on 7/30/25, 2:13 PM
Anything for deer flies and horse flies?
by VMtest on 7/31/25, 9:00 AM
I don't have a yard of my own, but my friend has one. A few years ago, I told him to use this bucket method and throw away the water to kill the wiggles of the mosquitoes, but he didn't want to believe it or he was just reluctant to do the work
by SoftTalker on 7/30/25, 3:18 PM
Set up some bat houses around your property, they eat mosquitoes right out of the air.
by muppetman on 7/30/25, 2:17 PM
Love the idea - I wonder what I can use in New Zealand though - these things can't be shipped to NZ (Note I'm not surprised by this fact, I didn't expect NZ to let in random loads of mosquito killing bacteria)
by yrcyrc on 7/30/25, 5:47 PM
Forgot to mention this startup doing good work and it’s a promising lead. Getting lots of traction recently.
https://terratis.fr/by pentamassiv on 7/30/25, 6:05 PM
Wouldn't you be able to just set up buckets of water and then dump the water every few days before the mosquito larvae hatch? Is the point of the bacteria that you can set and forget about them?
by krunck on 7/30/25, 4:39 PM
by Damogran6 on 7/30/25, 3:19 PM
We have pantry moths in the house (came in from the bird food)...is there anything similar for them? We use pheremone traps, but that's pretty late in the lifecycle and not 100%
by lifestyleguru on 7/30/25, 2:39 PM
I don't know if it's some anomaly of climate change but in recent years in this part of Central Europe there are less mosquitos and more common horse flies.
by joenot443 on 7/30/25, 2:23 PM
I'm super into this idea, especially as an alternative to spraying.
Has anyone found success in this approach? This could be a game changer for my backyard this fall.
by because_789 on 7/30/25, 3:10 PM
Anyone else use mosquito fish? I got some from the pet store, put them in our small koi pond, and the mosquitoes really died off dramatically.
by BugsJustFindMe on 7/30/25, 6:00 PM
One thing I never see discussed about these is what you're supposed to do when rain inevitably fills the bucket.
by FlyingSnake on 7/30/25, 3:15 PM
We were promised mosquito laser zappers!
by dm319 on 7/30/25, 4:08 PM
How does this affect other insects?
by ryantgtg on 7/30/25, 2:46 PM
I did this last year and checked on it after the first day to find a drowned baby opossum.
by whichquestion on 7/30/25, 4:28 PM
Something to consider is that BTI kills many species of Diptera, not just mosquitoes.
by sanj on 7/30/25, 3:37 PM
I wish there were an equivalent for ticks.
by lagniappe on 7/30/25, 4:04 PM
I just keep a bucket with some guppies in it. They eat the momma, the baby, and the eggs, the fish poop goes in the garden.
by adamgordonbell on 7/30/25, 3:22 PM
Ok, now what is the solution for hornets?
by Footkerchief on 7/30/25, 4:30 PM
TLDR: you can put tablets of mosquito-killing bacteria in buckets.
by maxbaines on 7/30/25, 2:49 PM
Yeah lets just kill all the bugs, good move.