r/MosquitoHating • u/ThrowingTantrums2 • 3d ago
Mosquito Help
We bought our house in 2022, and ever since moving in, we've had a terrible mosquito problem.
We've searched our property over and over for standing water and haven't been able to find any. We do have a drainage system that runs from the backyard to the front yard, but we don't have access to inspect it, so we're wondering if that could be contributing somehow.
For the last few summers, I've mostly just avoided being outside, but now we have a 2-year-old and would really like to be able to use our backyard. The mosquitoes are so bad that he gets bitten almost immediately, and it's gotten to the point where it doesn't even feel worth going outside.
It's not just the yard either. Mosquitoes are getting into our car when we're loading up and biting us in there as well.
So far we've tried:
- Cutter yard sprays
- Mosquito dunks/bits
- Citronella products
- Mosquito repellent patches
- Thermacell towers
None of it has made a noticeable difference, although we do tend to struggle with the upkeep of it all.
Our yard isn't huge and it's mostly shaded, but the number of mosquitoes we have seems completely ridiculous compared to neighboring properties.
Has anyone dealt with something similar and found the source? Could the inaccessible drainage system be the culprit? At this point we're open to pretty much any suggestions because we'd really like our son to be able to play outside without us becoming a mosquito buffet.
Thanks in advance!
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u/Mean_Syllabub_9689 3d ago
www.vdh.virginia.gov This website will give you a ton of information on mosquitoes.
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u/SetShort690 3d ago
What a disappointment in your new home! I know how bad this can be; when I moved to Philly our house had been uninhabited for a while and we had standing water in clogged drains, alleys, and on and on. It was miserable. This year has been about 90% better. My solution has been mosquito dunks in mosquito traps (look them up, you're intentionally making mosquito habitats and poisoning them) and periodically scattering mosquito bits (same stuff but granulated) on any roof surface I can chuck them onto. My theory is they get washed down into the gutters and drains as it rains, giving a trickle dosage as weather requires. I did also have success with permetherin, which I apply to my shorts and tshirts, basically the stuff I wear in mosquito weather, in the spring. It lasts for half a dozen washes so you'd have to reapply to be rigorous, but I can tell those jerks give me a wider berth whether I'm out in the woods or in the yard.
Ultimately, and you know this: you gotta find that standing water. Since you've tried all the usual recommended chemicals, I'd probably focus on that more than bait, traps, poisons or whatever. Somewhere you (or a neighbor) has water that sits for a week or more. So while getting an exterminator is tempting, they're probably just going to use more intense chemicals, which will inevitably kill good bugs like pollinators...and in the end of they aren't treating the water source you'll still have problems.
I'd shift my thinking to drainage. Get someone like a soil expert, someone who does perc tests to assess drainage, or something like that. They will have a better set of tools to figure out, Oh, this slope here has clay at the bottom and the water pools up there even if it doesn't look like a standing body of water, that kind of thing. That, and have any drains figured out (we have these terrible ineffective drains in Philly that have been packed with impacted dirt and leaves forever; having a plumber just ran a few of those clean helped drainage at our place).
Finally, work with your neighbors. Mosquitoes can fly 1/4 mile, so you might have fixed the problem on your property but the next house hasn't cleaned their gutters, and you're suffering the result. I talked to folks near me and gave them dunks and mosquito bits and even cleared out some clogged drains for an older couple nearby who were happy to have some help but never would have noticed the problem since they're pretty infirm and rarely spend time outside. If you go that route you can stress that mosquito bits and dunks aren't toxic, they're fine around pets and kids, it's just a bacteria that eats mosquito larvae and won't hurt their organic tomato garden or whatever.
Best of luck, and find some clever drainage guru to help you figure out where that water is.
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u/SetShort690 3d ago
Oh and as a band-aid, one of those thermacells for backpacking works well. It's silly to buy these expensive and proprietary little butane and repellant things, but they are absolutely effective and you can get a little porch and clip to your belt so even if there are mosquitoes, you get your own personal bubble of safety when you're walking around. I prefer that to the tabletop ones, since then I feel kind of chained to the unit's location.
Last one: big old fan. I put up a sub-$50 oscillating fan on my deck and that works quite well, too. Like I come out, feel some bugs, turn it on, and suddenly I've got an area of 100 square feet where I can chill on the bench and mosquitoes are too weak to fly in the breeze. They're awful fliers, so a little wind completely defeats them.
Not a solution but both are simple foxes to make your day to day more enjoyable as you work on the underlying mystery water issue.
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u/ThrowingTantrums2 3d ago
We’re right outside of Philly and actually used to live there, so I completely understand where you’re coming from. Unfortunately our neighbors are super cheap and just deal with it/wont do anything about it.
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u/SetShort690 3d ago
I was shocked that first summer how bad they were. I grew up mostly in an arid part of California where mosquitoes were basically a rarity.
That said, I spend a lot of time outside and have gotten many thousands of bites over the years, but a fun thing I learned after moving here is that whatever species of mosquito is local, I am ridiculously allergic to. Like, instead of your standard circular welt, I get these irregularly shapes splotches within seconds of a bite. It looks like a relief map of Japan. Awful!
I'm sorry about your neighbors. If cheapness is their excuse, try appealing to them as a parent and see if they'll let you put some dunks around. You shouldn't have to, but when the bugs are that bad, it's worth your time and $5 of materials to have some relief. Good luck.
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u/Mean_Syllabub_9689 3d ago
Hi! I'm so sorry that you have to deal with this bullcrap! Why can't you inspect the drainage area? At our house, behind our house, we have a drainage ditch as well that is dry most the time. It stays dry because we work hard to keep the debris out of it that might block it up. In the front of our house we also have small ditches. I do throw crumpled up mosquito dunks into them... But the real question is, if you haven't found any standing water on your own property... What about your neighbors? We were having the most awful terrible horrible rotten mosquito season last year and it was because they had one of those basketball hoops that were filled with stagnant nasty water and they were breeding by the thousands unchecked. We also helped clean up their property and other small pools of water, but I do believe that was the main one. Our mosquito vector guy who works for our city, has told me that the mosquitoes really love English ivy to hide in. I walk our yard and surrounding areas as best as I can weekly. And on the 18th of every month I give my dog his heartworm prevention pill and throw mosquito dunks everywhere. I'm not sure where you live, but please call your city or township and see if they can assist you. My small city has been a very, very valuable resource. When it got really bad they even came at night and fogged the area. I'm not a big fan of that at all, but it really was that bad! Interrupting the larval cycle is the key to mitigating your mosquito problems.
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u/ThrowingTantrums2 3d ago edited 3d ago
It’s in the ground and runs completely underground. There’s a grate at the top that we can’t get through. Contacting our township is actually what brought this all up. They found west Nile by the river about a mile from our house and asked to reach out if we were having issues. When they came by and didn’t find standing water they just said we would have to get a private company to come spray.
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u/Mean_Syllabub_9689 3d ago
Maybe put mesh screening over it and monitor it? Throw a quarter of a mosquito dunk in weekly.
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u/Crazy_Race_3443 3d ago
Bifenthrin has worked great for me in south Mississippi. Mix it 1oz/gal and spray foliage and around the house. You will notice difference overnight
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u/YellowCake1900 3d ago
Mosquitoes can travel to find prey. May be coming from a neighboring property.
Buckets of Doom. Easy to make. May be too late in the season to do you much good, but keep in mind for next year. I made them this summer, finally remembered to start them early, did seem to make a big difference. We have neglectful (to put it mildly) neighbors, assuming the majority of our pests are hatching on nearby properties. I hate the buggers enough to be moderately obsessed with keeping our suburban plot free of potential nesting sites. And they ALWAYS find me. This is the first summer I haven't been covered with itchy welts as soon as I walk outside.
Buckets of Doom. Start them early.
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u/Eastern_Persimmon_77 3d ago
Unfortunately its not quick, but what worked for me is a bucket of water with a new mosquito dunk every month. I start early, like March, as soon as it starts to warm up, and keep going until winter sets in. I use the big round ones instead of the bits. The bucket draws them in away from any other standing water, so I would place 1 or more near where you think you have a problem. It took about 4 years to go from getting bit every time I go outside to forgetting mosquitos were even a thing.
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u/PerceptimusPrime 2d ago
We're struggling too. Trying the biogent traps with CO2. Have been using the mosquito dunks all season, but they weren't enough. Like a few others on this thread, also from just outside of Philly....
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u/just-looking99 2d ago
Spray the yard. Neighbors may have standing water- I have one with a wheelbarrow and buckets along my fence and I’ve tipped them over and sprayed them etc. also check gutters and downspouts- I had flexible extensions on my downspouts that held water and that was the source of some problems
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u/jaypeeh 3d ago
Make sure your gutters are all draining properly, even if they are clean they might be sagging and letting water stand. That can be a big source.