None of the suggestions below will eliminate mosquitoes from your yard but they will all help.

1. Eliminate stagnant water

If you purge your yard of all objects that can accumulate water, female mosquitoes will go elsewhere to lay their eggs and their progeny will be somebody else’s problem. Flexible downspout extenders are the worst because most homeowners have no idea they are full of water. Mosquito larvae can develop in as little as 1 teaspoon of water. Here’s a longer list of objects that hold water.

3. Use Mosquito Dunks to kill larvae

Add Mosquito Dunks (available in the USA) to rain barrels, bird baths, ponds, creeks, etc., every few weeks. The active ingredient is Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis, a bacterial strain that kills mosquitoe larvae. Here are my instructions for making a mosquito-killing bucket (I have six in my yard).

4. Deploy traps that kill pregnant females

Buy several autocidal gravid ovitraps and set them up in shady spots in your yard. Some brands: Biogents GAT Trap (shown below), Catchmaster Ovi-Catch AGO, Dalen Skeet-O-Trap, Springstar AGO, and Ultimate Mosquito Traps. More information.

5. Make a fan trap to kill foraging females

Buy two box fans, cover one side of each fan with screening, coat screening with permethrin, then situate fans on either side of your favorite chair outside. Mosquitoes are weak fliers and will be blown onto screens, then die from contact with the insecticide. Works for outside dog beds, too. Here’s a diagram showing the concept, except with chickens:

6. Wear clothes treated with permethrin

Some outdoor stores carry clothes that are treated with permethrin, a repellent (and insectide). You can also buy permethrin spray and treat your own clothes. E.g., Sawyer sells it. The chemical lasts for 6 washings. NB: never spray permethrin on your skin or when cats are present (it’s toxic to them).

7. Use EPA-registered repellents

Buy repellents that contain EPA-registered chemicals such as DEET, picaridin, IR2525, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-methane-diol, or 2-undecanone. All of these have been proven to be both effective and safe. Avoid everything else even if it’s recommended by nice people on Facebook.

8. Buy a spatial emanator

These emit a repellent and work well when you need relief in a small area and there is little wind. The downside is that replacement cartridges are expensive and you need to be OK with breathing in pyrethroid vapors. I own the model below as well as a smaller one that attaches to my belt for when I do yard work and am moving around. There are multiple companies selling these devices (e.g., Thermacell, S.C. Johnson OFF!, Tiki). Again, pyrethroids are toxic to cats so keep them away from the area when you are using these. Zone makes one that doesn’t use pyrethroids but I haven’t tried it.

See also

• Mosquito-control strategies and devices that don’t work
• Effects of mosquito sprays on humans, pets, and wildlife

NB: I haven’t yet tried a Mosquito Magnet or a Biogents Mosquitaire. The cost of the devices, replacement tanks (propane and carbon dioxide, respectively), replacement lures, and repairs make it unlikely that I ever will. Plus I’m concerned that although they definitely kill an enormous number of mosquitoes, they might attract a larger number to a yard. I.e., they might make a mosquito problem worse. It’s hard to read the positive reviews of these systems without wondering whether sunk cost fallacy is at play, with people strongly believing they have fewer mosquitoes just to justify the money they have spent. It could be the case that gifting one of these devices to your neighbor is the solution.