Even though Judy Wright hasn’t posted on her fantastic, genre-spanning blog, Judy’s Chickens, in over a year, one post about a certain mosquito hack continues to garner a lot of interest, especially during mosquito season. After speaking with Judy, we tried this bucket system she champions in her blog to effectively eliminate mosquitos in an affordable and environmentally safe way. And, the verdict is in – it works! Here’s how to make one yourself.
This is the mosquito hack for you if …
- You want a pet-friendly, bee-friendly, garden-friendly way to eliminate mosquitos!
- You want to enjoy your outdoor spaces without all of the itchy, red mosquito bites that come with it.
- Mosquitos really love you or your loved ones.
- You’re sick of wearing full-coverage clothes or spraying smelly Deet-filled products on your skin whenever you walk outside.
- You want to entertain outside without the embarrassment, annoyance, and anxiety of mosquito attacks on your guests.
How can we squash mosquitos without harming other bugs and animals? THIS was the big question for Judy.
Judy started growing food when she was just 10 years old. “I have just always loved watching things grow. I was a pediatric nurse, and I loved children and watching them grow. So, it was natural that I got into this. Plus, I’m a very practical person, and I love growing food and watching seeds germinate.”
Watching everything in her backyard, Judy’s gotten into flowers over the last couple of years because of the pollinators and the natives. She also has chickens. “They keep me honest,” she says. “My backyard has been ‘organic’ with quotation marks because it’s not what you would call organic officially, but I would never put any kind of insecticide, sugar, killer, anything like that in my backyard because they roam freely and scratch and eat everything.”
Buckets versus foggers and sprays: Buckets rule supreme!
Judy went back to grade-school basics with us. “Not all, but most, plants need insects to carry the pollen from the male flower to the female flower. Nature doesn’t care that we love Zucchini. Every plant has one job, and that’s to reproduce. It’s a bonus that we like to eat that food or enjoy those flowers,” Judy explains.
“If you don’t have pollinators, insects, butterflies, birds, etcetera, then there’s no food being made. And without food, there wouldn’t be civilization. I’m all about protecting the insects that pollinate our food so that we have food in our yards and on our tables.”
According to Judy, mosquito foggers have many issues. They’re expensive, they only kill live insects and many other beneficial insects, and they leave an icky residue. That powdery residue doesn’t just go away, and there are always more mosquitoes growing somewhere. Experts say a beer or soda cap holds enough water to hatch mosquitoes. Think about that in your yard!
Judy’s naturalist friend, Joanna Brichetto, posted a story on her blog, Sidewalk Nature, in which she discovers the bucket mosquito hack from famed etymologist Dr. Doug Tallamy. In this video explanation, Dr. Tallamy argues against sprays and for dunks.
How the dunks and buckets work
MosquitoDunks® is a larvicide. “They’re not killing the adult flies. It’s not killing the eggs they drop in the bucket full of water; it kills the larvae, and it’s just going to kill mosquitos,” Judy adds. Dunks contain a mosquito-specific toxin called B.t.i. (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis). This naturally occurring bacterium is found in soil and is known to kill mosquito larvae. It stops mosquito reproduction in the larval stage.
We’re not exaggerating when we say there will be ZERO mosquitos around the space where you set your buckets.
Here’s a list of supplies and instructions for assembling your own mosquito bucket:
SUPPLIES
- A 3- to 5-gallon bucket, planter, or any container with a wide top. Use multiple to cover more area! Here’s a two-pack of white 3.5-gallon buckets for $16.99.
- ONE handful of grass clippings (more is NOT more in this case — just one handful)
- ONE Mosquito Dunks® Here’s a six-pack for $9.71 or a 20-pack for $18.39.
- Water
- Optional: Chicken wire screen on top of the buckets if you’re concerned about wildlife falling in. We found this small roll for $7.98.
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
- Add a handful of greens and a Mosquito Dunk® to your containers. If you have a bigger yard, add more containers and spread them out!
- Half-fill the container with water. As the organic matter decomposes, it produces carbon dioxide, which attracts female mosquitoes.
- Set your buckets in places where you spend time outdoors.
- Take a photo so you know when you dunked a fresh Dunk. Then, set a calendar reminder for 30 days.
- Swap out the Mosquito Dunk® every 30 days or so. “I always think I will remember, but I don’t,” Judy says. NOTE: You don’t have to change the water each month. “You want swampy water, but it shouldn’t be smelly,” Judy says. “If it rained or some water evaporated, add or remove water accordingly to keep the buckets half full.”
Thank you for sharing this trick, Judy! If you try and love this mosquito hack, show us on Instagram or Facebook and keep up with Judy at instagram.com/judyschickens.
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