How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes in your Landscape
Updated: Sep. 28, 2018
Mosquitoes were bad enough when they just made you itch. Now that some of them carry the West Nile virus, their bite can even be deadly in rare cases.
To help get rid of those pesky buggers, here are 2 simple steps you can take:
1) Drain all Standing Water
The little bloodsuckers like to lay their eggs in standing water. To keep the mosquito population around your house to a minimum, make sure you have no still water anywhere. That means all standing water, even what you would find in flowerpots and gutters. Change the water in your birdbath daily to clear away mosquitoes’ eggs and larvae. The quick solution to mosquitoes is to drain all their breeding grounds.
2) Put Mosquito-Eating Fish in Ponds
If you have spots where you want water for landscaping purposes-in ornamental ponds and water gardens, for instance-stock them with mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis), which are available at pet stores. These little fish are skeeter-eating machines: An adult can put away 500 larvae a day.
