Whether you’re grilling out, spending the day by the pool or just relaxing in the back yard, the last thing you need is a bunch of mosquitoes trying to suck the life out of you. They’re annoying, they’re itchy and they can carry some gnarly diseases. Today we’re going over some of the best ways you can take steps to keep mosquitoes off of you and out of your yard.
Buzz Off, Mosquitoes!
Keeping Your Yard Clear
One of the best ways to deal with the amount of mosquitoes in your yard would be to take care of any potential collectors of standing water. Mosquitoes are naturally drawn to still water as a source of nourishment and as a place to breed. Overturned buckets, birdbaths, dishes and the like are all ample breeding grounds for the blood-suckers. Make sure you clear all of these from your yard, and ask your neighbors to do the same to clear up any mosquito issues in the neighborhood.
Another good strategy for keeping your home mosquito-free naturally is to leave any harmless spiders you see outside alone. Spiders do a great job of controlling local mosquito populations by trapping them in their webs and eating them! As such, if you see any non-harmful spiders spinning webs, or even daddy long-legs spiders, let them be! They’ll help keep your yard bug-free.
Keeping them Off
Of course, this is a good way to reduce their number, but you’ll want a way to deal with them in the moment, too. A mosquito swatter is a great first step in this regard: it’s a bit thicker and heavier than a fly swatter, mounted on a springy wire. These types of swatters help you get momentum to swat any errant mosquitoes that have made the mistake of trying to drink your lifeblood.
Another good way to keep mosquitoes off of you is to wear long-sleeve shirts and long pants that are loose-fitting and breathable. Of course, not everyone wants to wear long clothing during the height of summertime, so this works better if you’re out in the evening when a cooler breeze is blowing through.
Warding Mechanisms
You can ward mosquitoes off with citronella products. For whatever reason, mosquitoes become confused and repelled by the smell of citronella. You can wear citronella oil on your skin as a warding agent, keeping mosquitoes from wanting to land on you. Another method is to use citronella candles, burning them to diffuse the smoke throughout the air, which can confound and repel nearby mosquitoes.
Essential oil diffusers can also be used to diffuse citronella oil into the air. You don’t need to use just citronella oil, either. Other essential oils, like lavender, catnip and lemon eucalyptus can all have mosquito-warding effects. This makes them ideal for use during outdoor events in the summer, as the oils tend to smell nice while keeping you and your guests free of the annoying little bugs.
Trapping Mosquitoes
If you’re downright sick of mosquitoes coming around your house and just want to kill them off altogether, you can set up mosquito traps. A low-budget option would be a dish of soapy water. Placing it in an otherwise innocuous location can entice passing mosquitoes to stop for a drink. However, the soap bubbles trap them and make their wings heavy, drowning them.
There are also more high-tech solutions, mosquito-trapping machines that use heat and carbon dioxide to lure the bugs inside in order to trap them. These are often preferred over generic electric “zapper” devices that indiscriminately kill any bug that enters your yard. Several species of bug are harmless to you, and, in fact, are good for your neighborhood, so zapping them willy-nilly isn’t a great plan.