angelarivera•14d ago

Neighbor said my rain barrel was breeding mosquitoes - he was right, here's what I changed

4 comments

4 Comments

amy_west14d ago

Add a fine mesh screen and some mosquito dunks, problem solved easy.

aaronsullivan14d ago

Respectfully gotta push back a little on that. I've tried mosquito dunks in standing water before and they didn't do much for the ones breeding in damp soil or gutters. Maybe it's just me but those dunks seem to only work if you're really on top of every single source.

finleyl3914d ago

Can't believe you actually scrubbed those barrels by hand.

riverh4914d ago

...but here's the thing about those dunks, they're not a one-and-done deal. I tried them a few years back and got lazy about replacing them every month, and by August my barrels were a mosquito nursery again. Had to dump everything out and start over with a scrub brush, which was a whole pain. Now I just use a tight mesh screen and change the water every week, and honestly that's worked way better for me than any chemical stuff. Course that means I'm also losing water I could save for my tomatoes, so it's a trade off.