People Are Making a ‘Bucket of Doom’ in Their Yards to Eliminate Mosquitoes — Even Experts Approve

The only thing more pesky than weeds in a garden is mosquitoes. During summer, these insects can cause a ruckus that keeps you from enjoying the serenity of the lush greenery you worked so hard to create. While there are measures to eliminate every flying mosquito in homes and gardens, the results speak for themselves. Since last year, social media has been flooded with people trying out the ‘Mosquito Bucket Of Doom,’ which takes a different approach to killing mosquitoes in your yard. No expensive spraying treatments or toxic pesticides, the trend only uses a cheap solution of garden debris and a mosquito dunk to attack the insects, per Southern Living.

What is a ‘Mosquito Bucket of Doom?’

The strategy behind the mosquito's ‘Bucket Of Doom’ centers around the fact that female mosquitoes are attracted to stagnant water to lay their eggs. The gardening hack functions by targeting the eggs and newly hatched larvae instead of the adult mosquitoes. This reduces the likelihood of a future crop of mosquitoes emerging from the garden and ultimately eliminates all mosquitoes as the adults only live up to a few weeks. Joe Lamp’l, host of the gardening show, Growing a Greener World on PBS, said, “You’re creating this gnarly or gross habitat, and it’s exactly what they want.” The garden debris in a bucket of water forms a gross visual that attracts female mosquitoes to lay eggs.

This is when the mosquito dunk steps in. This simple technique precisely targets the larvae from thriving and obstructs their growth with a special ingredient of the ‘bucket of doom’ called mosquito dunks. It acts as the most important agent that kills the larvae using a bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. The microorganism makes up the majority of the mosquito dunk content, but it is harmless to humans, pets, and pollinators, ensuring the ecosystem's health. While standing water is highly discouraged anywhere near homes to prevent mosquito breeding, this natural method uses sustainable ingredients to create a stagnant environment ideal for mosquitoes. @volunteergardener shared a detailed guide to making a 'bucket of doom.'

The only downside of the ‘Bucket Of Doom’

“Mosquitoes tend to find the murky, nasty stuff, which is why we're doing what we're doing [with the bucket of doom], and they'll come to that over just standing water,” added the expert. Therefore, the female mosquitoes do lay eggs, but the ‘bucket of doom’ prevents the larvae from growing into adult mosquitoes and “short-circuits” their life cycle. @HOMEGROWNNATIONALPARK also shared their take on the viral hack. The only downside of this viral hack is the duration of time it requires. The results do not show until a few weeks because the bacterium only kills the larvae, while the current mosquitoes remain unaffected.

However, this disadvantage can be easily tackled as a male mosquito typically lives about a week, whereas a female mosquito lives for a few weeks. Gardeners and homeowners battling a mosquito infestation can get rid of the future larvae while they wait for the adults to exhaust their lifecycle and die naturally. Instagram creator @carolina_charm tried out the viral hack and shared it with her viewers to showcase the potential of the 'Bucket of Doom."

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