How to Trap Mosquitoes in a “Bucket of Doom”
I’ve previously shared the Good News about mosquito dunks, which stop mosquitoes from being able to breed in standing water. Recently I used dunks to create what’s sometimes called a “mosquito bucket of doom,” a trap that entices mosquitoes to breed in standing water that you have (muahahaha) poisoned against them.
Not only is a bucket of doom easy to create—it took about five minutes, and my elementary-aged daughter did most of the work—it’s also more effective than other mosquito control attempts, like mosquito foggers.
Why the bucket of doom is more effective than other types of mosquito management
There are three main ways of dealing with a mosquito problem in your yard:
Keep the mosquitoes away from you personally, with box fans, bug spray, and barriers like screening. They’re still out there, but at least they aren’t biting you.
Kill adult mosquitoes, for example with foggers. Those individual mosquitoes won’t be able to bite anymore, since they’re dead, but the small amount you’ve managed to kill is not much of a dent in the mosquito population. This is the least effective strategy.
Kill larvae or interfere with breeding. This is where the bucket of doom comes in. You’ll eliminate breeding sites in your yard, except for that very special bucket. The bucket will kill the baby mosquitoes before they can grow up.
The first and third options are the ones that will make a difference: box fans and bug spray for yourself, mosquito breeding control for your yard. If you’re interested in trying to kill adult mosquitoes, read up on adulticides. They can be toxic to other insects like bees. They also don't tend to help mosquito problems unless you can manage to kill a lot of the adult mosquitoes, which can be difficult and expensive.
The bucket of doom is an easy and effective form of breeding control, but be aware that it works best in places where there aren’t other breeding sites for the mosquitoes. If you live next door to a swamp, the bucket may not help much. On the other hand, if you’re in a place where you and your neighbors are good about cleaning up stagnant water, the bucket will be more effective.
How a mosquito bucket of doom works
First, you need to understand the mosquito life cycle. (There are different species, with different preferences about who to bite and where to breed, but the same basic facts apply.)
Just as butterflies have a larval stage (the caterpillar), mosquitoes also have a larval stage and an adult flying stage. Females lay their eggs in or near water, and the larvae are aquatic. If you’ve ever looked into a bucket or pond and noticed wriggling wormy things near the surface, those were mosquito larvae. They hang upside down, breathing through a tube in their butts (I promise I am not making this up) but can swim around to hide or to look for microscopic bits of food to eat.
They pupate (like caterpillars) and emerge from the water as adult mosquitoes. Male and female adults drink flower nectar (!!!) which is enough to keep them alive, but when a female is ready to breed, she needs protein. That’s where the biting comes in. She needs a “blood meal” to be able to build those little baby mosquito eggs. So she bites you, drinks a drop of your blood, and then a few days later she lays her eggs. Then the cycle can begin again.
The entire life cycle only takes a few weeks, so mosquitoes will breed (and bite) continuously all season. We’re going to disrupt this process by poisoning the water that the larvae live in. The eggs will hatch, but the larvae will die.
Is a mosquito bucket of doom safe?
One of the things I love about the bucket of doom is that it targets mosquitoes and doesn’t affect most other insects, nor people and animals.
The “poison” that we’re using is actually just a naturally occurring bacterium with the scientific name Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (often abbreviated Bti). This type of bacteria makes a toxin that can kill mosquitoes, fungus gnats, and blackflies, but Bti is nontoxic to mammals, birds, and fish. Insects that don’t breed in water aren’t affected by dunks, so butterflies and bees are safe.
A bucket of water can be a safety hazard for small children and for animals, just because they could fall into it and drown. If your bucket of doom is in an area where children or pets could access it, consider covering the bucket with a barrier. Chicken wire makes an easy DIY cover, but if you want something a little neater looking, use a hydroponic basket that snaps onto the top of the bucket.
How to make a mosquito bucket of doom
First, gather your supplies:
A bucket (the 5-gallon kind they sell at Home Depot is perfect)
A package of mosquito dunks or granules that contain Bti
Some organic matter like leaves or hay
A lid, as described above (optional)
There’s an area of my yard where we often have a bucket or two around, and those buckets tend to fill up with rain. Obviously I dump them when I notice, but every now and then I’ve seen mosquito larvae in one of those buckets. Gross. So that’s where I decided to set up my first bucket of doom.
I’ve seen the larvae even when there wasn’t any obvious source of nutrients in the bucket, but the instructions from university websites usually mention adding some hay, straw, or other organic matter. I asked my daughter to gather up some dry leaves from the corners of the yard and driveway. Then we filled the bucket partway with water, before adding the magic ingredient. Here are the steps so you can follow along:
Add plant matter (hay, straw, leaves) to the bucket.
Add water to the bucket, making a nice little pond for the mosquitoes.
Drop in ¼ of a mosquito dunk, or the amount indicated on the package.
How to maintain your bucket of doom throughout the summer
My package said a quarter of a doughnut-shaped dunk is appropriate for controlling mosquitoes in one square foot of surface area, so we used a quarter dunk for our bucket. (Some photos online show people using a full dunk per bucket; that’s probably overkill.) You will need to add a new dunk monthly.
I got my dunks for a little under $20 for a pack of 20, so let’s say I’m paying 25 cents per month to reduce the mosquito population. Add the cost of the bucket ($4.99 if you don’t already have one sitting around at home) and that’s less than $7 for a summer’s worth of mosquito protection.
Make more than one bucket if you have a big yard or just want to cover your bases in multiple locations (maybe one in the backyard, one by your front porch). And remember, you still need to dump out all of your non-poisoned standing water. The bucket of doom works best when it’s the mosquitoes’ only option.
People who use these buckets tend to report that they noticed far fewer mosquitoes in the months that followed. Mosquitoes take a few weeks to go through their life cycle, so don’t expect results instantly—but if you maintain your bucket and take care to eliminate other sources of standing water, you should notice there aren’t as many mosquitoes around this year as usual.