While spraying pesticides is the easiest way to eliminate mosquitos, the method may not be your first choice if you are allergic to pesticides or keep some harmless insects in your yard.
Instead of killing mosquitos, you can get rid of them by making your home unattractive by using natural repellants and destroying their hiding spots. Below are seven ways to eliminate mosquitoes from your yard without using pesticides.
1. Plant Natural Repellants in Your Yard
Thanks to their scents, some plants are natural mosquito repellants. Instead of using manufactured repellants, you can plant any of the following plants in your yard:
- Basil
- Dill
- Lavender
- Lemongrass
- Peppermint
- Rosemary
If mosquitoes are also a nuisance inside your house, plant pots of these plants and use them as indoor decorations. Ensure that the pots are close to mosquito entry points to increase their effectiveness.
Choose flowery repellants like marigolds and lantanas if you want more appealing plants in your yard.
2. Use Garlic Spray
The pungent scent of garlic effectively repels mosquitos and any other unwanted insects in indoor spaces. To make garlic spray, dip some freshly cut garlic cloves in a bowl with some water and leave them to macerate for several hours.
Once the water smells like garlic, sprinkle the spray around your house, especially at mosquito entry points like windows and doors.
3. Use Eucalyptus Oil
Since mosquitos don’t like the smell of eucalyptus oil, you can spray the oil around your house to make it less attractive to mosquitos. Boil some eucalyptus leaves in water to make this natural repellant.
4. Invite Mosquito Predators into Your Yard
If the mosquito problem is not severe, you can control the numbers by attracting mosquito eaters in your yard. Bats are the most effective predators, as they can eat thousands of mosquitos within hours.
The easiest way to attract bats in your yard is by building a bat house — a small box house built on top of a pole in your backyard.
Since mosquitos are also active during the day, attract birds such as waterfowls, swallows, and purple martins by making bird feeders around your home.
5. Sprinkle Coffee Grounds on Water Puddles
Stagnant water provides a breeding ground for mosquitos. While the best way to prevent mosquitos from breeding is to drain puddles around your house and yard, you can also kill the mosquito eggs by sprinkling coffee grounds on top of the puddles.
The coffee grounds will make mosquito eggs float to the surface, depriving them of oxygen.
6. Set Mosquito Traps
Mosquito traps help control the population of mosquitos in your home by trapping or electrocuting them. These traps mimic human behaviors or send out signals that mosquitoes use to locate their prey to catch mosquitos nearby.
For example, since mosquitos mainly use carbon dioxide to find their prey, a trap can mimic the human breathing rhythm to send off some carbon dioxide, attracting mosquitos nearby.
7. Install Mosquito Nets
Most mosquitos inside your house enter through openings like windows, doors, and vents. Since you cannot keep these openings closed at all times, consider installing mosquito nets on them to minimize the number of mosquitos entering your home.
Due to their annoying and disease-carrying nature, mosquitos are not a pest to ignore. Luckily, with the above alternatives, you don’t always need pesticides to get rid of mosquitos in your home. Instead of doing it yourself, hire an experienced mosquito exterminator to help you improve how you use non-pesticide-based mosquito control methods.
At The Mosquito Masters, we are committed to providing quality mosquito treatments at affordable prices. Contact us today to learn more about our services.