A side question on landscaping because enjoying or working outside has mosquitoes. I bought some and put it together and figured wait 3-4 weeks to see if there's any reduction in the adult mosquitoes and check the buckets to see what's in there.
Any opinion if these work? It got me ne wondering if it's a placebo effect because if it's so cheap and effective I would think that places with high malaria problems would use them
by TurbulentPromise4812
43 Comments
They do work, but they work by killing the larvae the mosquitoes lay in the water sources. Not sure they will affect adult mosquitoes.
Heavy following.
How tf have I never heard of these beauty’s before?
Don’t use them in decorative fountains with a pump. The little bits clog the motor and tubing. I learned this the hard way. I thought it would be a good idea for times when the fountain isn’t running but nope.
Anecdotally, yes. If you have one or a few primary stagnant water sources where most of the larvae originate these will make a significant impact in the population. The effect is noticeable about 2 weeks after application, when the larvae in the treated waters would have been entering the adult population
they work great on killing mosquito larvaes in water but not mosquito itself.
Yes, put one in a bucket of water with leaves, sticks, and grass in a corner of your yard. It attracts females to lay their eggs in it, but then the eggs never hatch.
It has delayed results but you are effectively stopping the population growth at the source. Also, not harmful to anything other than mosquitoes specifically.
Don’t forget to add a new dunk every few weeks.
The middle right looks like a donut 🙂
Yes, there are noticeably fewer mosquitoes during the summer when I put these in my basement window wells. Last year, I was only bitten once the whole summer while performing yardwork. This year, I forgot to apply these at the start of the season and was bitten 8-10 times in just one month.
Will this work in creeks that aren’t constantly flowing? We have one that is sometimes dry, sometimes stagnant after a large rain, and of course flowing when a storm hits.
I live in coastal, wet Florida. Mosquitos are all over me like cocaine.
These are the best things that ever happened to my blood supply and my home
My fat self thought you had a chocolate drizzled cookie in your package 🤦
If you live in an area where you have a very limited number of small stagnant water sources, they work great for killing the larvae.
If you live in a fairly rainy area with lots of random stagnant water sources (gutters, old tires, lots of natural low areas), they’re pretty much a waste of time — you can’t put a dunk in every puddle on the property (high malaria areas tend to be more of the second kind of area, which sort of answers your second question).
The way you use this is just by finding still water all around your neighborhood. But you can just call your muni environmental health department and they will do it for you if you find old standing water. It works just as well to just drain whatever water
Some people intentionally full buckets with water and some of these to lure mosquitos to lay eggs in it if their property is big enough. I’m not sure how effective that method is.
i make sure i have no stagnant water in my property. so all my mosquitoes are from neighbors, i am assuming this wont work for me ?
I bought a pack of like 20 of these for like $20 on amazon. They seem to be ok. Haven’t had them long though.
The ingredient in the dunks tht makes it work is a bacteria, called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), and it messes with the larval digestive system.
You can buy Bti without it being in the convenient donut form, which, by they way, each one of those donuts treats 20 gallons, so if you’re using 5 gallon buckets, you can break them up and go e a quarter donut to the bucket, and save you a bunch of money.
Anecdotally they work phenomenally-well for us. On our ~1.25 acre property I have spread out six 5-gallon buckets with some water, pulled weeds, and half a dunk each. Noticeably fewer mosquitos since I started doing this 2 years ago. In the swampy southeast it’s great. I redo the buckets every couple months during the worst months. Well worth the cost.
I used to use these when I did mosquito control. They work well, just be sure to use the right amount. Small ponds only need a half or quarter. They also don’t affect living mosquitos, just the larve but if you put them in in the spring it’s a good option
they work, but deploy them early, and police unnecessary water collection around the house and yard.
They worked for me. I forgot I used them and one day I noticed I hadn’t seen mosquitoes in weeks and then I remembered
I won’t buy them again. Terrible aftertaste.
Yep
I believe this also work on fungus gnats. Can anyone verify?
We have two ponds both about 1 acre and the dunks really seems to cut down on the amount of mosquitos. We just use them once a year in the late spring when the first ones show up.
I had an empty house next door whose yard became a swamp and filled the area with mosquitos. I found that if I used these once a month or so it demolished the population. Apparently they are very highly selective to mosquito larvae and affect nothing else.
I’m obsessed with these. They’ve worked for fungus gnats in our potted plant too.
The technology is amazing, and I have no idea why they’re not used in more malaria-prone places.
These work great in my yard, I have three buckets. I didn’t paint the buckets or use black bags, they’re just in orange Home Depot buckets and still working great.
I find them to be more effective when I add green, fresh clippings to the water over dead leaves. Something about the breakdown process seems to attract the mosquitoes
These along with removing the places skeeters like to hide during the day has made a huuuuge difference in out mosquito population over the last two years. We had large privet along the fence line that got taken over by honeysuckle. This made a large shaded area they liked to hangout in. We still have lots of shade and shrubs but not the tight leaf cover from a vine taking over that they seemed to really enjoy.
I throw the dunk pieces up into the gutters too.
Most people who have a lot of indoor plants either use a version of these (the bits generally, but I put 1/2 a dunk in my big sprayer) or they just have lots of the little yellow sticky cards to catch all the fungus gnats (their eggs are often already in purchased soil). These really do work. We put it in our birdbath as well.
Yup! They also can be used in a dry spot that floods with rain (like my tortoise’s burrow). I use them in her mud puddle and water dish, after tadpole season. If you have Bats, Purple Martins or their kin in the area, put up a house for them!
Cant be the only one who taught they were donuts that kill mosquitoes and the caramel one with chocolate stripes looks too much like a real donut that it could be dangerous… 🫣🫣🫣
Why do they look delicious.
Yes, absolutely. The house we’re renting has a sump pump in the backyard, just sitting in a dug-out area lined with rocks. It’s wild. Anyway, it crapped out. The basin area filled up and then we just had a gnarly little pond. So many mosquitoes. The basin was *swimming* with mosquito larvae. Mosquito dunk solved at least that part of the problem until property management had the thing fixed.
Yes they really do work in standing water or a pond that does not have fountain.
I had no luck with these last year. I did 4 buckets around the house and kept them refreshed with the dunks. This year I paid the pest guys to just do the spray and it’s WAY more effective. My wife almost became a recluse they were so bad last year… this year we have an occasional one float through but huge improvement
Yes! They are worth it
They work. If you have smaller body of standing water, you don’t need a whole doughnut. Safe to break them up but wash your hands after you get them all dusty
Dunks or Mosquito Bits have changed my life and our comfort in the yard. 100% yes they’re worth it.
They 100% work I tried them out for the first time this year and I hardly have any mosquitos. You won’t notice the difference until about two weeks. It takes a few days for the organic material to break down and start releasing carbon dioxide to attract the mosquitos and most mosquitos live 7-10 days so you have to wait until the current generation of mosquitos dies off and since this kills the larvae you’ll start seeing less and less
Yes they absolutely truly are
I believe it’s worth it! I use these on my front porch to minimize mosquitos. I have a lot of potted plants. You just have to remember to change them out every few weeks.
i dunno, i feel like towards the middle of the season here in my NC neighborhood there’s no stopping them. i think i’d have to get my neighbors on board too. we have 2 in our backyard and i still see mosquitos (and get bit) every time i go outside
They work very well around our house, noticeably fewer mosquitoes, and fewer bites on us and the kids.
I found a bucket of water full of mosquito larvae and put one in and over next day or two all the larvae were dead.
For the adult mosquitoes, the bacteria can stick to their legs and be transported to other water sources. Removing water sources around the house will help make sure they go where you put the dunk, but it won’t be the only spot affected.