How to Keep Mosquitoes Away at Night
How to Keep Mosquitoes Away at NightThe warmer months of the year are the perfect time to sit outside and enjoy the great outdoors. We all love to relax in the evening, peacully listening to the crickets chirping, a fire crackling in the fire pit, and lighting bugs flitting by. However, beautiful moments like this can easily be destroyed with the incessant buzzing of a mosquito.
These pesky insects are not only annoying, but they bring many significant diseases and problems along with them. In this article, we’ll look at how to keep mosquitoes away at night. While mosquitoes fly around outside all day, they tend to swarm together at night which can cause issues for those who want to spend some time outdoors during the evening.
The Problems Mosquitoes Bring
Besides itchy bug bites, mosquitoes bring plenty of other problems with them. This includes a variety of diseases that can cause extreme health problems, like Malaria, Yellow Fever, West Nile, Encephalitis, and Zika, all which can have some nasty side effects and can even be fatal in some cases.
If you think about it, mosquitoes are way scarier than, say, great white sharks, but we don’t think of the little buggers when we think of super scary creatures.
And even if they don’t harbor diseases, the other problem is that mosquitoes are just plain annoying. Who wants to have a buzzing insect constantly flying near them while outdoors?
The sounds and sights can make it difficult and even daunting to go outside.
Ways to Keep Mosquitoes Away at Night
Here we will look at several methods for keeping mosquitoes away from your yard at night.
1. Incorporate Eucalyptus and Citronella in Your Yard
Most people are now familiar with citronella oil, commonly used in tiki torches to keep bugs away. Some find that citronella smoke keeps mosquitoes at bay, but many don’t know that it isn’t the most effective oil at keeping bugs away.
A better solution is to use eucalyptus oil.
Studies, such as this one from 2017, have found that eucalyptus oil is more effective than citronella oil at keeping those mosquitoes away, and it is definitely worth exploring the power of eucalyptus oil in your tiki torches and oil lanterns.
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See our article on different tiki torch fuels for more information on eucalyptus oil in general.
If you already have tiki torches that have used citronella oil in the past, it may be wise to purchase a new set of wicks to go with your new eucalyptus oil. See our information on tiki torch wicks for details.
Does Citronella Actually Work?
Citronella is commonly used to help thwart insects from a certain area. This plant contains a special oil that when burned masks over the CO2 levels in the air, especially around humans, which mosquitoes love. Because of this, it can prevent them from flying over.
However, while citronella is helpful and does work, it’s not the strongest thing you can use. So, if you find that the mosquito population is unbearable where you are, you instead opt for lemon eucalyptus oil which is a much stronger choice.
2. Install Bat Houses
Another great natural way to help keep mosquitoes away at night is to install bat houses around your yard. For some, it may sound like a crazy idea, but we need more bats! Disease is wiping out too many of these helpful creatures, and providing additional safe places to roost can help the population and cut your mosquito population.
Bats are known for their mosquito cravings, which can in return help to control the mosquito population in your yard. You may have heard that bats can eat 1,000 mosquitoes per hour. This is likely questionable science, but as the link mentions, the presence of bats in an area does significantly decrease the population of mosquitoes in the same area.
You can install bat houses practically anywhere, and they blend in well with most surroundings so there’s no need to worry about them being an eyesore.
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3. Remove Stagnant Water
Stagnant water invites mosquitoes to your yard. Small pools of stagnant water are all that is needed for mosquitoes to breed and lay their eggs which will only cause their population to grow. Even a little plastic cup, left outside after a rainstorm, can become a mosquito breeding ground! It doesn’t take much.
Because of this, it’s a good idea to regularly remove stagnant water in your yard, most of which can be found in buckets left outdoors, birdbaths, gutters and downspouts, rain barrels, the ridges of old tires, etc.
Once every few weeks, after a rainstorm, do a sweep around your house and look for any areas of standing water. Deal with those spots: either turn them over, cover them, bring them inside, or otherwise shelter them from getting wet over and over. This will significantly decrease the ability of mosquitoes to breed, and therefore will cut down on your mosquito problem overall.
So, any item or place in your yard that can collect water and doesn’t properly drain it should be monitored and emptied as soon as possible to help prevent this problem.
If you have a birdbath that you want to keep full, consider getting a solar fountain to encourage the water to move.
Last update on 2024-11-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
4. Use Some Outdoor Fans
Fans can help to stop mosquitoes from flying into a certain area because it can disrupt their normal flight patterns. Because of this, it might be a good idea to place a few fans around the areas you plan to be in. This will not only help to cool the space down, but keep it free from these insects as well.
See our article on outdoor pedestal fans and outdoor ceiling fans for more ideas.
Last update on 2024-11-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
5. Burn Some Pinon Wood
Pinon wood is our favorite wood for chimineas. This hardwood pine emits a soft smoky fragrance that smells divine to humans, but terrible to mosquitoes. While it’s not really known why this is, it seems that the smell of this specific wood is truly disgusting to these insects. So, you can burn some pinon wood in a chiminea or fireplace to help keep these insects away.
Just don’t try to cook with it.
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6. Try Sprinkling Some Coffee Grounds in Stagnant Water
If you do find that some mosquitoes might have found some stagnant water near where you’d like to gather outdoors, you can try to sprinkle some used coffee grounds in the water. A 2015 study found that by adding used coffee grounds to the water, you can help deter mosquitoes from laying eggs there.
The coffee will get to work making any mosquito eggs in it float to the top which will eventually suffocate them. This way, the population won’t grow and you won’t have to worry about using harmful chemicals in your yard to dispose of them.
7. Burn Used Coffee Grounds
Death Wish Coffee has a post on burning dried coffee grounds like incense in order to keep mosquitoes at bay. They suggest that an EPA study showed that burning coffee grounds helps keep mosquitoes away, though if you click the link in their article, the EPA web page doesn’t actually say anything about burning coffee to keep mosquitoes away.
We haven’t tried this one yet, and mosquito season is coming to a close, but we will certainly give it a shot next year and report back!
8. Make Some Red Cedar Mulch Tea
A unique way to keep mosquitoes away from you at night is to spray some red cedar mulch tea around the areas you plan to be in. To make this special concoction, take an old pot and fill it with water and red cedar mulch pieces.
Let the water boil and then cool before putting it into a clean spray bottle.
You can then spray the tea around the areas you want to keep mosquitoes from being in.
9. Grow Some Herbs and Mosquito-Fighting Plants
There are certain herbs and plants that mosquitoes find repugnant. We have a list of mosquito-repellent plants here, and you may find several of these plants worth trying. Perhaps the most famous is the citronella plant, which is a great place to start.
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Citronella plants can be effective, as are many traditional cooking herbs like rosemary and basil. The strong odor of these herbs can repel mosquitoes which can keep them away from you at night.
You can plant these herbs around the border of your patio or do container gardening and incorporate some into baskets and pots around certain areas you want to spend time outdoors in. And even if they don’t work as intended, at least you get to make some tasty foods with them as well!
10. Install Bug Lights
Bug lights emit a soft yellow glow, a color many insects can’t actually see. Because of this, they won’t gather around the lights which are usually installed near areas people tend to gather at so they can see better at night.
While it won’t fully protect your yard from every insect, it can help to dwindle their amounts so it’s easier to enjoy spending time outdoors without having to swat at one every few seconds.
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Last update on 2024-11-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
11. Buy a Mosquito Trap
If you’re absolutely fed up with the fight against mosquitoes, you can try a mosquito trap. While a bit on the pricey side, these traps emit CO2, something mosquitoes love, to lure these insects to fly near them. When the insect does, the trap will suck it into the machine where they’ll eventually die.
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12. Use Pesticides and Mosquito-Repellent Yard Sprays
We don’t love this one, but we would be remiss to not include insect killing sprays and foggers for your yard.
Are There Mosquito Repellents I Can Buy?
Mosquito repellent chemicals come in numerous types, many of which are available at stores. However, these repellents tend to be filled with harmful chemicals, especially pesticides. While they might work well, they can be a danger to human and pet health. Because of this, you’ll want to be careful when shopping for a mosquito repellent to use in your yard.
Some of these chemicals are advertised as “natural”, but arsenic is completely natural, too.
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13. Use Insect Repellent Body Sprays
Of course, you can always spray your guests, family, and friends with topical insect repellent sprays like Off Deep Woods. In some cases, it is almost certainly wise to do so.
But we would suggest that unless you’re hiking, camping, or in an environment that is super difficult to manage without sprays, you should use these as a last resort, and try to minimize their use.
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Conclusion: Mosquito-Proof Your Yard
Mosquitoes are a part of nature that can’t fully be avoided. However, with these tips, you can be sure that you can help to prevent their population from spreading in your yard. By using these methods, you can once again enjoy the great outdoors peacefully without fear of a mosquito flying by.
This is truly helpful, thanks.