How to Keep Bugs Away While You Enjoy the Outdoors
Along with sunny days and warm evenings, the summer season invariably brings mosquitoes and other less-than-welcome visitors to gardens. If mosquitoes and other insects are an issue where you live, take a look at the following nine ideas to help prevent them from becoming too much of a bother — or, in more serious cases, potentially spreading diseases — when you spend time outside this summer.
1. Eliminate Standing Water
Mosquitoes and flies seek out standing water to breed and can lay 100 to 200 eggs in one clutch. To prevent a rapid increase in mosquitoes in your yard, get rid of any sources of stagnant water. These can include water inside watering cans, plant saucers, pots without drainage holes, the lids of garbage cans, grill covers, hollow tree trunks or gutters that have been clogged with leaves.
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2. Control for Larvae in Water Features
Water features, such as ponds or fountains, should ideally always have moving water (via a recirculating pump or electric aerator). For shallow water features and bird baths, change the water twice a week.
Moving water dissuades mosquitoes from laying eggs, and changing the water every few days interrupts the mosquito life cycle, preventing mosquito eggs or larvae from reaching maturity.
While introducing mosquito fish is often touted as a solution for keeping mosquito populations down, this is not recommended, as the introduced fish could spread to local waterways (if a pond overflowed, for example) and become an invasive species.
3. Add Screens
Creating a physical barrier between you and the bugs can be the best way to prevent being bitten. Screen in a porch to enjoy meals outside in the evening worry-free. Add screens to doors and windows of your home to prevent any unwelcome guests. If you have an existing screen, check for holes and tears — mosquitoes and other insects can pass through very small gaps — and repair as needed.
4. Use Mosquito Nets
We usually only think of using mosquito nets to cover beds at night, but they can also be used to protect outdoor seating areas. Think of them as a flexible, inexpensive alternative to screens and use them where you need them.
Keep in mind that if bug protection is the aim, all gaps — such as between the netting and ceiling, ground and posts — would need to be drawn closed, leaving nowhere for insects to get in.
5. Install Outdoor Ceiling Fans
Mosquitoes, gnats and fruit flies have something in common: None of them are strong fliers. Hang a ceiling fan above an outdoor seating area, and the constant breeze will keep anyone seated beneath it largely safe from bites. Keep in mind that this isn’t a foolproof solution. The surface of a table can cut the breeze, and mosquitoes could potentially bite anyone’s legs beneath it.
Tip: When purchasing outdoor fans, look for those that are wet-rated and intended for outdoor use.
6. Move Seating Areas Out of Deep Shade
Day-biting mosquitoes generally stick to the shadowy areas of gardens and avoid being in full sun. If you’re planning on being outside midday, position your seat or outdoor table and chairs in an area in full sun, and you should have less of a problem with mosquitoes.
This tactic should work even if you take shelter under an umbrella or shade cover. As long as there is a buffer of lawn or patio in full sun surrounding your seating area, day-biters won’t be encouraged to fly though.
7. Have Bug Repellent on Hand
If mosquitoes show up during dinner, it’s less of an interruption if you have bug spray on hand and within easy access of an outdoor seating area.
Instead of using DEET-based repellents, which can have adverse environmental effects, try repellents that rely on natural ingredients — such as citronella, eucalyptus oil or tea tree oil — that are safer for humans, pets and the environment.
8. Bring Cushions Inside When Not in Use
Mosquitoes aren’t likely to hang out on cushions, but other creepy crawling things might. To avoid needing to brush off spiders, ants or earwigs before you can kick back and relax on an outdoor sofa, plan on bringing cushions and throw blankets indoors when not in use.
9. Burn Citronella Candles
Citronella candles and diffusers can be effective insect repellents in outdoor spaces, but they need to be used properly for any positive bug-reducing effect.
If they haven’t worked for you in the past, chances are you haven’t had enough of them to properly cover a seating area with the protective scent. A quick test: If you can’t strongly smell the citronella when you’re seated, chances are that the smell will not be strong enough to repel insects.
Citronella is best used in combination with other control measures, such as topical insect repellent.
Important note: As tempting as it may be to aim for banishing these bugs completely, this generally isn’t the goal (with the significant exception of mosquito populations that carry diseases such as Zika, Dengue and West Nile virus). Mosquitoes play a role in ecosystems: The larvae live in water and provide a food source for fish and larger insect larvae such as damsel flies, while adults serve as pollinators.
If you live in an area where there have been reported cases of mosquito-borne diseases, consult your local county extension office for specific control measures, which may be more drastic than those recommended here.