Managing Mosquitoes: The Mosquito Bucket Challenge on Social Media

The Mosquito Bucket Challenge has taken social media by storm this spring, encouraging people to manage mosquitoes on their property in a more environmentally friendly way than with fogging. The challenge was started by Homegrown National Park, an organization that aims to regenerate biodiversity and help people change their relationship with nature.

"Our goal is to regenerate biodiversity and help people change their relationship with nature where they live," said Krista De Cooke, Strategic Partnership and Science Lead for Homegrown National Park.

According to De Cooke, the challenge has seen thousands of participants across the country over the last month or two. The idea behind it is simple: fill a bucket with water, add a mosquito dunk, and attract breeding females where they lay their eggs.

"The mosquito bucket challenge is a way for people to manage mosquitoes on their property in a more environmentally friendly way than with fogging," explained De Cooke.

Dan Boritt, executive director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation, has been using mosquito buckets in his yard for about three years and welcomes the increased attention. "I just call it like backyard mosquito control, but anything we can do to get people interested in this, make it viral, make people understand that this is an option, I think is great," Boritt shared.

Boritt explained that fogging typically kills everything flying around when it's applied and doesn't do a great job of controlling mosquito populations. "We are in a crisis of insect populations. This is the basis for food webs. If we don't have insects, we don't have birds and bats and mammals and amphibians and reptiles and fish. All these things rely on insects as the basis of their food."

To get rid of pesky mosquitoes, start with a bucket or container filled with water, add a mosquito dunk, and top it with some straw, leaves, grass, or mulch to attract mosquitoes. You can also add a stick into the bucket to act as a wildlife ladder for animals and insects.

"Mosquito bucket challenge is a really simple and affordable way to attract breeding females to your buckets where they lay their eggs," said De Cooke.

The mosquito dunks contain Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI), which prevents those larvae from developing. "It kills all the mosquitoes before they even emerge from the bucket," continued De Cooke.

De Cooke emphasized that BTI only impacts mosquitoes and does not harm other animals or insects who might come into contact with it.

"Mosquitoes are part of our ecosystem and they serve a purpose. They're food for a lot of creatures," started Boritt. "It's a fine line, right? You're killing a native species."

Boritt shared that many mosquitoes are native to Indiana, but we also have invasive species called the Asian tiger mosquito.

Homegrown National Park plans to continue the challenge next year as well, since the number of participants continues to grow. "This is a great gateway into raising awareness, not just about how to manage mosquitoes, but about how to manage and think about your property in general," De Cooke concluded.