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Neighbor told me my rain barrels were breeding mosquitoes. She was right.
I had two 55-gallon barrels catching gutter runoff for a year, proud of my setup. Then an older lady down the street walked over and said "you're basically running a nursery for skeeters." I checked and sure enough, there was a whole ecosystem in there. Now I screen the openings and drop in mosquito dunks every month. Anybody else get called out for a well-meaning but flawed setup?
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felix_lane9916d ago
I live in Arizona where we get maybe 10 inches of rain a year max, so I'd kill for that problem. My neighbor has three rain barrels he's been running for five years without any screens or chemicals, and I've seen more dragonflies around his yard than anywhere else on the block. Mosquitoes breed in still water, sure, but your gutters and bird baths and even puddles in the street are way bigger contributors than a well-sealed barrel with moving water. Maybe just let the ecosystem do its thing, toss in a few mosquito fish or something instead of dumping chemicals every month.
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nancy47516d ago
Not sure I'd go tossing fish in a rain barrel unless you're real committed to keeping them alive through a summer. Those things heat up like a bathtub in direct sun. Also dragonflies are great and all but they can't eat every mosquito that hatches, especially if the barrel isn't perfectly sealed and gets a little leaf debris in there. Just saying, five years without a problem doesn't mean year six is gonna be the same.
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gavinlopez11d ago
@gavinlopez Totally agree with @felix_lane99 on this one. People overthink rain barrels way too much. I've had two open barrels in my backyard for years, no screens, no chemicals, and maybe once a summer I see a mosquito hatch. That's it. Meanwhile, I dump out my bird bath every week and that thing breeds mosquitoes like crazy if I skip a few days. A rain barrel with a little movement and some critters like dragonflies or even a couple feeder minnows can handle itself just fine without turning into a chemistry experiment.
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