Dynatrap

[lyle11]

I’m curious if anybody has used these and has an honest opinion of whether they work to trap and reduce mosquitoes. Last year we bought two. My goal is to significantly reduce mosquitoes near the house.

We bought one and hung it up as directed near the house. It was the 1/2 acre size. I got loads of moths but not much else. I would have returned it to Costco but, using my wife’s logic, we need to buy another one for the other side of the house. So she bought a 1 acre trap and we hung it on the other side of the house. I got some mosquitoes. It becomes kind of a mess of bugs on the bottom of the trap and I wasn’t sure what all was getting trapped.

To be fair, the traps weren’t used as directed, which is to hang them as soon and temperatures are regularly above 45°, typically April in the north. The idea I guess is to kill them as early in the season as possible before they can lay eggs and multiply. The first trap wasn’t up until June and second mid July. Eventually the mosquitoes diminished as the summer went on but that’s normal. Also, one trap came with mosquito lure which definitely helped trap more.

My plan this year is to hang them at the recommended time (when temperatures are regularly over 45°). I also plan to use mosquito lure. So, I was looking for any honest opinion by anybody who has used outdoor Dynatraps. Also, I’m thinking that rather than buy Dynatrap’s mosquito lure, that I haven’t seen in the store and has to be shipped incurring extra cost, I might try citronella or some commonly available product to lure mosquitoes.

On a side note, I found that the indoor type Dynatraps a with a light bulb and sticky paper that you plug into a receptacle worked pretty good. I’d see a fly in the house and usually an hour or two later it would be in the trap.

[Don McCombs]

If not mistaken, I think citronella is a repellent, not a lure.

[lyle11]

Thanks Don. I realized that and came back to edit my post to correct my citronella comment. I’ll probably have to buy the Dynatrap lures. I doubt mosquito attracter is gonna be a big seller at the local Walmart. Maybe I can put up one of those bat houses to attract bats to eat the mosquitoes. I see them here in the parks but I have never seen a bat enter or leave one. They are painted black and installed in full sun so bats must like it hot with those narrow openings baking in the sun.

[Rick Spivey]

I have one Dynatrap that catches mostly gnats. We have had some good luck controlling our mosquitos with a combination of the Dynatrap, planting pots of marigolds on the patio, and then we have loads of dragonflies, and 5-6 purple martins. We also burn citronella torches. We plan to put up purple martin houses this year. to try and lure more of them to hang around.

[Don McCombs]

Tree swallows also eat lots of mosquitoes. They are easy to get to nest in a bluebird box.

[lyle11]

We have tree swallows. The bluebirds and tree swallows fight over the 3 bird houses we have up and we always get at least 1 pair of each. My family has owned the place for 52 years and we never had any success getting purple martins. This is farm land with no lake or river within 5 miles. I think that’s why we never attracted purple martins. It also may be that they didn’t like the house we put up, which is the metal octagon style with 2 levels. I have plans for a wood martin house that is supposed to be a design that the birds like. But, I’m thinking with no water nearby I wouldn’t get purple martins.

The house is in the middle of 80 acres and I keep the property clean. I’m not sure how far mosquitoes travel but I don’t know where they hatch on my property. I guess in puddles. Some years we have very few. Last year, we had a lot despite it being relatively dry. I read they breed in stagnant water but the soil there is quite sandy and drains well. So, puddles don’t typically last long.

[Gary Dotson]

Octenol is the mosquito attractant and is available from lots of sources so you don't have to go back to the manufacturer of the trap to get it. We have found that treating our lawn for fleas and ticks also significantly reduced our mosquitos. We've used a couple different products, one was Seven granules, I don't recall the other, applied with a broadcast spreader pulled behind our golf cart. (of course you could use a tractor), kinda fun either way.

[SamsFarm]

My neighbors barn is loaded with bats.
So much so that each year you could probably sweep up a 5 gallon pail of droppings.

In a normal year while my family and friends are getting chewed up at their places, I dont have much trouble!

I think the best way to fight nature is with nature!

I been wanting to build and put up tree swallow houses so they can feast on the flys!

[outdoors4evr]

My neighbors release dragonflies each year in a nearby swamp. They eat mosquito eggs and do a wonderful job at keeping the mosquito population low. I've never lived anywhere that has less mosquitoes than here and this house is near a HUGE swamp.