HelpfulGardener.com

Hey guys,

We inherited a 55g drum last year in which we now collect rain water in. Being that the lid does not close on it tightly (and we cant really find a feasible way to do it) we get a mosquito problem quickly.

I have heard of alternative methods of using bleach, or better, olive oil to kill or drown the larvae. Does anyone have experience with that? Can you use vegetable oil instead of olive (I assume bc you are just drowning the larvae)
And how much do you put in for a 55g drum?

Thanks for any input,

Forget about adding stuff to your barrel. I had rain barrels where the downspouts from the roof drained into the barrel. Get some window screen material wide enough to fit on top of the barrel so it hangs don a few inches, use a bungee cord and wrap it around the the barrel holding the screen in place. Mosquitos can't get in to lay eggs.

I attached a garden faucet at about a foot off the bottom so a hose could be attached for a drain. If you want to dip a pail of water out, just undo the screen, remove water and replace the screen.

You could also buy some of the inexpensive Bt mosquito dunks (a small piece is plenty for the 55 gal drum surface water) if you need to keep the top open. note: just saw the previous post and I agree.

I don't use oil in the barrel. I do have a screen on my barrel and I have used bleach (it also helps control the algae in the barrel), soap (breaks surface tension of the water so the mosquitoes drown if they try to stand on it), and Bt in the form of mosquito dunks, it works just fine. If you use Bt it must be the kind in dunks or if its says on the label it is for use in ponds. The other kind of Bt in dipel is for caterpillars and it is a different species so it won't work in water.

interesting!
I will look into these mosquito dunks.

Thanks for all the advice ya'll.

Goldfish.

Work wonders.
Nearly maintenance free.
Cheap.

This may not be an option if you keep your rain barrel in full sun and the water is very warm. (Goldfish are generally good with cool water.)

It's also not an option if you regularly drain your rain barrel to bone dry, obviously.

Comet goldfish.
The feeder kind.
Available for purchase anywhere that sells aquarium fish... (we paid 13 cents for ours last year!)

My husband named ours Nigel and got attached to him! ha ha



BUT, at the end of the season, after I'd set up a 2 gallon fishbowl I happened to have (used to have bettas) I'd kept it with all the filter/pump stuff.
And then the goldfish died.

If you get a fancy hardy species of goldfish, they could live for years!!

If you live in rural area, you may need more than one in a 55gallon barrel.
I've seen blogs online where people talk about having 3 in a barrel.
We had 1 goldfish and rarely saw any larvae. But we live in the city, so it's not like we have a jungle load of mosquitoes generally.

We actually kind of got excited if we actually saw the goldfish eating larvae in the barrel, because it wasn't often... yet we know he was eating, because occasionally my husband would give him some goldfish food flakes, and the fish wasn't interested at all.
So he was definitely keeping it completely under control.

Issues:

Need netting placed over the spigot opening and the overflow opening, so the fish doesn't wind up going out the pipes.

At first, my husband placed a grate barrier over the overflow opening, but didn't block the spigot.

One day when my husband was draining via the spigot & hose to the reserve barrel, suddenly Nigel had disappeared. Turned out he went through 120ft of garden hoses to a reserve barrel!!
He did survive.
(We don't have problems with the reserve barrels because they have lids, and they're also the first to get emptied on a regular basis. They're also in full sun.)

To cover the spigot opening on the inside of the barrel, we used an old, saved for rag, fine mesh laundry bag, which we cut pieces from bigger than the openings, and then attached them using a rubber band around the opening pipes. It was pretty easy to take them off to clean them off once in awhile. The filter is a good idea anyway, saves clogging the spigot or the attached garden hose.

Hmmm I might try goldfish too! I bet they are cheap enough, however everytime we emptied it, I would have to go buy more. (Of course I say that and its been raining consistently once a week or so here)

Do you have to get them an aerator? We just have a 55g drum with no spicket no nothing. Just dunk a bucket in there to access the water.

We bought some mosquito netting and placed over the open top and then hatched it down. Thought that would work but doesnt seem too. The larvae just develop, and the mosquito flies out when you open the top. harph.