I have not done this design, but in a more low-tech sort of thing is I check and regularly dump water collecting things. But, that's normal habit for people here. Unfortunately, the sewer system and nature of the soils makes it perfect for mosquito breeding, and this little trick is unlikely to be effective
enough.
Bats and birds are supposed to be great mosquito vacuums, but they require the mosquitoes to already be flying about. Even better: fish, amphibians, and reptiles, carnivorous insects, and arachnids. These (except maybe arachnids) can grab the larvae before they exit said water area.
Some suggest what I think might be best Management Practices to reduce those thousands of mosquitoes:
-Don't kill your non-poisonous spiders.
-Build habitat for fish, amphibians, and reptiles. So, simply - a
pond filled with fish, circulating water (which also limits mosquito production), a muddy reedy bank and vegetated area and some sunning rocks. This habitat
should also suffice for beneficial insects. Insure it is pesticide/toxin free.
-Have bird and bat habitat as well.
Then watch (i.e. observe): if for whatever reason you are noticing your beneficials population is not proliferating and your mosquito population is not diminishing, then you may have to re-introduce the
native predators to your ecosystem.
For the area you want to hang-out, you may need to use deterents:
-screens, hanging out in the sunny, dry spot, full clothing.
-I've heard of people using a bug light and fan to help solve the problem as well.
This is a permaculture/integrated pest management approach to beating the mosquitoes.
I started my battle with mosquitoes about 1 year ago when I moved here and have found positive improvements as soon as I got a fish
pond with fish and water circulation. I will be scaling up my beneficials (looking for frogs,
dragon flies, etc) using
local native species. I work in rural ag
land and there's a pond with frogs and probably fish, but no mosquitoes to be seen. I live in an urban area with no pond but tons of mosquitoes. It seems against the moto "get rid of all standing water," but I think the mosquito problem is more an ecosystem balance issue. The first to die in an ecosystem collapse tends to be the predators because they don't have food and are poisoned. Also, more complex animals often have a harder time adapting to a new environment than the smaller, less complex. So, that leaves mosquitoes to attack all us urbanites like aphids on over-fertilized and pesticide sprayed chard.
Good luck with your mosquito battles!
