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Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

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Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#311

Post by schiffern »

carlosjobim wrote: post #267
schiffern wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After checking the obvious like old tires or stagnant ditches or tire tracks, the more hidden breeding sites include house gutters, French drains (under the gravel), buried yard drains, and garage floor drains. The general rule is that mosquitos need a pool of water the size of a bottle cap, and it needs to be there for at least a week. Good luck, and good hunting.

Water suitable for mosquito breeding in nature is probably three million times more common than the man-made.

It's possible that your completely invented number is true if you average over the entire Earth, but I don't care about mosquitos in some deep mountainous Montana wilderness. I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house.

Just to be clear, my recommendation is to mitigate both man-made and natural breeding sites. Fortunately mosquito dunks don't harm other species.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#312

Post by carlosjobim »

schiffern wrote: post #311
carlosjobim wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Water suitable for mosquito breeding in nature is probably three million times more common than the man-made.

It's possible that your completely invented number is true if you average over the entire Earth, but I don't care about mosquitos in some deep mountainous Montana wilderness. I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house. Just to be clear, my recommendation is to mitigate both man-made and natural breeding sites. Fortunately mosquito dunks don't harm other species.

> I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house.

So do I, but mosquitos are usually a problem for people who live close to nature. And then you'll have lakes, puddles, ditches, swamps, etc. But maybe I'm wrong and mosquitos don't fly that far, as another commenter here mentioned.

I will certainly try the mosquito dunks as you advise. Hope they can help.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#313

Post by CWuestefeld »

chopin wrote: post #303
CWuestefeld wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These sort-of work, but not in the way they describe. It doesn't work to break down the mosquito "venom" through heat. What's really happening is that the heat basically overloads (I don't recall the exact biology, but this is the gist) the sensory neurons that would be reporting about the itch. For a short time, until the neurons get unscrambled, the itching sensation is blocked. But it'll likely be back again if yo…

Do you have a source for this?

With some AI-assisted searching:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3257884/

e.g., "An explanation of the mechanism of action for the effectiveness of concentrated heat in this study can be found in the activation and suppression of receptors. A rapid temperature increase to a maximum of 51°C leads to an activation of transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1) via C- and Aδ-fibers."

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#314

Post by throwup238 »

anon_cow1111 wrote: post #307
throwup238 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bacillus thuringiensis is the most used pesticide in existence and has been for nearly a century. We’ve sprayed it everywhere in huge quantities, including on pretty much anything labeled “organic.”

What I really want to know is how do I CULTURE Bacillus thuringiensis, sure its available readily on the web as a pesticide, but only at very high prices for anything beyond a small hobby garden; -what if I have an acre of crops to treat? ~20 usd a pound for a spray bottle liquid solution is not even remotely acceptable.

You can look up how to culture it in the academic research but not only is it relatively hard, culturing Bt isn't enough to turn it into an effective pesticide. Bt is a soil microbe and sticking it on a regular agar plate guarantees it will be outcompeted by contaminants so culturing it requires sterile lab conditions and expensive lab equipment. You're going to need a full blown fume hood with active ventilation just to handle the initial samples and that's the bare minimum. Chances are you'll need a sterilized glove box and commercial off the shelf bioreactor.

The end product is produced in large submersion fermentation tanks where the bacteria is first grown, then then forced to sporulate and allowed to ferment which produces the Cry/Cyt toxin crystals within the spores. Going through these phases requires precise control over nutrients, pH, agitation, and electron acceptors. Even activating the spores to create the inoculum and begin the reproductive cycle is nontrivial because of how sterile everything needs to be.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#315

Post by throw-qqqqq »

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #247
noelwelsh wrote: post #79

The fan trap (e.g. https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Get-Rid-Of-Mosquitoes-w... ) is another low-tech solution that is quite effective.

The one thing this needs to really scale up the murder is a CO2 source behind the fan to attract mosquitoes actively.

The fan works by concentrating CO2, heat, odor etc in front on the fan/screen.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#316

Post by togume »

That’s too much organic material in the water and it will start competing with the BTI when it starts decaying (spoke with manufacturer/inventor’s son).

A couple improvements are to: - Add bifenthrin to the sticks - Use a black bucket for better attraction - Consider spinosad vs BTI for longer lasting larvicide action

I have a big Obsidian file if anyone’s interested.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#317

Post by anon_cow1111 »

throwup238 wrote: post #314
anon_cow1111 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I really want to know is how do I CULTURE Bacillus thuringiensis, sure its available readily on the web as a pesticide, but only at very high prices for anything beyond a small hobby garden; -what if I have an acre of crops to treat? ~20 usd a pound for a spray bottle liquid solution is not even remotely acceptable.

You can look up how to culture it in the academic research but not only is it relatively hard, culturing Bt isn't enough to turn it into an effective pesticide. Bt is a soil microbe and sticking it on a regular agar plate guarantees it will be outcompeted by contaminants so culturing it requires sterile lab conditions and expensive lab equipment. You're going to need a full blown fume hood with active ventilation jus…

This is probably one of the best, and maybe the most shot-in-the-dark responses I've received on hn to the point I wish I could upvote it multiple times. I was really expecting nothing at all.

I did skim read a few papers on the subject and honestly I'm wondering how this stuff even grows naturally, everything has to be so specific it just doesn't seem possible at all.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#318

Post by schiffern »

carlosjobim wrote: post #312
schiffern wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible that your completely invented number is true if you average over the entire Earth, but I don't care about mosquitos in some deep mountainous Montana wilderness. I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house. Just to be clear, my recommendation is to mitigate both man-made and natural breeding sites. Fortunately mosquito dunks don't harm other species.

> I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house. So do I, but mosquitos are usually a problem for people who live close to nature. And then you'll have lakes, puddles, ditches, swamps, etc. But maybe I'm wrong and mosquitos don't fly that far, as another commenter here mentioned. I will certainly try the mosquito dunks as you advise. Hope they can help.

"you'll have lakes, puddles, ditches, swamps, etc"

I do. That's where I put the dunks.

Lakes are usually okay as long as they have minnows or other mosquito-eating fish, but puddles and ditches are the places I focus on.

Fortunately I'm not near a real swamp, but I do have some swampy areas. I break each dunk into quarters and toss 1-3 per puddle, depending on size and funkiness. The package optimistically says four weeks, but I have my phone remind me every three. Good luck!

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#319

Post by ElijahLynn »

foobarian wrote: post #274
ElijahLynn wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death to combustion powered yard tools!!! So frickin noisy!!!!

Even worse is, say you have 20 neighbors on the block each scheduling yard maintenance separately, then it's like the balls in bins problem, and you pretty much end up with these abominations making noise at least once a day (and weekends included because that's when Dad has time to do the weekend warrior thing and it takes him 3x as long as a professional crew). Sigh.

Exactly! An incremental improvement would be that yard stuff should all be done on the same day of the week. And then it would just be super loud but for a short period of time.

Re: Try the Mosquito Bucket of Death

#320

Post by steve_adams_86 »

ratelimitsteve wrote: post #300
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citric acid doesn't work. There are other effective reducing agents too, like Sodium thiosulfate and Sodium/Potassium metabisulfite that are pretty easy and affordable to get a hold of, but even if dosed perfectly I think there's a risk of the reduction byproducts remaining and causing toxicity to things like bacteria or other small organisms. If it's over dosed, it can easily kill larger organisms too. Ascorbic acid…

I can't speak to the sodium based chemicals but as a homebrewer I use potassium metabisulfite (aka campdeb tablets or k-meta) in multiple steps of the brewing process and it has an ld50 in rats of over 2g/kg. It also allows for microbial growth again about 24 hours after being applied, and usually the first step to brewing from juice is to bop it with k-meta, wait a day and then add yeast. Then the last step (if you…

I missed this, but this is great information! Thank you.

I've learned this in an aquaria context where killing the bacterial coating in a tank is a bit of a disaster, and fish tend to be quite sensitive so it could be very risky to use potassium metabisulfite. But what you're detailing here is really interesting. I've used it in brewing before, but it was part of a kit and I didn't really understand it beyond basic mechanics. It's a lot more interesting than I realized!

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