Toss

Beat them to the source.

No water, no mosquito babies. ☑ Done.

Why toss standing water? Mosquitoes don’t need much. A bottle cap of water is enough to breed hundreds. And it takes 5-7 days for an egg to mature into an adult.

The good news: most standing water in and around your home can simply be dumped, drained, or removed — no products, no cost, no expertise required. It’s the single most effective thing you can do, and it takes minutes.

Tossing works best as part of a system. It cuts off the next generation at the source. Treating → handles the water you can’t toss. Trapping → deals with the adults already out there.

The biggest culprit

Trash & Recycling Bins

Trash cans are one of the biggest culprits on the block.

This one surprises people every time: trash cans are one of the most significant mosquito breeding grounds in urban neighborhoods — and most people never think to check them.

Here’s the problem: lids crack, warp, and go missing. Bin bodies get holes punched through them from rough handling. Water gets in, sits in the bottom, and becomes a mosquito nursery that gets wheeled right back to your house every week.

A few things to do right now:

Check your bin’s lid and body.

Cracks and holes let water pool inside and create a breeding ground. You can request a replacement through DC 311 → — online, by phone, or through the 311 app. It takes about two minutes.

Note: Bin/lid repair and replacement is typically at the owner’s expense, but if the damage is caused by rodents, it will be free. Seniors are eligible for a discount.

Before a storm, close everything.

This sounds obvious but it’s easy to forget. A bin left open during a rainstorm fills fast. Make it a habit: when rain is forecast, lids go down.

Can’t drain it? Treat it.

If your bin consistently collects water in the bottom and you can’t fully dry it out, toss in a pinch of Bits. It won’t hurt anything and it kills larvae before they hatch. More on Bti →

Your neighbors’ bins

Your neighbors’ bins matter too. A cracked lid two doors down undermines everyone’s effort on the block.

DC will replace or repair bins with rodent damage for free — and you can request a bulk inspection for the whole block at once through 311. We recommend coordinating with your Block Captain.

Find your Block Captain → · Full details →

Other culprits

Once a week, do a slow walk around your property with fresh eyes:

Tarps and covers

Anything with a fold or a sag collects water. Pull them taut or remove them entirely.

Planter saucers

Always wet, always forgotten. Tip them out every few days or ditch them.

Big-leafed plants

Some leaves cup enough water to breed mosquitoes. Give them a shake after rain.

Low spots in the yard

If water sits for more than a few days after rain, it’s a breeding ground. Fill the depression or redirect drainage if you can.

Kids’ toys, buckets, anything left outside

Anything that holds water, does. Flip it over or bring it in.

Look above the water too

One of the mosquitoes we’re up against in DC — the tiger mosquito — doesn’t lay its eggs in the water. It lays them on the inner wall of a container, just above the waterline. So even when you don’t see any larvae wriggling around, the eggs can already be there, waiting for the next rain to raise the water and hatch them.

They’re easy to mistake for dirt. Look just above the water level in birdbaths, buckets, saucers, anything that holds water. If you spot a dark, grainy band that looks like a smudge, look closer. Once you know the shape, you can pick them out with the naked eye. Scrub them off and refresh the water, and you’ve stopped the next generation before it starts.

Mosquito eggs in a dark band just above the waterline of a birdbath

Mosquito eggs laid just above the water level.

Images provided by Dr. Leontsini, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.