To get rid of mosquitoes, eliminate standing water. Larvae and pupae live in water, so emptying saucers, buckets, and gutters weekly breaks the cycle. For water you cannot drain, add Bti larvicides. Screens and a registered repellent handle the adults.
The most reliable way to get rid of mosquitoes is built on one simple framework: the Source-Reduction method. Instead of chasing adult mosquitoes, you remove the water where they breed. Mosquito larvae and pupae both live in standing water, so eliminating that water is the single most effective control you can do at home. Everything else — larvicides, screens, and repellents — is a supporting layer on top of that foundation. For the wider picture on the topic, start with our mosquitoes overview.
It helps to understand why water matters so much. Mosquitoes go through four life stages — egg, larva (a "wriggler"), pupa (a "tumbler"), and adult — and the larva and pupa stages both live in water. Development from egg to adult typically takes about two weeks, but can run as fast as four days or as long as a month depending on conditions. Adults then live roughly two to four weeks, with females generally living longer. You can dig deeper into that in mosquito larvae.
Because the larva and pupa stages cannot survive without water, removing standing water starves the entire life cycle. The CDC and EPA both point to this as the most effective mosquito control. The routine is simple but has to be consistent: tip out, scrub, or drain every water-holding item around your home at least once a week. A weekly rhythm matters because eggs can become biting adults in as little as four days.
Egg-to-adult timing varies by genus — Aedes and Culex mosquitoes need about 7 to 10 days, while Anopheles takes about 10 to 14 days — but a weekly schedule stays ahead of all of them. Aedes mosquitoes in particular lay eggs at the edges of water, even in very small containers, so no water-holding item is too minor to empty.
Some water simply cannot be drained — think ponds, rain barrels, and low spots that stay wet. For those, the answer is a larvicide. The most common is Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis), a naturally occurring bacterium sold in "mosquito dunks" and "bits." Bti kills mosquito larvae in the water but is not harmful to people, pets, or beneficial insects when used as directed, which makes it a practical choice for water features you want to keep.
Larvicides work by targeting the mosquito while it is still in the water, before it can become a biting adult. That fits neatly with the Source-Reduction approach: you drain what you can, and treat what you cannot. For a closer look at how these products are used, see mosquito dunks.
Plants marketed to repel mosquitoes — citronella, lavender, catnip — have only a weak real-world effect. They are not a substitute for the two steps that actually work:
Treat decorative plants as a nice-to-have, not a control method.
Once breeding is under control, the goal shifts to keeping existing adults away from you. Two layers do most of the work: keeping mosquitoes out of your home with intact window and door screens, and protecting your skin outdoors with an EPA-registered repellent. Because only female mosquitoes bite — they need a blood meal to produce eggs — a good repellent directly reduces bites.
The EPA registers several proven active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) or PMD, and 2-undecanone. Registration means both safety and effectiveness have been reviewed. In practice, DEET at 15 to 30 percent gives about 6 to 12 hours of protection, while very low concentrations (under about 10 percent) last only around 2 hours. Picaridin at 10 to 20 percent is at least as effective as DEET; in one field study, 20 percent picaridin gave 97.4 percent protection over 5 hours. A key point: higher concentration lasts longer, not stronger. You can compare options in mosquito repellent.
For the yard itself, water removal and larvicides remain the backbone, but some homeowners add area treatments to knock down adult populations. If you are considering that route, read mosquito spray for yards before you buy, and keep expectations realistic — no spray replaces emptying standing water.