- 2 months ago
Kill mosquitoes in your yard naturally with a simple Amish-inspired method that targets where they hide and breed. This practical guide shows how to mix a garlic spray with citric acid, castile soap, and warm water, then apply it to shady resting places like shrubs, tall grass, and low tree branches without spraying flowers or vegetables.
The real secret is prevention: walk your property often, tip out standing water in saucers, buckets, gutters, toys, and puddles, and treat any water you cannot empty so mosquito larvae never become biting adults. You also get common-sense tips for using the spray safely on a calm evening, protecting bees and pollinators, and keeping your home and family more comfortable outdoors.
Created for viewers searching for natural mosquito control, Amish home remedies, backyard pest control, and DIY garden tips, this calm how-to narration is useful for summer yard care, outdoor living, and low-cost pest prevention. It also fits searches for garlic spray for mosquitoes, standing water mosquito prevention, and natural mosquito repellent for the yard.
The real secret is prevention: walk your property often, tip out standing water in saucers, buckets, gutters, toys, and puddles, and treat any water you cannot empty so mosquito larvae never become biting adults. You also get common-sense tips for using the spray safely on a calm evening, protecting bees and pollinators, and keeping your home and family more comfortable outdoors.
Created for viewers searching for natural mosquito control, Amish home remedies, backyard pest control, and DIY garden tips, this calm how-to narration is useful for summer yard care, outdoor living, and low-cost pest prevention. It also fits searches for garlic spray for mosquitoes, standing water mosquito prevention, and natural mosquito repellent for the yard.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is an evening in high summer you have surely lived,
00:03when the heat of the day has broken at last,
00:06and you want nothing more than to sit out on the porch
00:09or in the yard as the light goes soft and gold.
00:13And you cannot.
00:15For the moment you step out, they find you, the mosquitoes,
00:19rising up out of the grass and the shrubs in a whining cloud.
00:23And by the time you have swatted the third one off your arm,
00:27you have given up and gone back inside,
00:30and the whole sweet evening is lost to you.
00:33And when the family comes for a barbecue,
00:36or the little ones want to play in the yard at dusk,
00:39it is worse still.
00:42Well, you need not surrender your own yard.
00:45There is an old way to knock the mosquitoes down,
00:48made from a few things you likely have in your kitchen,
00:51and I am going to give you the whole of it,
00:54the spray, and how to mix it, and just where to put it,
00:58and the other plain things that keep them from ever coming in the first place.
01:04Here is the thing to understand before we start,
01:06for it is the key to the whole business.
01:09A mosquito lives a hidden life you never see.
01:13By day, it does not fly about.
01:16It rests, tucked down in the cool, damp shade,
01:20under the leaves of your shrubs and grasses,
01:23low to the ground,
01:24waiting for the cool of the morning or the twilight to come out and hunt.
01:29And it is born in water, still standing water,
01:33even the least little bit.
01:35So to master them, you work at those two things,
01:39the shady places where they hide
01:42and the standing water where they breed,
01:44and you leave the flowers alone where the good bees work.
01:49Get those right, and you take back your yard.
01:52Let me give it to you in order,
01:54and we start with the spray.
01:57Quick word before we go further.
01:59My name is Esther Yoder,
02:01and the old household ways handed down to me,
02:04the kind I am sharing today,
02:06and a great many more besides,
02:08are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:12I have gathered the whole of them into a book,
02:16and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:20If today's tips serve you,
02:22that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:26all in the one place.
02:28Now, to the mosquitoes.
02:30My grandmother could not abide a mosquito,
02:34and she kept the dooryard where we sat of an evening near clear of them,
02:38and she did it with garlic of all plain things,
02:42and with a sharp eye for any water left standing where it ought not be.
02:48She used to say the mosquito hates two things,
02:51the smell of garlic and a dry yard,
02:54and if you give it both,
02:56it will trouble your neighbor and leave you be.
02:59That was her way,
03:01and it is the way I will give you,
03:03for it works,
03:04and it is made of things off your own shelf.
03:07So here is the spray.
03:09You take granulated garlic powder,
03:12and the stronger and sharper the garlic,
03:15the better,
03:16for the smell is the whole of its power.
03:19For a big four-gallon batch,
03:21you use about a cup of the garlic powder,
03:24which is a quarter cup to every gallon,
03:27so measure by that if you make a smaller batch.
03:31Put it in warm water to start,
03:33for warm water dissolves it far better than cold,
03:37and if you have it,
03:38hot water is better still.
03:41And if it will not dissolve smooth,
03:43run it through a common kitchen blender
03:46to break it up fine,
03:47for you want it fully dissolved
03:49and no lumps left to clog your sprayer.
03:53Then you add citric acid,
03:56that sour white powder many keep for canning,
03:59which is itself a fine mosquito repellent
04:02and sharpens the whole mixture.
04:05You use about a tablespoon to every two gallons,
04:09so for the four-gallon batch,
04:11that is two tablespoons.
04:13Stir that in and let it dissolve fully as well.
04:16And the third thing,
04:18which makes it cling where you spray it,
04:20is a good Castile soap,
04:23the plain natural soap made from vegetable oils,
04:26safe to use about your garden and your plants.
04:30You add about a tablespoon of that
04:32to the four-gallon batch.
04:34What the soap does is help the whole mixture mix smooth,
04:39and more than that,
04:41make it stick to the leaves where the mosquitoes rest,
04:44instead of running off,
04:45so it stays and does its work.
04:47So there are your three plain things.
04:50Strong garlic powder,
04:52citric acid,
04:53and Castile soap,
04:54and warm water to carry them.
04:56Now mix it all together,
04:57and here is a thing you must not skip.
05:01Let it sit and steep a good while before you spray,
05:0415 minutes at the very least,
05:06and overnight is better still,
05:08so that every bit of the garlic and the citric acid dissolves clean through.
05:13If it is not fully dissolved,
05:15it will clog your sprayer and vex you to no end,
05:18so give it that time to sit,
05:21and then give it one last stir before you fill your sprayer.
05:24You may put it through whatever sprayer you have,
05:27a little handheld pump sprayer for a small patio,
05:31or a larger pump or a backpack sort for a big yard,
05:35and one plain word of care if you use a big four-gallon backpack sprayer.
05:41Filled, it is heavy,
05:42so if your knees or your back are not what they were,
05:46set it up high on a bench first and slip into it like a pack,
05:50or else mix only a gallon at a time,
05:52so you are not hoisting the full weight.
05:55Do it the easy way.
05:56There is no sense hurting yourself over mosquitoes.
06:00Now where you put it is everything,
06:03so heed this part close.
06:05You spray it where the mosquitoes hide and rest,
06:08and nowhere else.
06:09That means the shrubs and the tall grasses
06:12and the ornamental grasses in and around them,
06:15over the top and all around the base down low
06:18where they tuck themselves in the cool shade.
06:21It means the shady sides of things
06:23and the low branches of trees,
06:24for they will rest a little way up the bark
06:27and in the low leaves,
06:28so you can spray a tree up to 8 or 10 feet
06:31where they shelter.
06:33Anywhere there is human comings and goings,
06:35there will be mosquitoes lying in wait nearby in the shade,
06:38so treat those resting places.
06:40And here is the rule you must never break,
06:43the one that matters most.
06:45Do not spray the flowers,
06:47and do not spray your vegetables.
06:49For the flowering plants are where the bees
06:52and the good pollinators work,
06:54and you must never harm them.
06:55They are far too precious,
06:57and your vegetables need those pollinators
07:00to come and set their fruit.
07:01So on a flowering shrub or tree,
07:04you spray only down low around the ground
07:06and the trunk where the mosquitoes hide,
07:08and you leave the blossoms up top alone.
07:11And in the vegetable garden,
07:12you never spray the vegetables themselves.
07:15You spray only the walkways and the paths
07:18and the bare ground round about
07:19to turn the mosquitoes back while you work,
07:22and you leave the plants for the bees.
07:24A gravel path or a plain grassy strip
07:27or an ornamental grass with no flower on it,
07:30those you may spray freely,
07:32for no pollinator is coming there.
07:35Keep to the resting places and off the blossoms,
07:38and you harm nothing you love.
07:40Two more plain cautions with the spraying,
07:43and they are just good scents.
07:45Do not spray on a windy day,
07:47for you do not want that strong garlic mist
07:50blowing back into your own face
07:51and up your nose and into your lungs.
07:54Even a safe thing like this
07:56will sting your sinuses something fierce,
07:58so wait for a still, calm evening.
08:01And there will be a strong smell of garlic
08:03while you spray, like a pizzeria.
08:05But once it settles and dries into the leaves,
08:08the smell fades away,
08:10and you are left only with a yard
08:12the mosquitoes want to leave.
08:14Made stronger, the mixture holds longer.
08:16A good batch will keep them down
08:18for a couple of weeks or more
08:20before you want to do it again,
08:21and stronger still, longer yet.
08:24Now, the spray knocks down
08:26the grown mosquitoes where they rest,
08:28but here is the truth my grandmother knew.
08:31The surest way to be rid of them
08:33is to keep them from ever being born,
08:35and that means the water.
08:37A mosquito lays its eggs
08:39in still, standing water,
08:41even a very little,
08:42even a bottle cap's worth,
08:44and there the young hatch and grow
08:46before they ever take wing to bite you.
08:49So the single most powerful thing you can do,
08:52more than any spray,
08:53and it costs you nothing at all,
08:55is to walk your whole place every few days
08:58and tip out every bit of standing water you find.
09:01The saucers under the flowerpots,
09:04the birdbath freshened often,
09:06the old bucket,
09:07the wheelbarrow left out,
09:09the clogged gutter,
09:10the dented lid,
09:12the child's toy,
09:13the low spot that holds a puddle,
09:16the old tire.
09:17Every one of those is a mosquito nursery,
09:20and tipping them out,
09:21or keeping them from filling,
09:23kills the young before they can ever rise.
09:25Do that faithfully,
09:27and you cut your mosquitoes down
09:28more than any spraying will,
09:30for you are stopping them at the source.
09:33A dry yard is a quiet yard.
09:35But there is water you cannot tip out,
09:38the pond,
09:39the rain barrel,
09:40the standing water in a plant tray you must keep,
09:43the low wet ground that will not drain.
09:46For that,
09:47there is a thing worth knowing,
09:48a little bit you drop in the water
09:50that is harmless to you,
09:52and your pets,
09:53and the birds,
09:53and everything else,
09:54but deadly to the mosquito young alone.
09:57You sprinkle a few of these bits
09:59into any standing water you cannot empty,
10:01the trays,
10:02the barrel,
10:03the pond edge,
10:04and they kill the larva in the water
10:06and stop them ever becoming biting adults.
10:09That is prevention at its finest,
10:11striking the mosquito while it is still in the water
10:14and cannot yet trouble you,
10:15and it is safe to use
10:17where children and animals are about.
10:19Between tipping out the water you can
10:21and treating the water you cannot,
10:23you stop the greater part of them
10:25before they ever fly.
10:27And last,
10:28protect the people,
10:29for that is the whole point of it.
10:31Keep good screens on your windows and doors
10:33so they cannot come in the house.
10:35Know that the mosquito hunts most
10:37at the dawn and the dusk,
10:39the twilight hours,
10:40so if you can plan your outdoor sitting
10:42a little away from those times,
10:44or cover your arms and legs
10:46when you are out in them,
10:47you spare yourself a good deal.
10:49Between the spray on the resting places,
10:52the water tipped out and treated,
10:54and a little care for yourselves at dusk,
10:56you take your own yard back.
10:57Now think a moment about why so few folks
11:01know these plain ways.
11:02Why the common thought is to call a company
11:04with a truck to come and fog the yard
11:06for a good fee every few weeks
11:09all summer long.
11:10It is worse than a plot,
11:12for no one had to arrange it.
11:14There is a great deal of money
11:15in that fogging service,
11:16and in the little bottles of bug spray
11:18for your skin bought again and again,
11:21and none at all in teaching you
11:23that a cup of garlic powder
11:24and a sharp eye for standing water
11:26will do the greater part of it for pennies.
11:29So the plain old knowing
11:31that a body can master the mosquitoes
11:32in her own yard
11:33with what is on her shelf
11:35just stopped being handed down
11:37because no one profits by the telling.
11:39My grandmother kept her dooryard clear
11:42with garlic and a dry yard
11:43and thought nothing of it,
11:45and somewhere between her day and ours,
11:47we were taught to feel helpless
11:49before a mosquito
11:50and to pay a man with a truck.
11:52The mending of it is a cup of garlic,
11:55a dry yard, and a little care.
11:57You mix your garlic and citric acid
11:59and castile soap
12:00and spray it on the shady resting places,
12:03off the flowers and the vegetables.
12:05You walk your yard
12:06and tip out every bit of standing water
12:09and drop the harmless bits
12:10in the water you cannot empty,
12:12and you screen your house
12:13and mind the dusk,
12:15and you sit out on your own porch
12:17of a summer evening in peace,
12:18the way a body ought to be able to,
12:20for the cost of near nothing.
12:22That is how it comes home,
12:24one sprayed shrub,
12:26one tipped out bucket at a time,
12:28the taking of your own yard
12:29back into your own hands.
12:31So here is what I would ask of you.
12:33This week,
12:34before your next evening out of doors,
12:36walk your whole place
12:37and tip out every bit of standing water
12:39you can find,
12:40and mix up a batch of the garlic spray
12:42for the resting places,
12:44and then come back
12:45and tell me in the comments
12:46how your yard was after,
12:48whether you got your evenings back,
12:50for I do love to hear it.
12:51And tell me too,
12:52while you are there,
12:53your county and the age of your house,
12:55for the mosquitoes are a far worse plague
12:58in the warm, damp south
12:59than in the dry north,
13:01and the old places
13:02have the low wet spots
13:03and the rain barrels,
13:05and I learn from every one of you
13:06how they run where you live.
13:08And if your own mother
13:10or grandmother
13:11had a way of keeping the mosquitoes off
13:14that I have not named here,
13:16tell me that most of all.
13:18For that is how this goes.
13:19We share what we were given.
13:22I read every comment,
13:24and I learn from you
13:26the way the old women learned
13:28from one another
13:28across the fence line,
13:30one yard
13:31and one summer at a time.
13:34Next time,
13:35I will show you
13:36the old ways
13:37to keep the flies
13:38and the gnats
13:39and the other summer pests
13:41out of the house itself,
13:43the plain things
13:44at the door
13:45and the window
13:46that our grandmothers used
13:47before there was ever
13:49a can to buy,
13:50so the whole warm season
13:52is yours again,
13:53indoors and out.
13:55There is a right
13:56and an old way
13:58to live easy
13:59through a summer
14:00that runs
14:01on a few cheap things
14:03and a little knowing.
14:04But this week,
14:05you start with the water
14:06and the garlic.
14:07You tip out every bit
14:10of standing water
14:11where they breed.
14:12You spray your garlic
14:13and citric acid
14:15on the shady places
14:16where they hide.
14:17You leave the flowers
14:19for the bees,
14:20and you take back
14:21your own dooryard
14:22of an evening.
14:23And you will understand,
14:25as my grandmother did
14:27at her own porch step,
14:28that you were never helpless
14:30before the mosquito at all,
14:32that it hates only two things,
14:35the smell of garlic
14:36and a dry yard,
14:38and that both are yours
14:39to give it for pennies.
14:41The home kept
14:43the plain old way
14:44is the one that remembers
14:46how the old women
14:47sat out easy
14:48on a summer evening
14:50with nothing but garlic
14:51and a dry yard
14:53between them
14:54and the whining dark.
14:55And that is a thing
14:57we are only just starting
14:58to remember.