- 40 minutes ago
A simple yeast-and-sugar bucket trap, a ring of mosquito-repelling plants, and one overlooked habit can make summer evenings far more comfortable. This calm home remedy guide explains how mosquitoes track carbon dioxide from your breath, then shows how to turn that behavior against them with a homemade trap using warm water, dry yeast, brown sugar, and a little dish soap.
The video also covers practical yard care that matters just as much: marigolds, lavender, catnip, lemon balm, peppermint, rosemary, basil, and citronella grass can help deter mosquitoes around porches, doorways, and seating areas. It also stresses the real foundation of mosquito control—emptying standing water in buckets, gutters, saucers, birdbaths, and other breeding spots.
Created for viewers searching for mosquito trap, DIY pest control, home remedies for mosquitoes, backyard mosquito control, and natural insect repellent ideas, this is useful for porch evenings, garden care, and simple seasonal prevention. For anyone looking for practical mosquito control tips, homemade mosquito trap ideas, and natural yard protection, this calm guide keeps the focus on comfort, safety, and common-sense prevention.
The video also covers practical yard care that matters just as much: marigolds, lavender, catnip, lemon balm, peppermint, rosemary, basil, and citronella grass can help deter mosquitoes around porches, doorways, and seating areas. It also stresses the real foundation of mosquito control—emptying standing water in buckets, gutters, saucers, birdbaths, and other breeding spots.
Created for viewers searching for mosquito trap, DIY pest control, home remedies for mosquitoes, backyard mosquito control, and natural insect repellent ideas, this is useful for porch evenings, garden care, and simple seasonal prevention. For anyone looking for practical mosquito control tips, homemade mosquito trap ideas, and natural yard protection, this calm guide keeps the focus on comfort, safety, and common-sense prevention.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00A mosquito is a small thing, and yet across the world it is reckoned the deadliest creature there is.
00:05For the disease it can carry takes more lives in a year than every fierce beast on earth together.
00:12And here in our yards, at the least, it steals the summer evening,
00:16driving us in off our own porches, itching and slapping,
00:20or reaching for the harsh sprays we would rather not put on our children's skin.
00:25But here is the thing most folks never learn, and it changes everything.
00:29A mosquito does not find you by chance.
00:32It tracks you, by your very breath, following it straight to your skin.
00:36And once you understand that, you stop trying to hide from them,
00:40and instead you turn it against them, giving them something they cannot resist more than you,
00:45and making the place around you unwelcoming besides.
00:49So today I am going to show you a two-part homemade defense against mosquitoes,
00:54a simple trap that draws them in, and a ring of plants that helps keep them off.
00:59With no harsh chemicals at all, and I will be honest with you about what these do and do not
01:04do,
01:05and one important safety word.
01:07Let me show you.
01:08Here is the thing to understand first, for it is the key to the whole business,
01:12and it tells you exactly how to beat them.
01:14A mosquito does not wander about hoping to bump into a meal.
01:18It hunts you by smell, and chiefly by one smell,
01:22the carbon dioxide, the very gas you breathe out with every breath.
01:27To a mosquito, your breath on the air is a dinner bell,
01:30and it can smell it from a long way off,
01:32and follow that trail straight to you with terrible accuracy.
01:36That is why no matter where you sit or what you dab on yourself,
01:40they find you in minutes.
01:41They are not guessing.
01:42They are tracking your breath.
01:44And here is the beautiful turn of it.
01:45Once you know they hunt by that breath smell,
01:48you can make something that breathes out that same smell stronger than you do,
01:52and draw them away from you and into a trap.
01:55And you can plant around your seat the smells that muddle and put them off.
01:59Draw them away with the smell they crave,
02:02and cloud your own place with the smells they hate.
02:05That is the whole strategy.
02:06And now let me give you the two parts of it.
02:09Quick word before we go further.
02:11My name is Esther Yoder,
02:12and the old household ways handed down to me,
02:15the kind I am sharing today,
02:17and a great many more besides,
02:19are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:22I have gathered the whole of them into a book,
02:25and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:28If today's tips serve you,
02:30that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:34all in the one place.
02:36Now, to the mosquitoes.
02:37My grandmother had a saying that fits this exactly.
02:41That you do not chase the fly.
02:43You set the table.
02:44It cannot leave.
02:45She meant that fighting a pest by swatting and chasing is endless losing labor.
02:50But understanding what draws it,
02:52and using that to lure it to its own undoing,
02:54is the wise and winning way.
02:56And the mosquito, hunting by breath,
02:59is the very picture of it.
03:01So here is her kind of table setting.
03:03The trap first, and then the plants,
03:05and then the thing that matters most of all.
03:07The first part is the trap,
03:09and it is a clever thing that turns their own hunting against them.
03:13Since a mosquito is drawn to the carbon dioxide of your breath,
03:17you make a thing that breathes out that same gas,
03:20stronger and steadier than you,
03:22sitting off away from where you sit,
03:24and they go to it instead of to you.
03:26And here is how you make that breath in a bucket,
03:29from plain kitchen things.
03:30Pour about a quart of warm water into a bucket or a large jar,
03:34the warm water to wake the yeast quickly.
03:37Add about a tablespoon of dry yeast,
03:39and a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar,
03:42and stir it gently.
03:43Within minutes, it begins to bubble and foam,
03:46and that bubbling is carbon dioxide being given off,
03:49the very breath gas the mosquitoes crave,
03:52and your trap is now switched on and calling to them.
03:55Now, here is the catch that catches them.
03:57Add a tablespoon of plain dish soap on top,
04:01and do not stir it in,
04:03just let it sit on the surface.
04:05The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the water,
04:08so that the moment a mosquito comes down to the water drawn by the gas,
04:13it cannot rest on the surface as it would.
04:15It sinks and cannot escape.
04:18So the yeast and sugar call them in with the false breath,
04:21and the soapy water takes them.
04:23Set your bucket a little away from where you sit,
04:26in a shaded corner or by a doorway where mosquitoes gather,
04:30so it draws them away from you, not toward you.
04:34And you must refresh it, for the fermenting slows.
04:37Make a new batch every three or four days as the bubbling dies down.
04:41And it is good to shift the bucket to a fresh spot now and then.
04:45Give it a full night before you judge it,
04:48for the gas must build and the mosquitoes must find it.
04:51A bucket of false breath that draws them from you and drowns them for pennies.
04:57The second part is the plants,
04:59the ring of growing things who smells mosquitoes dislike,
05:03planted about where you sit to help keep them off.
05:06And here I must be honest with you,
05:08plainly, about what these do,
05:11for I will not oversell them.
05:13These plants help.
05:14They genuinely deter and cut down the biting.
05:17But no plant is a wall,
05:19nor a guarantee of not one single bite.
05:22They lessen the trouble.
05:24They do not abolish it.
05:26Told honestly as a help,
05:28they are a fine and lovely help indeed.
05:30And here are the good ones.
05:32Marigolds, the bright ones,
05:34carry in them a natural substance
05:36that many an insect repellent is made from,
05:39and mosquitoes dislike them.
05:41Plant them round your seating and your doorways.
05:44Lavender, with its lovely scent to us,
05:47muddles a mosquito's senses and puts it off,
05:50and has been grown for keeping pests away for a very long time.
05:54Catnip is one of the better ones,
05:57genuinely known to send mosquitoes the other way.
05:59Lemon balm carries the same sort of oils
06:02as the old citronella candles,
06:05only in the living leaf.
06:07Peppermint's strong menthol overwhelms their smelling.
06:10Rosemary you can grow by your seat,
06:13and a sprig of it thrown on the coals of your barbecue
06:16sends its smoke and scent across the yard
06:19while it flavors your food.
06:21And basil and citronella grass round out the good ones.
06:24So plant a mix of these
06:26about your porch and seating and doorways,
06:28and they help keep the mosquitoes off,
06:31some working always by their standing scent,
06:34others when you brush against or crush them
06:36and release their oils.
06:38Now, a caution on the plants,
06:40for you will hear folks say to crush the leaves
06:43and rub them right on your skin for protection.
06:46I would be careful there.
06:47You may crush a leaf to release its scent
06:50near where you sit, and that is fine,
06:52but rubbing raw plant juice directly on your skin,
06:56and especially on a child's skin,
06:58can irritate or bring on a reaction in some folk,
07:02and it is not a sure nor lasting protection besides.
07:05So use the plants for their scent about your place,
07:08and be cautious of rubbing the raw leaves on skin.
07:12Test a little on your own arm first if you will try it,
07:15and do not do it to the children.
07:18Honest about that.
07:19Now, here is the part that matters most of all,
07:22the true foundation,
07:24which the trap and the plants only assist,
07:27and which most folks skip.
07:28You must get rid of the standing water
07:31where mosquitoes breed.
07:32For a mosquito is born in still water.
07:35The female lays her eggs
07:37on any bit of standing water she can find,
07:39and from it hatch the next swarm,
07:42so that all the trapping and planting in the world
07:45is bailing a boat while the hole is open
07:47if you leave the breeding water about.
07:50So walk your yard and empty every bit
07:52of standing water you can find,
07:54the buckets and cans and old tires that catch rain,
07:58the saucers under the flower pots,
08:00the clogged gutters,
08:02the low spots that puddle,
08:04the wheelbarrow left out,
08:05the pet's water dish that sits too long.
08:08Empty them, turn them over,
08:10tip them out,
08:11at least every few days,
08:13so no water stands long enough to hatch a brood.
08:16And your birdbath,
08:18change its water every couple of days,
08:20or keep it moving.
08:21This, the dumping of the standing water,
08:24cuts the mosquitoes at their birth
08:26and does more than any trap or plant,
08:28for it stops the swarm before it is born.
08:31Dump the water first and always,
08:33that is the true foundation.
08:35Now here is the honest and important safety word I owe you,
08:39and heed it well,
08:40for it is a matter of real health.
08:43These homemade helps,
08:45the trap and the plants and the emptied water,
08:47are wonderful for cutting down the nuisance
08:50and the biting in your own yard,
08:52and I am glad to give them to you.
08:54But understand plainly,
08:56in many places a mosquito carries real disease,
08:59and for that,
09:00these yard helps alone are not enough.
09:03So if you live where mosquitoes carry sickness,
09:06or you are protecting a baby,
09:07or you are travelling somewhere
09:09with mosquito-borne illness,
09:11do not trust a bucket and some plants alone
09:14to keep you safe.
09:15Use proper protection besides,
09:17good screens on your windows and doors,
09:20covering your skin with clothing at dusk
09:23when they are worst,
09:24and a proper approved repellent
09:26where it is truly needed.
09:28The homemade ways are grand
09:30for your comfort and your evening on the porch.
09:33They are not, by themselves,
09:35a shield against disease.
09:36I would far rather tell you that plainly
09:39than have you or your child
09:41bitten trusting a plant
09:43where a real danger was.
09:45Comfort in the yard, yes,
09:47but real protection where real disease is.
09:50Now think a moment about
09:52why we came to fight the mosquitoes
09:54only with the store's candles
09:56that barely reach a foot,
09:58and the harsh sprays we dislike on our children,
10:01forgetting the plain trap and the plants,
10:04and the simple emptying of water
10:06that our grandmothers knew.
10:07It is worse than a plot,
10:09for no one had to arrange it.
10:11There is a steady trade in the candles
10:14and the sprays and the zappers,
10:16and none at all in teaching folk
10:18that a mosquito hunts by breath
10:20and can be lured to a bucket,
10:22that a ring of common herbs helps keep it off,
10:25and that tipping out the standing water
10:27stops it being born at all.
10:30So the plain old knowing
10:32of how a mosquito lives
10:33and how to turn its own nature against it
10:36just stopped being handed down
10:38because no one profits
10:40by your beating it for pennies.
10:42My grandmother kept the water tipped out
10:45and the herbs by the door
10:46and sat out her summer evenings,
10:48and somewhere between her day and ours,
10:51we were taught to buy the candle and the spray
10:54and slap all night anyway.
10:57The mending of it is a bucket,
10:59a few plants,
11:00and an emptied yard.
11:01You set the yeast and sugar trap
11:03to breathe out the false breath
11:05and draw them from you into the soapy water.
11:08You plant the ring of herbs,
11:11the marigold and lavender
11:12and catnip and rosemary and the rest,
11:15about your seat to help keep them off.
11:18Honestly, a help and not a wall.
11:20And above all,
11:22you dump every bit of standing water
11:24every few days to stop them being born.
11:27And where real disease is,
11:29you add proper screens
11:31and covering and repellent besides.
11:33And you win back your summer evenings
11:36on your own porch
11:37for pennies and no harsh chemical.
11:40That is how it comes home.
11:42One tipped bucket,
11:43one planted herb at a time.
11:46The keeping of your own yard
11:48back in your own hands.
11:50So here is what I would ask of you.
11:53This week,
11:54set up the yeast trap
11:55and empty every bit of standing water
11:57in your yard
11:58the way I showed you.
12:00And if the season is right,
12:01put in a few of those helping herbs
12:04about your porch
12:05and then come back
12:06and tell me in the comments
12:07how your evenings went
12:09and which method helped you most.
12:11For I do love to hear
12:13of a porch one back
12:14from the mosquitoes.
12:15And tell me too,
12:17while you are there,
12:18your county
12:18and the age of your house.
12:20For the wet low places
12:22and the warm south
12:23have the mosquitoes the worst.
12:25And I learn from every one of you
12:27how it goes where you live.
12:29And if your own mother
12:30or grandmother
12:31had a way of keeping
12:32the mosquitoes off
12:33that I have not named here,
12:35tell me that most of all,
12:37for that is how this goes,
12:39we share what we were given.
12:40I read every comment
12:42and I learn from you
12:43the way the old women
12:45learned from one another
12:46across the fence line,
12:48one summer
12:49and one yard at a time.
12:51Next time,
12:52I will show you
12:53the old ways
12:53of keeping the rest
12:55of the biting
12:56and stinging things off,
12:57the flies and the gnats
12:59and the wasps
13:00that trouble a porch
13:01and the picnic
13:02with the same plain traps
13:04and plants
13:05and good scents
13:06rather than the shelf
13:08of sprays
13:09so that your yard
13:10and your table
13:11are your own again
13:12all the summer long.
13:14There is a right
13:15and an old way
13:16to keep a household's yard
13:18livable
13:19in the biting season
13:20that runs on
13:21understanding the pest
13:23and a few cheap things
13:24rather than the fog
13:26of chemicals.
13:27But this week,
13:29you start with the mosquitoes.
13:30You set the trap
13:32to draw them off,
13:33plant the herbs
13:34to help keep them back
13:36and empty the standing water
13:38to stop them
13:39at their birth.
13:40And where real disease is,
13:42you add the proper protection besides.
13:45And you will understand,
13:47as my grandmother did,
13:48that you do not chase the fly
13:50but set the table
13:52it cannot leave.
13:53that a mosquito
13:54hunts you
13:55by your very breath
13:57and so can be lured
13:58to a bucket
13:59and drowned.
14:01And that the true foundation
14:02is not a candle
14:04nor a spray
14:05but the plain tipping out
14:07of the water
14:08where it is born.
14:10The household
14:11kept the plain old way
14:13is the one
14:13that remembers
14:14how the old folk
14:16turned the mosquitoes'
14:17own hunting
14:18against it
14:18and emptied
14:20the breeding water
14:21and sat out
14:22their summer evenings
14:23in peace.
14:24And that is a thing
14:25we are only just
14:26starting to remember.
14:27remember.
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