The “Easy Mosquito Trap” that Doesn’t Work – Plus one that does

Want to trap tons of mosquitoes? Click here to jump directly to the mosquito trap that actually works!

Within the past month, this picture with its accompanying tutorial exploded all over the internet. Allegedly, all you needed to make an ultra effective mosquito trap is a 2 liter bottle, cut in half with one half inverted, some brown sugar and some yeast. This concoction would bring the mosquitoes in from miles around to happily dive into the sugar water and die.

Here in central Alberta, mosquitoes are the most common form of winged life under the sun. Going outside in summer is a real risk – because you might go faint from all the blood loss. This mosquito trap looked to be the perfect solution to this insect overload.

Only problem is – the trap doesn’t work. My version of the trap has caught exactly two flies and a small curled up leaf. Not a single mosquito.

I’m not alone either in my dissapointment. Rooting through the comment sections of sites that have published this mosquito trap unearths numerous reports of the same thing. (Example 1, 2, 3, 4) One commenter shares his struggle with this frustrating trap.

I believe that I have read at least 200 comments about this type of soda bottle mosquito trap. I have NOT FOUND A SINGLE ONE THAT SAYS THAT IT WORKS.

I think this trap is a dud, but I’m not giving up the search for a good mosquito trap. If you’ve created your own effective mosquito trap, or even used a commercial mosquito trap, let us know in the comments.

The High Velocity Fan Method

One of our readers gave a glowing recommendation on a method that works similar to a spiderweb. If that spiderweb were powered by rocket fuel. This pile of mosquitoes was captured by Andy Ross from GreenPowerScience in a single night with one mosquito trap.

The trap works by moving an enormous quantity of air through a fine wire mesh. The mesh is impregnated with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) to make sure the mosquitoes are good n dead.

You can try the mosquito catcher out using a normal home box fan, but to really have an effective trap you should go for a high velocity fan. The top recommended fan for these types of traps is the MaxxAir 24″ portable. It will move 4,000 cubic feet per minute. That’s compared to your ordinary Lasko box fans which move about 2,000.

The mesh is harder to find, it needs to be fine enough that mosquitos can’t fit through it. Ordinary hardware cloth won’t work. In a pinch you can just secure ordinary mosquito netting which is cheap and easy to find.

Here is the full video from Green Power Science that the above clip of mosquitoes was taken from. I recommend watching at least the first few minutes for some ideas about which fans you can use, how to attach the mesh, and how to properly use the isopropyl alcohol.