Northern Virginia's local source for pollinator-safe mosquito control and native garden design, installed and maintained by people who care about the same land you do.
Save the bees. Doom the mosquitoes.
Pyrethroid sprays kill maybe 10% of adult mosquitoes. The rest adapt, and everything else dies along with them: bees, fireflies, caterpillars, butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies.
Entomologist Doug Tallamy puts it plainly: you need to eliminate over 90% of adults to actually control a mosquito population. Spraying never comes close. But targeting larvae before they hatch? That you can do.
Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) is a naturally occurring soil bacteria toxic only to mosquito larvae, used safely for decades by organic farmers, cities, and national parks.
Female mosquitoes seek standing water to lay eggs. The Doom Bucket mimics a perfect breeding site, but it's laced with Bti. Every larva that hatches dies before it can fly. You collapse the next generation before it begins.
Not all mosquitoes breed the same way. Run two buckets, one for each, and you cover the full picture.
No pyrethroids, no broad-spectrum sprays: every service is pollinator-safe.
Everything you need: black 5-gal bucket, Bti dunks (8 treatments), oviposition substrate, stick, and instructions. Add water, you're done.
Email to order →We set up two buckets optimized for your yard, walk your property for standing water, and show you how to maintain it. You take it from there.
Email to book →Monthly dunk refresh, yard walk, treatment after rain, and SMS reminders after rainfall events. We handle everything.
Email to sign up →Online ordering is coming soon. For now, every option starts with a quick email to hello@traipseholdings.com.
Find a shaded spot, near a fence, under a shrub, or at the garden's edge. Avoid full sun.
Clip the substrate (the fabric scrap) to the inside bucket wall just above the waterline as an egg-laying surface.
Fill halfway with water. Letting it sit a day helps: chlorine dissipates and the bucket becomes more attractive.
Add organic matter: 1–2 leaves for the Tiger bucket; leaves and grass clippings for the Culex bucket.
Drop in one Bti dunk (¼ tablet). It'll float and slowly dissolve, that's normal and by design.
Add the stick so critters that fall in can climb out. Note today's date: first refresh in 2–3 weeks.
Mosquitoes breed in a bottle cap of water. Tip, treat, or drain these spots:
Mosquito control is step one. The longer-term fix is a yard that already supports the birds, bats, and beneficial insects that keep mosquitoes in check on their own, which is where our native garden and rewilding service comes in.
We're building this out now: a design consultation to map what your yard could become, followed by a lawn-to-native conversion that replaces turf, section by section, with plants that belong here. No pricing yet; we'll share details as it comes together.
Want to be first in line? Tell us about your yard and we'll reach out as soon as we're booking.
Join the waitlist →We walk your property, talk through what you want it to do for you, and map a native planting plan suited to your sun, soil, and space.
Turf replaced in phases with regionally native plants, reducing mowing and watering while building real habitat, not just a flower bed.
A running list of articles we like on native gardening and pollinator-safe mosquito control, worth a read whether or not you work with us.
The science and method behind the Doom Bucket aren't ours alone; they're drawn from the following:
Ready for a yard without the itch? Reach out for a Doom Bucket Kit, an install visit, or ongoing monthly care, installed and maintained by people who care about the same land you do.