My uncle's advice about rain barrels was dead wrong

My uncle Bob told me two years ago that I should dump out my rain barrel after every storm or it would breed mosquitoes. I followed his advice for a whole season, wasting all that water during dry spells. Last summer I finally looked it up and found out you just need a mesh screen and a couple drops of mosquito dunks once a month. Now I keep 55 gallons ready through July and August when my garden really needs it. Anybody else get bad advice from a well-meaning relative that actually hurt their conservation efforts?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy_green24d ago

Wait motor oil? That seems like a LOT of overkill when a simple screen does the job. Are we really sure the tomatoes died from that and not just bad soil or overwatering?

wendyw7124d ago

Oh GREAT, my cousin told me to put motor oil in mine to stop mosquitoes and I killed all my tomatoes!