I have several tropical plants which like humidity so in addition to a humidifier I also have some of them sitting on trays with pebbles and water in the saucer. Recently my family keeps getting mosquito bites! (Never normally a problem here unless you sit outside late at night).

I've never seen any mosquitoes in the house but am wondering if maybe it's the standing water in my plants? If so maybe the solution is the clean the saucers regularly to remove the eggs but the problem is that 2 of my plants are HUGE - like 8ft tall palms so that would be a real pain.....especially since eggs hatch in a few days so I'd have to do it constantly..... Maybe I just need to ditch the standing water and use humidifiers only?

Just wondered what any else's experience is on this topic?

Where are you? In my area we've been invaded by a new(ish) mosquito that is incredibly sneaky and doesn't make noise. Aedes Aegypti. They can get into houses and bite and you'd never know they are there. Friends and family members have developed nasty allergies to them. I've never seen anything like them. And yes, any mosquito can breed in your plant water bowls. This particular species needs only a teaspoon or so to breed.

Click the "Distribution" button to see if they are in your area.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

Maybe you can use water pretreated with mosquito dunks.

I live in humid, subtropical Florida where mosquitoes are very common and I grow numerous indoor plants that all sit in decorative pots with pebbles and a small amount of water. We rarely get mosquitoes in the house; on occasion one will fly in when the door is open to let the dogs in or out but a quick swat takes care of the mosquito.

I've heard some people talk about placing "mosquito dunks" in their plant saucers, which is said to be non-toxic, kills the mosquito larvae and supposedly will last for about a month. I've never had the need to use them so I can't attest to their effectiveness.

In order to have mosquitoes breeding in the house, one had to have gotten in to lay eggs. It's easy to see wigglers in the water. If you let the trays dry up at least once per week, mosquito larvae will be killed. I think you need to determine if mosquitoes are repeatedly getting in, and breeding if they do. If there are holes in your screens and the windows are open, mosquitoes can get in. Or then can come in when you open the door, but that's pretty rare, even @ my house.

I would stop leaving water in the trays. The humidifier is doing most of the job anyway.

Another Floridian here. I live in what is affectionately referred to as the Swamp. Because it's the city where the university of Florida Gators live. And because, well, it is a swamp. We never have problems with mosquitoes in the house. If they get in through the door they die fast. Aedes Aegypti has been here forever in the southern USA and can transmit malaria Zika dengue and several other illnesses The one we have had the worst problem with recently is called the Tiger mosquito, a nasty bug from Asia that is huge and actually feels like a bee is stinging you. They too have been here forever but seem to be the dominant and worst biters in the past few years

I hat thetigers, they are so big the stripes are easily seen on them.

I use Mosquito Dunks and Mosquito Bits in the plant saucers inside my pool cage. They work very well. We rarely get mosquitoes inside the house because the door we use most goes out to the cage, then through another screen door to outside. But if the skeeters get started inside the cage, then they sometimes get into the house. I've only once seen mosquito larvae in a glass vase I had some flowers in. I dropped a few Bits into the water and they were gone in a day. Also effective against fungus gnats which lots of people get in their indoor plants, btw. Much cheaper to buy off amazon than at the garden store.

Great thanks everyone! I live in Southern California. I'll have a look and see if I can find any 'wrigglers' and if so I'll try the dunks. With all my plants I tend to water them until the water drains out the bottom so I'd have to be constantly emptying them which would be pain because some of them are large. So the dunks sounds like a good idea. Thanks everyone I appreciate it!

That makes sense, but if water is in a drip tray for a whole week, I would start to worry about root rot (overwatering.) If the water dries within a week, larvae can't survive. They spend at least a week as an aquatic larvae, sometimes more, depending on the temp. If the water dries before they are finished with that stage, they will die.