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Florida Gardening Bromeliads

Mosquito Dunks!

irma_stpete_10a

5 years ago

Don't forget about mosquito dunks for your standing water.

https://www.summitchemical.com/mosquito/mosquito-dunks/

Lowes, Walmart, and Amazon advertise these. Resupplied myself yesterday (belatedly), crushed a dunk with a hammer to sprinkle in my remaining bromilliads.

Featured Answer

PRO

Lars/J. Robert Scott

5 years ago

I use pellets in my fountains, and I sprinkle a few in the bromeliads that collect a lot of water. We have not had mosquitoes this year that I could see. We also have an electric outdoor zapper, but it mostly kills gnats or fruit flies, it seems. We bought the mosquito pellets at Home Depot.

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Comments (9)

napapen
5 years ago
Amazon has them too.
irma_stpete_10a
Original Author
5 years ago
Does anyone know if this works for midges aka no-see-ums? They also have a larval stage in water.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/aquatic/biting_midges.htm
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momma, float the dunk in a container of water overnight, then use that water to water your container plants as you normally would. At least three consecutive times on your usual watering schedule, expect it to take three or four weeks to kill any hatching larvae and stop the breeding cycle. I brought the gnats home in a new indoor plant once (I saw them around the plant in the store and didn't realize their significance) - ended up with them in every container plant, some that were decades old. I don't over water. My feeling is that keeping soil on the dry side might prevent them from establishing, it wasn't helpful in eliminating an infestation. Years later, as I'm growing more from seed and need uniform moisture, I prefer the liquid form of BTi for convenience, but the dunks method does work.
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irma_stpete_10a
Original Author
5 years ago
So, you don't have midges/no-see-ums? Do you think the electric zapper gets them?
jane__ny
5 years ago
I have my mosquito netting on again. Won't go out without it.

I have so many bites, I look like I have chickenpox!

Jane
PRO
Lars/J. Robert Scott
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Another thing I do is allow spiders webs to stay on top of the bromeliads that seem to collect water, especially in the summer. I might clear the spider webs away in the winter, however. We also have a lot of hummingbirds all year, and I think they eat mosquitoes. The hummers like a lot of my tall blooming bromeliads as well. I have one hummingbird feeder, and I have to fill it more often in the winter, when there are fewer flowers, to keep the hummers around.

I've not noticed midges, possibly because I am surrounded by desert, and I do not think they live around here.
irma_stpete_10a thanked Lars/J. Robert Scott
bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
5 years ago
Jane do you have head and leg gear and does it get in your way?

Mosquitos aren't too bad around here. The midges are my big issue. I tried wearing socks with my clogs but they don't help. So I OFF my legs before stepping off the porch.
jane__ny
5 years ago
Yes, full body. Even booties that slip over your feet/shoes. Really bad this year so I’m out in full netting while I work. My neighbors laugh at me...while they are swatting, scratching and cursing
eep100 Sarasota, FL
5 years ago
Mosquito dunks or "bits," the granular form, use Bt to kill mosquito larvae. Bt will kill all types of larvae, so it will kill midges in bromeliads if you treat them. But perhaps the midges are not limited to bromeliads. Unlike mosquitos, I think they don't actually have to have water; their larvae can live in moist dirt.
irma_stpete_10a thanked eep100 Sarasota, FL

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