eliminate mosquito larvae in a fountain with plants.
L Evve (Miami)
last year
Hello - what should I add to water that is safe to plants but that kills mosquitoes larvae? Hopefully something that I can find at home, I rather not use a chemical or a pesticide…
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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mosquitos in water?
Comments (23)just in damp leaves! She wants me to get rid of all the leaves that do not dry out completly between waterings. It is sort of absurd as the yards all around us are full of leaves (among other things.) I have a big tub in the front with two goldfish in it; we had trouble keeping them happy until I dumped a HUGE amount of water weeds in there. Now we can't see them but they eat a lot of the weeds and are happy, and no mosquito larva in it. I got it for the frogs to breed in but I think they may be eating the tree frog larvae. It seems perfectly balenced; anyway if you scoop up the water and sniff it smells fine. It looks good, although it is absolutly full of weeds. No algae, either. Now if I could just get rid of the adult mosquitos (which are getting into the house even!) all would be well.......See MoreMosquito control
Comments (20)Thank you Fetters. Really good post. Quite timely for us as DH has suggested putting in a garden pond. My first question was, "What about the mosquitoes?" I was intrigued by the mention of Lemon Eucalyptus. E maculata sounded somewhat familiar so I assumed we call it something else down here. I googled it and this is what I found. E maculata is known as Spotted Gum or Honey Gum (good for bees). E citriodora is known as Lemon-Scented Gum. And there is a hybrid E maculata citriodora. Recently these particular gums have been reclassified from Eucalyptus to Corymbia (useful to know in case the nurseries change the labels). I debated whether to mention the next bit. In some areas they are getting a reputation as an invasive weed. It's hard to know when such a reputation is truly warranted. (I have some birch trees, which are most definately not indigenous to my area, and I do get seedlings coming up, but after all these years my birches haven't taken over the nearby bushland. Or is that because they have no chance against the Patterson's Curse, which was once an introduced garden flower.) I suppose all I can say is do some research if you're thinking of planting one. Perhaps conditions in the areas of the US where they are grown are such that they are happy enough to grow okay but not so happy that they get out of control. And the good news is if you change your mind after you've planted one, it apparently makes really good timber. Hello OzOrganic. Sorry to hear about your landlord issue. Don't get me started on that subject. Hope you find a solution soon....See Moremosquito dunk
Comments (6)What an interesting pond you have inherited. Are you going to keep it as a pond or camoflage it as a water garden? I have heard that ranchers put mosquito fish in the cattle water tanks. They don't have filters but they do have a fresh water source. They take them out in the winter I think. I wouldn't want to worry about the fish though. I think dunks are a better way to go. They are natural and I wouldn't get emotionally attached to a bacteria, even a helpful one. I copied this info from the link below. "The second most effective way to eliminate mosquitoes is to treat pools of standing water with larvicides (agents that the kill mosquito larvae). Larvicide agents include vegetable or mineral oil, insect growth regulators such as methoprene, bacteria such as BTI (Bacillus Thuringensis Isrealensis) and BS (Bacillus Sphaericus), and fish that eat larvae. BTI is readily available in a product called Mosquito Dunks. While BTI and BS are not toxic to mammals, they may be harmful to non-target insects and mosquito predators." Here is a link that might be useful: Mosquitos in Pima County...See MoreMosquito Control: Market research
Comments (10)Attracting natural mosquito predators is what worked for us. We have a small river channel behind our property that gets shallow in dry periods, countless ponds and swampy areas in our neighborhood etc. Attracting mosquitoes to come fly in traps could go on forever and would end up in a lot if $ on replacement inserts in my area lol. It would probably work okay for people who dont have an endless supply of mosquitoes. *Dragonflies are really great. The adults eat the adults and babies/nymphs eat mosquito larvae..Its a double whammy. Many of the mosquitoes that cause the worse diseases are daytime biters. Dragonflies are good at eliminating these. I absolutely will not spray anything that would ever harm the Dragonflies. I think communities with high populations of daytime biting Aedes aegypti mosquitoes which cause Zika, Dengue, Chickungunya, etc should be planning and incorporating Dragonflies into their defense/prevention strategies. Obviously, in an emergency or outbreak they had to mass spray, which is the right thing to do but starting some prevention measures can work long term because pesticides aren't good for people, animals, or natural predators. Who knows what the long term effects of spraying everything and everyone from the ground and air every summer will be! Plus, keep on spraying those mosquitoes, and they will become resistant to pesticides so the pesticides will eventually need to become more toxic and that is a nasty cycle. *Bats are really great for getting the night time biters. *Little treefrogs will eat nightime female biters but will also eat the male mosquitoes that mate with the female biters. The males are attracted to highly scented night blooming flowers like brugmansia, jasmines, nycanthes arbor-trystis, stock, nicotiana, and white moon flower vine (Ipomea alba) etc. Male mosquitoes feed on nectar and don't typically feed on human blood. The males live about a week whereas the females can live up to 2 weeks with the main goal of mating, blood feeding, and laying eggs. I have tons of these kinds of flowers in my yard and the little tree frogs actually sit in the flowers and wait for their dinners. They stay nice and fat :) Thry obviously are eating more that just mosquitoes. Im sure they eat up some of my hummingbird moths and other moths but they are worth it. Its all about balance in nature. More needs to be done to save these little green tree frogs but that's another can of worms. Between the frogs, bats, and dragonflies we hardly have had any mosquitoes biting us in the last 3 yrs. When we first moved here we could hardly go outside especially in the evenings or cloudy days. Now I can go out and enjoy my night garden which I am thankful for because I have so many night blooming flowers. I'm not really seeing any day biting mosquitoes at all now. *Fish can also be used to eat mosquito larvae. The flying mosquitoes won't be caught unless the land on the surface of the water but fish can put a dent in the mosquito population. I am not using fish as a defense right now but have a little patio pond and the fish in there eat lots of bugs and any larvae that end up in their pond lol. Here are some types of Dragonflies found in Florida. https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-type-and-region.asp?thisState=florida&thisType=Dragonfly%20or%20Damselfly ~Sjn...See More
djacob Z6a SE WI
last yearL Evve (Miami)
last year
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last yearfunctionthenlook
last yearlast modified: last year
Esther-B, Zone 7a
last yearken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last yearEsther-B, Zone 7a
last yearfunctionthenlook
last yearviciousfishes05
last yearken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last yearhc mcdole
last year
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)