The Truth About Mosquitos and Water Gardens

By Keith Davitt
When I give presentations on water features, many people ask, “What about mosquitos?”
Given what they can carry, the concern is real and legitimate. The truth, however, is that there need be no fear of breeding mosquitos whatsoever, for any kind of water feature. Here’s why.
There are both biological and mechanical means for ensuring that not one mosquito breeds in your water feature. If the water is moving, as in a stream, a wall fountain, a tub garden with a fountain or a small pond with a waterfall, the mosquitos will not lay their eggs there. It’s a high risk situation for the larvae and newly hatched so they just don’t do it.
If you have a pond with still water, simply put in a fish or two. These don’t need to be mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) either. Ordinary pond fish or Koi will eat the larvae and I’ll tell you how I first discovered this. I built a pond for a man, filled it with water and let it sit over the weekend to ensure there were no leaks. On Monday there were thousands of mosquito larvae squiggling about, going from the bottom to the top and down again. I bought three small pond fish and put them in. The next day there was not one larvae left.
The presence of fish ensure no mosquitos. But there are other means too. There is a naturally occuring bacillus called Bti you can add to your pond. The mosquito larvae eat them and die, yet it is not harmful to pets, fish, wildlife or humans. You can buy it as Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits.
If you like the idea of encouraging various forms of wildlife, there are several natural predators to mosquitos and their young. Toads can consume quite a quantity of mosquitos and can be encouraged to make a home of your pond garden. Dragonfly nymphs can be purchased and will wantonly devour mosquito larvae. Because Dragonflies have a very long (up to two years) nymph stage, a few added to your pond now and again not only will prevent mosquitos from hatching, they will reduce the mosquito population.
If you don’t like the idea of more creatures in your garden, get a propane powered mosquito trap. These have a tremendous range and will also reduce the overall mosquito population of your area as the mosquitos are attracted by the scent, drawn into a trap from which they never emerge.
One or more of these methods will ensure that you can have your water feature without ANY risk of breeding mosquitos.
For more information on ponds and water features of all kinds, visit us at www.water-features-online.com
Keith Davitt is an internationally recognized landscape designer and garden builder and author of four garden design books and numerous articles. You can see more of his work at http://www.landscape-design-garden-plans.com To download his free report on landscape professionals and how to identify which of the seven different categories is best for you and your garden needs, go to http://www.landscape-design-garden-plans.com/landscape-design-report.html
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