How to Kill Insect Larvae in a Lily Pond
While a lily pond can enhance any yard, unfortunately it can quickly become a breeding ground for insects, primarily mosquitoes. That is especially true if the lily pond has no fish to eat insect larvae and keep the insect population under control. Killing the insect larvae in the pond helps to minimize the insect population, preventing the larvae from reaching sexual maturity and reproducing. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Surface-feeding fish
- Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI) tablets
- Ladybugs
Instructions
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Introduce surface-feeding fish, such as mosquitofish, into the lily pond. The fish will not disturb the lilies but will eat mosquito larvae on the pond's surface. Only a few surface-feeding fish are needed to keep mosquito populations low. Occasionally the fish may eat other insect larvae living on the pond's surface. Introducing this type of fish into your lily pond is a natural, chemical-free way to kill insect larvae.
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Add a Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI) tablet to your lily pond. BTI is a natural bacteria that kills insect larvae without hurting lily plants or fish. It kills mosquito, blackfly and midge larvae. It is ineffective in killing insect eggs and pupa, however. So adding a tablet to your pond regularly is necessary to kill each generation of insects as it reaches the larval stage.
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Introduce ladybugs into the ecosystem around your lily pond. Aphids and aphid larvae are insects commonly found on lily plants, which they eat and destroy. Ladybugs are a natural predator of aphids, and the ladybugs will eat the aphids and their larvae before they can damage your lilies.
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Tips & Warnings
Ladybugs and ladybug larvae are available from most garden suppliers.
References
- Photo Credit Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
