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Talkback: Water butts and hoverflies
MrsDeapSleap
Posts: 16
in Talkback
Surely if your water butt has a lid on it, mosquitoes can't take up residence and breed? My house has a water meter, so a water butt in the garden is an essential!
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I have one of those 210 litre green garden water butts. It's linked to automatically top up my mini pond. It has a cover and there are no mosquitos in it. I have another 2 butts just 20 feet away and they're rife with mosquito larvae.
Bob Flowerdew keeps goldfish in his water butts to eat the larvae.
When I worked in Barbados, a local Nursery owner told me they never had saucers under their plant pots as we do here as any standing water would encourage mosquitoes. I can't understand why a lidded water butt would have mossys. Greg, are the other 2 butts with lids?
No, the other 2 are not covered.
I think lids are the way to go greg
they will breed in any standing water,they will get in any tiny opening and water left lying about in pots or buckets will encourage them to breed that s why its important to empty any water lying about in pots and empty the water butt ever so often.
A layer of oil, just a drop, it spreads across the top and they can't get their breathing apparatus through it and suffocate
In the sticks near Peterborough
I agree, in the US they have a constant battle with the mossy that spreads Dengue fever, luckily it only moves North about 100 yards a week I think. I believe that there and in parts of Africa they use a spray that changes the surface of the water. It stops them from reproducing.
Here in the Fens, historically, there was a form of malaria and the Fen people grew Opium Poppies to combat the disease.
I've put an old pair of black tights over the top of my water but, its stopped all creatures and flies dropping in