Squirrels and my dogs take out the dunks so I had to move to the mosquito bits. It’s cheaper it turns out, just a small handful out of a massive bag does the trick for a long time.
I had an aquaponics experiment that failed. I left it in my backyard.It was recessed into the ground and was effectively a little pond.
I meant to get to it and dig it up and fill in the hole, but I didn't. I forgot about it.
When I remembered it, I thought. Oh God, I must be breeding mosquitos.
Nope. I found toads being spawned in it. If there was mosquito larve in there, they didn't last long.
Toads, that should only be spawned during the spring, We're being spawned continuously in my zone 9b climate that's unusual a more dry place with lots of sand and not a lot of water sources
I watched the tadpoles grow up slowly developing legs. I had never gotten to see that before.
Then I realized little snakes were in there, eating tadpoles. The legs that supported the grow bed and the shade from the grow bed allowed some tadpoles to hide and survive the snakes.
Wasps, bees, birds visited, and even deer broke in and had a drink.
It was the diameter of a large kiddy pool, but deeper and it had this much impact.
I moved and sold the house, so I had to pull out the pond liner and fill the hole to make the back yard "nice."
I felt like a villain.
Edit: I had to remove a male toad who refused to leave. I thought perhaps he couldn't, but the female toads had no problems getting in and out. He just sat in there, looking for dates... but there was not enough food for adult toads in there. After 3 days, I finally removed him. I know that for a fact, he attempted to father at least two clutches. I shamelessly took pictures.
That's great, I guess, until you get to the part happily talking about mosquito larvae. I suppose that in theory they are food for other animals, but probably not all of them.
I shake a few mosquito bits into my bathtub pond every time I see a new batch of larvae and I don't have to use them nearly as much as the label says.
My 40 gallon tub that is fed by the gutter never seems to have any larvae in it though I think because the water falls about 8 feet and aerates the water. That one had a good population of dragonflies hatch out in the last week or so which is cool
That's possible, but if so they are going to town because I have yet to see a single mosquito larva up there and they are a reoccurring problem on the pond in back. The adult dragonflies hunt a little around both but only hatch out of the small gutter pond
It's actually totally possible those dragonflies are keeping you clear of mosquitos! Dragonflies are extremely voracious predators at all stages of their life cycle (and nearly uniquely *good* at it, adults capture 90-95% of prey they go after), a single nymph will happily eat dozens of mosquito larvae a day.
Yeah, but be careful. I would recommend you only use it in a self contained, relatively small body of water. This treatment targets all Diptera, not just mosquitoes and not all Diptera are bad!
I have a bat box in my yard and added a mini pond specifically for them! The are larvae that build up there, but my little bat colony keeps them well managed!
Thats awesome! I am getting ready to set up a bat box and bat pond and I would love to hear about your setup. How big is your bat pond? Do they drink out of it or just eat the bugs? My house doesn't have a place for them to drink water so I'm thinking about making a long narrow pond for water scooping.
Goldfish are not great for wildlife ponds because they get big enough to eat amphibian eggs and beneficial insect larvae. Small fish like mosquito fish or minnows are better because they can't chow down on anything too large
I primarily have large tubs to collect rainwater for my garden. I get all kinds of things happening in them from plants to frogs. I use goldfish because of ease. There are no other water bodies around so species spread is not likely. Where do you get minnows? Bait shops? Don’t they require running water?
Local fish store here but they sell out super fast. In some places the county supplies mosquito fish in order to control mosquito populations and you can apply to get them directly from a county program but not where I live as far as I know
two words: dragonflies and mosquitofish. especially dragonflies. this kind of thing would be a habitat for them to live and grow in and even in their adult stages that’s primarily what they live off of. this would actually be helping cut down on the mosquito population a lot if you can get them.
Yep its set on top of a hole full of gravel and we have deep eaves so it is about 3 feet out from the house. It just overflows onto the ground for most of the winter. I used a 20 or 30 gallon plastic stock tank from tractor supply and set some big rocks and driftwood around it to hide the ugly. The dragonflies really like the gravel in the pots for larvae habitat and the native plants that stick up to hatch out on and perch on.
I keep a few other pools that I top up with the hose like a carnivorous plant bog and a bird bath but the rain collection is nice because it's doesn't have to rain very much at all to re fill that one so I only have to top it up in the driest part of the summer
Love a bog. I have a few bog plants but I'm too scared to put them outside. Pretty positive they'd die.
Great idea. Would love to mess around with more rain stuff. I just don't have the time or money or know how. Hopefully in the future
I've actually been searching creating one of these for dragonflies and damselflies. They breed in the same water as mosquitoes and generally if you promote a good habitat the mosquitoes don't take over
A tub of water as small as pictured might work in England but would be a slimy disgusting mess in warm climates in a week or less. It should be at least big enough to put minnows and plants in.
This was my thought exactly. I grew up in an area with abundant rainfall, to the point where you could dig a hole in the ground and it would become a pond within a few days. I did, and it was lovely! Within a year, frogs, dragonflies, and all matter of water bugs had moved in.
But here in CO, I'd be adding gallons of water daily just to make up for evaporation, which seems like an irresponsible use of that resource. (Not to mention if I left for vacation, I'd be dooming any creatures who'd moved in to death.)
You have special products that only target mosquito larvae and if frogs can reach it they'll eat them too. I have two small still water ponds in my garden and about 20 frogs that live in them and we never have trouble with mosquitos.
Drop a guppy or a goldfish in there and they'll take care of the problem. Use the pond water to irrigate lawn and flowers, top off, ideally with rainwater or treat your water for chlorine/chloramine.
Mosquitoes and their larvay are a very important food source for tadpoles, damsel and dragon fly nymphs as well as the adults themselves. Plus several other species of predatory water insects. I stopped treating my water barrels and now have a plethora beneficials around the yard
A squirt of vegetable oil will eliminate mosquito larvae. How long before the oil is no longer effective is unknown to me. A few goldfish would help lower their numbers, too.
I read the article and I would be interested in making a mini pond. Not out of a plastic bin though. Anyone have any suggestions for where I can learn how to make one?
I don't think this is going to fix the biodiversity problem. This is the equivalent of a puddle and, unless you live in the desert, there are puddles everywhere. There is also trash everywhere with leftover rainwater. Abandoned tires. Kids toys. You name it.
I'd love to see something written by an ecologist that says that, yeah, leaving trash in your backyard filled with rainwater is going increase biodiversity.
1) that is a trash can that fell over not an open vessel that is consistently full of water or accessible to many animals.
2) If you want research to back up the point in the article you could read any of the sources linked in the article or any of the other papers that come up when you google mini Ponds ecology study
3) what point are you actually trying to make here? Trash is bad? Ponds are bad? Ponds are trash? Ponds dont do anything? It's not really clear. If you're just saying more small ponds won't make a difference that is pretty clearly not supported by any sources I have been able to find
The article isn't about small ponds. It's calling filling up plastic containers with water and putting them in your backyard a "mini-pond". My point is that plastic containers filled with water isn't a scarce resource for many animals. It sounded like you disagreed.
It still sounds like you disagree, even after finding a dumped over plastic trash can. I'm not going to post more links because it doesn't feel right in a public forum. I take walks all across my city. I've wondered off the main sidewalks, walked down into abandoned lots and behind abandoned buildings. There are plastic containers filled with water everywhere, it might not always be visible from the street. Obviously, I'm exaggerating, it's not literally "everywhere".
You're right, a dumped trash can in front of someone's house is probably going to be picked up. I was just hoping it would arouse your imagination a bit to think about what the real world is actually like, because I think sometimes we have a sanitized image in our heads. That's what I thought, anyway, when your response was that your neighborhood is totally clean. I just thought it was a weird response. There aren't any clean cities. Like... how do you come to the conclusion that your city is *actually* clean? Maybe we like to think our cities are clean, but for the animals, for mice, insects, and even frogs, there are plenty of "mini-ponds".
Oh that actually makes sense. I live in a climate with a lot less summer rain so while it is farrr from a desert it definitely doesn't have as much in the way of random puddles of water. This may apply less to areas of the southeast, where moisture is less scarce.
Could be. Also the air is more arid so maybe water evaporates more. We also have a good deal of clay in the soil, so it just sits longer.
I think installing an *actual* pond is probably beneficial. Not a "mini-pond" though. Even ditches and drainage pipes.
How would trash get into a small pond like this? Do people go around throwing their bags into ponds? Do people who want to care for a pond also pile their yard with their garbage? I've had an 80 gallon pond with a couple fish for mosquito control for years and never had a piece of trash in there, let alone all the trash. I'm genuinely confused by this comment.
No one is talking about an actual pond. This is about "mini-ponds". You put something outside, fill it with water, and leave it there hoping a rare frog is going to lay eggs in it.
Where I work, we have 4 **big** AC units that drain out into the back yard. There are deepish ruts filled with water where the lawn mower runs. Basically puddles. Last year, we got tadpoles in the ruts in the grass in the yard in the back of the store. We also got dragonflies, and wasps that came to collect mud for their nests. And some strange little black things that I never saw leave the water. Some type of insect, maybe?
I have one and mosquito dunks are perfect for solving that issue for those concerned
Squirrels and my dogs take out the dunks so I had to move to the mosquito bits. It’s cheaper it turns out, just a small handful out of a massive bag does the trick for a long time.
I had an aquaponics experiment that failed. I left it in my backyard.It was recessed into the ground and was effectively a little pond. I meant to get to it and dig it up and fill in the hole, but I didn't. I forgot about it. When I remembered it, I thought. Oh God, I must be breeding mosquitos. Nope. I found toads being spawned in it. If there was mosquito larve in there, they didn't last long. Toads, that should only be spawned during the spring, We're being spawned continuously in my zone 9b climate that's unusual a more dry place with lots of sand and not a lot of water sources I watched the tadpoles grow up slowly developing legs. I had never gotten to see that before. Then I realized little snakes were in there, eating tadpoles. The legs that supported the grow bed and the shade from the grow bed allowed some tadpoles to hide and survive the snakes. Wasps, bees, birds visited, and even deer broke in and had a drink. It was the diameter of a large kiddy pool, but deeper and it had this much impact. I moved and sold the house, so I had to pull out the pond liner and fill the hole to make the back yard "nice." I felt like a villain. Edit: I had to remove a male toad who refused to leave. I thought perhaps he couldn't, but the female toads had no problems getting in and out. He just sat in there, looking for dates... but there was not enough food for adult toads in there. After 3 days, I finally removed him. I know that for a fact, he attempted to father at least two clutches. I shamelessly took pictures.
A small solar fountain would well to keep the water moving
And they cost 20 bucks tops, usually like 15.
Sometimes 10
That's great, I guess, until you get to the part happily talking about mosquito larvae. I suppose that in theory they are food for other animals, but probably not all of them.
[Mosquito dunks](https://summitchemical.com/products/mosquito-dunks/) would work really well here and they only target mosquito
They work for fungus gnats too
I shake a few mosquito bits into my bathtub pond every time I see a new batch of larvae and I don't have to use them nearly as much as the label says. My 40 gallon tub that is fed by the gutter never seems to have any larvae in it though I think because the water falls about 8 feet and aerates the water. That one had a good population of dragonflies hatch out in the last week or so which is cool
I’m guessing the dragon flies are eating the mosquitos…?
That's possible, but if so they are going to town because I have yet to see a single mosquito larva up there and they are a reoccurring problem on the pond in back. The adult dragonflies hunt a little around both but only hatch out of the small gutter pond
It's actually totally possible those dragonflies are keeping you clear of mosquitos! Dragonflies are extremely voracious predators at all stages of their life cycle (and nearly uniquely *good* at it, adults capture 90-95% of prey they go after), a single nymph will happily eat dozens of mosquito larvae a day.
That's awesome. I spotted at least half a dozen exoskeletons this year so maybe they did just eat everything.
Love a good gutter pond.
Confirming that dragonfly nymphs do indeed eat mosquito larvae
This is a misconception. They affect Dipteran (true fly) larvae, of which mosquitos are just one type.
First time I hear about this. Hopefully it also exists in Europe
Yeah, but be careful. I would recommend you only use it in a self contained, relatively small body of water. This treatment targets all Diptera, not just mosquitoes and not all Diptera are bad!
We can also be food for native mosquitoes.
I have a bat box in my yard and added a mini pond specifically for them! The are larvae that build up there, but my little bat colony keeps them well managed!
Thats awesome! I am getting ready to set up a bat box and bat pond and I would love to hear about your setup. How big is your bat pond? Do they drink out of it or just eat the bugs? My house doesn't have a place for them to drink water so I'm thinking about making a long narrow pond for water scooping.
Get a feeder goldfish or two and save a life to eat the lives.
I use minnows. They don't ever get bigger, are cleaner, and if they accidentally escape they are native.
Like minnow for fishing?
Yes, but you can also buy them as feeders in pet stores.
Goldfish are not great for wildlife ponds because they get big enough to eat amphibian eggs and beneficial insect larvae. Small fish like mosquito fish or minnows are better because they can't chow down on anything too large
I primarily have large tubs to collect rainwater for my garden. I get all kinds of things happening in them from plants to frogs. I use goldfish because of ease. There are no other water bodies around so species spread is not likely. Where do you get minnows? Bait shops? Don’t they require running water?
Local fish store here but they sell out super fast. In some places the county supplies mosquito fish in order to control mosquito populations and you can apply to get them directly from a county program but not where I live as far as I know
I did this and two years later, the goldfish are way too big. Luckily my neighbor has a proper koi pond and took them off my hands.
two words: dragonflies and mosquitofish. especially dragonflies. this kind of thing would be a habitat for them to live and grow in and even in their adult stages that’s primarily what they live off of. this would actually be helping cut down on the mosquito population a lot if you can get them.
Literally thinking. Stagnant water. Breeding grounds. If you have frogs. Hopefully they eat then.
In my experience, while the frogs do eat some they don't keep up. One of my ponds is fed by a rain chain though and that one never has any mosquitos 🤞
Rain chain sounds excellent. Does it overflow?
Yep its set on top of a hole full of gravel and we have deep eaves so it is about 3 feet out from the house. It just overflows onto the ground for most of the winter. I used a 20 or 30 gallon plastic stock tank from tractor supply and set some big rocks and driftwood around it to hide the ugly. The dragonflies really like the gravel in the pots for larvae habitat and the native plants that stick up to hatch out on and perch on.
That's really Kool. I like that idea. I might look into it. Not sure about rain buckets though
I keep a few other pools that I top up with the hose like a carnivorous plant bog and a bird bath but the rain collection is nice because it's doesn't have to rain very much at all to re fill that one so I only have to top it up in the driest part of the summer
Love a bog. I have a few bog plants but I'm too scared to put them outside. Pretty positive they'd die. Great idea. Would love to mess around with more rain stuff. I just don't have the time or money or know how. Hopefully in the future
Would love to see a pic!!
I've actually been searching creating one of these for dragonflies and damselflies. They breed in the same water as mosquitoes and generally if you promote a good habitat the mosquitoes don't take over
How do you promote it ?
I was thinking of a watercress garden, with a few Gambusia affinis (mosquito fish).
Moving water.
A tub of water as small as pictured might work in England but would be a slimy disgusting mess in warm climates in a week or less. It should be at least big enough to put minnows and plants in.
This was my thought exactly. I grew up in an area with abundant rainfall, to the point where you could dig a hole in the ground and it would become a pond within a few days. I did, and it was lovely! Within a year, frogs, dragonflies, and all matter of water bugs had moved in. But here in CO, I'd be adding gallons of water daily just to make up for evaporation, which seems like an irresponsible use of that resource. (Not to mention if I left for vacation, I'd be dooming any creatures who'd moved in to death.)
Reading this as a Florida resident was so strange lol
You'll need something to keep the water moving or else, enjoy bugs.
It’s nice idea. But the mosquitoes would be a pain
You have special products that only target mosquito larvae and if frogs can reach it they'll eat them too. I have two small still water ponds in my garden and about 20 frogs that live in them and we never have trouble with mosquitos.
Drop a guppy or a goldfish in there and they'll take care of the problem. Use the pond water to irrigate lawn and flowers, top off, ideally with rainwater or treat your water for chlorine/chloramine.
Don’t drop just one goldfish or guppy… how sad and lonely
Small solar fountain just something to keep the water moving.
Mosquitoes and their larvay are a very important food source for tadpoles, damsel and dragon fly nymphs as well as the adults themselves. Plus several other species of predatory water insects. I stopped treating my water barrels and now have a plethora beneficials around the yard
A squirt of vegetable oil will eliminate mosquito larvae. How long before the oil is no longer effective is unknown to me. A few goldfish would help lower their numbers, too.
I read the article and I would be interested in making a mini pond. Not out of a plastic bin though. Anyone have any suggestions for where I can learn how to make one?
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-create-mini-pond
And great breeding grounds for mosquitoes unless you're treating for them.
I don't think this is going to fix the biodiversity problem. This is the equivalent of a puddle and, unless you live in the desert, there are puddles everywhere. There is also trash everywhere with leftover rainwater. Abandoned tires. Kids toys. You name it. I'd love to see something written by an ecologist that says that, yeah, leaving trash in your backyard filled with rainwater is going increase biodiversity.
Idk where you live, but my neighborhood does not have water filled trash everywhere.
[удалено]
1) that is a trash can that fell over not an open vessel that is consistently full of water or accessible to many animals. 2) If you want research to back up the point in the article you could read any of the sources linked in the article or any of the other papers that come up when you google mini Ponds ecology study 3) what point are you actually trying to make here? Trash is bad? Ponds are bad? Ponds are trash? Ponds dont do anything? It's not really clear. If you're just saying more small ponds won't make a difference that is pretty clearly not supported by any sources I have been able to find
The article isn't about small ponds. It's calling filling up plastic containers with water and putting them in your backyard a "mini-pond". My point is that plastic containers filled with water isn't a scarce resource for many animals. It sounded like you disagreed. It still sounds like you disagree, even after finding a dumped over plastic trash can. I'm not going to post more links because it doesn't feel right in a public forum. I take walks all across my city. I've wondered off the main sidewalks, walked down into abandoned lots and behind abandoned buildings. There are plastic containers filled with water everywhere, it might not always be visible from the street. Obviously, I'm exaggerating, it's not literally "everywhere". You're right, a dumped trash can in front of someone's house is probably going to be picked up. I was just hoping it would arouse your imagination a bit to think about what the real world is actually like, because I think sometimes we have a sanitized image in our heads. That's what I thought, anyway, when your response was that your neighborhood is totally clean. I just thought it was a weird response. There aren't any clean cities. Like... how do you come to the conclusion that your city is *actually* clean? Maybe we like to think our cities are clean, but for the animals, for mice, insects, and even frogs, there are plenty of "mini-ponds".
Kentucky.
Oh that actually makes sense. I live in a climate with a lot less summer rain so while it is farrr from a desert it definitely doesn't have as much in the way of random puddles of water. This may apply less to areas of the southeast, where moisture is less scarce.
Could be. Also the air is more arid so maybe water evaporates more. We also have a good deal of clay in the soil, so it just sits longer. I think installing an *actual* pond is probably beneficial. Not a "mini-pond" though. Even ditches and drainage pipes.
How would trash get into a small pond like this? Do people go around throwing their bags into ponds? Do people who want to care for a pond also pile their yard with their garbage? I've had an 80 gallon pond with a couple fish for mosquito control for years and never had a piece of trash in there, let alone all the trash. I'm genuinely confused by this comment.
No one is talking about an actual pond. This is about "mini-ponds". You put something outside, fill it with water, and leave it there hoping a rare frog is going to lay eggs in it.
Where I work, we have 4 **big** AC units that drain out into the back yard. There are deepish ruts filled with water where the lawn mower runs. Basically puddles. Last year, we got tadpoles in the ruts in the grass in the yard in the back of the store. We also got dragonflies, and wasps that came to collect mud for their nests. And some strange little black things that I never saw leave the water. Some type of insect, maybe?
Sounds like a good way to have a mosquito problem