mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Now, I have 3 water tray for Drosera, 1 for Sarra, 1 for FlyTrap. Last time, I use to keep a betta in 1 of water tray. But, betta is not doing fine in others tray, die in few days.

I know that water change is the best way to prevent mosquito. Im thinking to use mosquito medicine that sell in hardware shop. Anyone try it before? Please lets me know... Else, some of my CP going to become white mouse soon... :crying:

Thanx in advance...

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Casey I don't know what you mean by your CPs becoming white mouse, do you mean that if you cannot make sure your water tray is mosquito larvae free you need to get rid of your CPs? Well we don't want that so I give you some tips.

1. what I do is I have a syringe and everyday if I find Mossie larvae I suck them up with syringe and put in a small container, I then pour them into my pond with fish or my bettas, yes I keep bettas too. This is best way for me coz I have live food for my bettas. In water tray I also see bloodworms which I also feed to fish.

2. If you don't like this idea, then I think more natural way than chemical way is the way to go.

a. You need to prevent mosquitos from laying on your water tray. A bit difficult even with screens.

b. You need to make sure that Mossie larvaes do not find ideal living area in your tray. Which means either keep water tray water level low that they can't live in it, coz it dried up every other day. (but might not be good for VFT drying out).

c. Use some kind of medium on your water tray, that can "wick" water into the pot but make it difficult for mossie larvae to live in. Some examples are

1. very tiny pebbles in the tray.
2. Dried sphagnum moss in the tray.
3. Cocofiber in the tray.
4. Water movement, maybe add aeration bubbles to the water trays, Aquarium airpump, the idea is that mossie larvaes do not like water surface movement. I think they die coz they can't breath well when water is always moving from the air bubbles.

No. 3 I saw a picture of one either in this forum or another forum, the person who used it say that it is a cocomat and the mat is under a tray of water, the mat wicks water into the pots and medium, keeping it moist, etc. The mat will preven the larvaes from being able to live in the water because it is crowded. Same concept as no. 1 and 2 also.

Oh, lastly, maybe try to put in some aquatic utricularias which hopefully will feed on the Mossie larvaes. A member posted that he put U. Gibba in his water tray which I thought was cool in the first place, and I am trying it now, but maybe that can double the purpose in avoiding mosquitos from breeding in your tray water. Not sure if he still gets mossie larvaes with his U. Gibba in water tray.

WAIT!! Casey it was you! It was your post! So even with the Gibba you still have Mossie larvae?

Anyways Good luck!

TTFN
Arvin

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Become "white mouse" means, will use some of my CPs for experiment... :blush:

I think, 1st solution is out for me... Because, I seldom check out my CPs tray... No time...

Chemical is what im thinking... But, must do some experiment. Unless there is some expert tried it before.

I think the most practical way for me is "Use some kind of medium on your water tray".

Utric in water tray didnt help much in mossie larvae control...

Out of topic, my U. gibba that grow on top of spagnum moss is flowering!!!

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

i am using some anti-larve bits that i place in my water trays. so far so good. no larve and no adverse reactions from my drosera and vfts. but you cannot have rain water flusing out the trays, otherwise the chemicals all get flushed out and you'll have larve in the trays.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Cool... Thanx for input...

not sure whether the anti-larvae bits that you are using is same with mine...

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Casey, U gibba traps are too tiny to capture mosquito larvae. Perhaps you could try U. aurea that has a much bigger trap. But then again, looking at the traps, perhaps it si still too small to swallow the mosquito larvae. Perhaps get the Utric species with traps that are about 1 inch in diameter... sorry, can't remember that species name. It's not found in Malaysia. However, that aquatic species has the largest traps.

Thanks Arvin for your tips. Very useful information.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Even there is U. trap that able capture mossie larvae... I still dont think it will able fully control it...

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Another idea is to let the water evaporate completely every so often -- but just briefly.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

What I so is every now and then, I pour out the water in the tray and replace with fresh water.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Ah yes actually I do what David does, but with a "twist" I pour out the water into my pond which contains bettas or Guppies and Utrics. My water dish also gets some bloodworms and some tiny freshwater crustacians such as moina/cyclops, which gets dumped into the pond too. Besides I think the CPs do appreciate that the water be changed from time to time.

I do the drying out technique like what JK said for my Droseras.

TTFN
Arvin

ps. Riverstein said that the only CP that he knows that catches Mossie Larvaes well are Aldrovanda, but not sure if they will thrive in water tray. :)

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Hmm, perhaps someone should try aldrovanda in water tray and let us know if the aldro does well in it. Ban Aik..., you're the one wih lots of Aldro now. Wanna try this experiment for us to see?

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

You could use a sphagnum slurry to grow your plants in. This simply involves putting a heap of sphagnum moss into the trays so that the larva are crowded out. This also leads to a pleasant side effect which is more sphagnum. This is a relatively cheap and definately safe method and provides you with more sphagnum over time.

Another method that is definately riskier is to use Kerosene on the water. I haven't tried this but it is used here in some rain water tanks to stop larvae. As kerosene is lighter/less dense than water it floats on the surface and provides a physical barrier. I am thinking that you would need to ensure that the water always remained above the drain hole of teh pots as the kerosene would definately harm the plants if it got into the soil.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

I think Kerosene is not so practical, because it defanately will go in to yours pot when you try to remove it from water tray...

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Hey hey, I just read the post and photos of Simon. Shawn and David were commenting that the water tray system that Simon is using is a great idea, specially to prevent mosquitos from laying in the water tray. Hope Simon doesn't mind, I am posting the photo of his system here:

http://bloggerfly.photopians.org/d/2...438%20copy.jpg

Yes I agree this method is the best one so far to prevent mossies from laying eggs in the water tray.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

I've tried Aldrovanda in a tray of water(quite high water level) and its okay with enough light. It even catches some larvae from time to time. I still need to use the bacteria pellets tho.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Casey and Hongrui - what are the "anti-larve bits" you are using? Maybe I missed a thread/post somewhere but very interested (and itching!)!

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

There are a few Biological means that I have just realized a week ago. I collect rainwater often, and in one of my tubs, I noticed that it got "infected" by a beetle one of these:

http://www.europeangardener.com/prin...ory=324&ID=663

I noticed that after all this time, maybe 1 month already of this water being there, I have never seen any bloodworms or mossie larvaes. So I guess that these beetles are eating them. Now the problem for those who doesn't have these in your water tray is how to get them and if they are available in your area (I am guessing they are in the wild).

Shawn, I have a feeling that any type of chemical or pill is a bit dangerous for our plants, unless specifically guaranteed to be safe for them. I imagine some type of petrolium will be involved.

Infurita, can you please explain a bit more about the bacteria pellets you mentioned. This is to control Mosquito larvae or to feed your Aldrovanda?

Shawn, I actually am using a similar system as Simon to some of my pots, specifically VFT pots, it was actually just an accident. my VFT pots has a wide brim but narrow bottom, and coz I needed at least 1" of water, most of my water trays were not effective, so I found some plastic bowls in a shopping center, it fit perfectly. The pots fit snugly on the bowl brim that I have never seen mosquitos at all, well aside from the fact that with the wide pot, the standing water evaporates easily and sometimes do dry out if I forget to water them for two days in hot days.

Will try to post photos, but very similar in concept anyway with Simon's.

I do imagine that your problem is that you'll have to make those water trays for your plants one by one, that is like a thousand plastic container. hehehe! :)

Your Cocomat system works fine too doesn't it?

Wait, I just did a quick search, try searching for Skeetercide or Skeetershield and see if you can find out if they are already in mass production. This is Yeast laced with some kind of hormone that starves the Larvaes, I do hope that the hormone doesn't affect plants though.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Oops! :tongue: just stumbled on this thread. Apologies for missing out, am always skimpping over articles. Hehe... twice already..

Regarding Aldrovanda in water tray, I have in August tried leaving some strands of Aldro in my Drosera water tray. Unfortunately they plant just fizzle out and died. I thought the Aldro must have got solar cooked in the shallow water tray as all five strands was left in waters of no more than 2 inches deep. I concluded that Aldrovanda don't like warm water thought they love the sun! Another thought is there isn't enough CO2 and food for photosynthesis as there wasn't any protozoa/larvae/microorganism in the water (okay maybe one or two but not enuf).

Oh, before I check out, Ifurita is right, I have found my Aldrovanda in my growing pot croweded by algae.

Since then I have not done any experiment. I'll repeat experiment soon and this time photographed.

Some people use Abate, which is distributed by BASF, to control mossie larvae. Recently, I added some juvenile guppies to hunt down the larvaes but will remove them once they get too big. Maybe, best thing is to change water every weekend. That way you get ride of algae and keep soluble salt in grwoing tray low too! Three birds with a pellet.

Arvin, I find those Waterboatman too in mt pond. They are very interesting critters. I'll harvest them as my VFT food. Btw, have you been bitten by one of them? Tiny prick sort of pain, no swelling.

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

Bactrus,

Nice find about Abate, didn't find much info with a quick search though what I did find looked promising. Didn't really give info if it is safe for plants and animals though.

Regarding waterboatman and backswimmers no I haven't gotten bit by them because I have not yet messed with them. Lucky for me I read that they do sometimes bite, and you have confirmed it. If they bite then at least they are fiesty enough to get at Mosquito larvaes. In fact next chance I get, I will try to feed them one or two and see if they do attack them. I do see daphnia/moina with them, so I'm not sure if they attach those or that they live with them until they become food for the waterboatmen.

Disadvantage with Aldrovanda is they are not active hunters as they are not mobile enough. The problem with waterboatmen is that they are just a stage, and eventually will get out of the water when they reach adulthood.

By the way, from what I understand waterboatmen don't bite, but backswimmers do. Backswimmers are most probably Notonecta glauca and is a good choice to control mosquito larvae, the smaller version water boatman eats algae and microorganism, so might not eat Mossie larvae. So if it bites you, then the species that you have is great against mossie larvaes :)

TTFN
Arvin

Re: mosquito medicine for CP????
 

May be mixed up with the waterboatman and back swimmers. One of them did bite me, actually many bites as I was toying in the water hunting for water stick insect and great diving beetle. Those were the good days... so care free.

To think of it, I have not seen any of the my Aldro trapping any organism. Maybe they do but I just don't see it. Day time examination will probably help.

Abate, maybe sold under different trade names in different countries. Maybe check BASF, its a German company. Now Abate cost a BOMB!! Each pack has only 1% active ingredient (I think) the rest is sand. Feel cheated each time I buy a pack. To me juvenile guppy works and cheap too.