In article ,
"Jez Phillips" writes:
|
| Grateful for advice or to hear from anyone who has experience of similar
| situation.

Yes, I have known people like that. It is they who are the problem.

| I have a pond in my garden. My neighbour is concerned that at dusk the pond
| attracts mosquitoes, which then go off to their house and bite them. I think
| they have suffered allergic reations to the bites.

Unlikely. Suggest that they fumigate their house against fleas
and bedbugs :-) Seriously, do they have a pet? There are also
lots of flying insects that are more likely to cause a reaction
than mosquitoes.

| They have suggested spraying DDT to kill the mosquitoes.

That figures.

| It seems to me that there is no action to be taken over mosquitoes breeding
| in the pond because I can't see the larvae in the water. Is that correct?

No. There would be little point in action even if you could see them.

| Is there anything I can do to stop them congregating at dusk. Place a
| mosquito net over the pond?
|
| When the mosquiroes fly close to the surfaceof the pond, are they drinking
| water from the pond?

They are unlikely to be mosquitoes, though they could be. Most
insects that flock above ponds don't bite; most of those that do
aren't mosquitoes.

| Are there any targetted sprays, organic products etc that will deal with
| this. There'll be no point havin a pond if DDT goes in there.

Effectively, no. You can kill mosquito larvae FAIRLY harmlessly
by dropping some edible oil on the water, but it does reduce the
oxygenation of the water.

| Any research or studies that have gone into this kind of thing that show
| applying DDT is a silly thing to do?

Thousands. Using DDT has been illegal in the UK for many decades.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.