On 2014-08-16 06:48:09 +0000, Martin said:

On Fri, 15 Aug 2014 22:54:08 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-08-15 19:31:45 +0000, David Hill said:

On 15/08/2014 19:27, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Sacha wrote:
snip

I was thinking mainly of the garden of a hotel in Corfu which had
(apparently) been sprayed with paraffin. It absolutely reeked and it
does seem a very dangerous method! This was back in the mid-70s.

Ah, no, that's not what they had done. Mosquito larvae hang from
the surface of stagnant water, which is why draining the Fens
eliminated marsh ague a century or two back. The usual method
of preventing that is to put a small amount of oil in, and that
kills the larvae. Paraffin is cheap and not very volatile, so
is safe, but it does stink when it evaporates (e.g. on a hot day).

You can also use detergent, but that usually needs a LOT more and
taints the water worse.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I've found that if you give a quick spray with an aerosol fly spray
over the surface it kills off the mosquito larvae and doesn't leave any
deposit on the water surface.

Good tip!

Olive oil works too.

No flies on my salad! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2014-08-16 07:05:13 +0000, Phil Cook said:

On 16/08/2014 07:48, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 15 Aug 2014 22:54:08 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-08-15 19:31:45 +0000, David Hill said:

On 15/08/2014 19:27, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Sacha wrote:
snip

I was thinking mainly of the garden of a hotel in Corfu which had
(apparently) been sprayed with paraffin. It absolutely reeked and it
does seem a very dangerous method! This was back in the mid-70s.

Ah, no, that's not what they had done. Mosquito larvae hang from
the surface of stagnant water, which is why draining the Fens
eliminated marsh ague a century or two back. The usual method
of preventing that is to put a small amount of oil in, and that
kills the larvae. Paraffin is cheap and not very volatile, so
is safe, but it does stink when it evaporates (e.g. on a hot day).

You can also use detergent, but that usually needs a LOT more and
taints the water worse.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I've found that if you give a quick spray with an aerosol fly spray
over the surface it kills off the mosquito larvae and doesn't leave any
deposit on the water surface.

Good tip!

Olive oil works too.

And doesn't kill the fish.

This is printed on every fly spray can I've ever seen:

"Very toxic to aquatic organisms. May cause long-term adverse effects
in the aquatic environment. "

Two of our ponds have fish in but one is a wildlife pond which has no
fish and if we get mozzies that's where they'll come from. It has an
industrial quantity of duckweed, too, but that's another problem.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:08:14 +0200, Martin wrote:


One of our neighbours has a small fish pond. Judging from the number of small
frogs and dragonflies we find in our garden fish, and other pond life are not
totally incompatible.

It's not always the fish to blame. Some "other pond life" eat small
fish. Dytiscus beetles and their huge larvae can reduce a pond to no
life at all. The green ones are quite attractive from a distance. I
had a pet one in a tank when I was about 5. It bit my finger and drew
blood. Mum panicked, the doctor laughed!

Steve

--
Neural Network Software http://www.npsnn.com
EasyNN-plus More than just a neural network http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN Prediction software http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN Just a neural network http://www.justnn.com

On 2014-08-17 08:08:14 +0000, Martin said:

On Sat, 16 Aug 2014 14:25:46 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-08-16 07:05:13 +0000, Phil Cook said:

On 16/08/2014 07:48, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 15 Aug 2014 22:54:08 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-08-15 19:31:45 +0000, David Hill said:

On 15/08/2014 19:27, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Sacha wrote:
snip

I was thinking mainly of the garden of a hotel in Corfu which had
(apparently) been sprayed with paraffin. It absolutely reeked and it
does seem a very dangerous method! This was back in the mid-70s.

Ah, no, that's not what they had done. Mosquito larvae hang from
the surface of stagnant water, which is why draining the Fens
eliminated marsh ague a century or two back. The usual method
of preventing that is to put a small amount of oil in, and that
kills the larvae. Paraffin is cheap and not very volatile, so
is safe, but it does stink when it evaporates (e.g. on a hot day).

You can also use detergent, but that usually needs a LOT more and
taints the water worse.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I've found that if you give a quick spray with an aerosol fly spray
over the surface it kills off the mosquito larvae and doesn't leave any
deposit on the water surface.

Good tip!

Olive oil works too.

And doesn't kill the fish.

This is printed on every fly spray can I've ever seen:

"Very toxic to aquatic organisms. May cause long-term adverse effects
in the aquatic environment. "

Two of our ponds have fish in but one is a wildlife pond which has no
fish and if we get mozzies that's where they'll come from. It has an
industrial quantity of duckweed, too, but that's another problem.

One of our neighbours has a small fish pond. Judging from the number of small
frogs and dragonflies we find in our garden fish, and other pond life are not
totally incompatible.

We get those, too but one pond in particular, has a really large number
of fish. We've noticed that the number of tadpoles that hatch and
survive each year has diminished over the 14 years I've been here. So
the wildlife pond is primarily (in our minds) for frogs. We get lots of
dragonflies and damselflies round all the ponds.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2014-08-17 08:04:28 +0000, Martin said:

On Sat, 16 Aug 2014 14:20:45 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-08-16 06:48:09 +0000, Martin said:

On Fri, 15 Aug 2014 22:54:08 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-08-15 19:31:45 +0000, David Hill said:

On 15/08/2014 19:27, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Sacha wrote:
snip

I was thinking mainly of the garden of a hotel in Corfu which had
(apparently) been sprayed with paraffin. It absolutely reeked and it
does seem a very dangerous method! This was back in the mid-70s.

Ah, no, that's not what they had done. Mosquito larvae hang from
the surface of stagnant water, which is why draining the Fens
eliminated marsh ague a century or two back. The usual method
of preventing that is to put a small amount of oil in, and that
kills the larvae. Paraffin is cheap and not very volatile, so
is safe, but it does stink when it evaporates (e.g. on a hot day).

You can also use detergent, but that usually needs a LOT more and
taints the water worse.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I've found that if you give a quick spray with an aerosol fly spray
over the surface it kills off the mosquito larvae and doesn't leave any
deposit on the water surface.

Good tip!

Olive oil works too.

No flies on my salad! ;-)

Just wood lice on the fruit :-(

Not so far...! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

In article ,
lid says...

One of our neighbours has a small fish pond. Judging from the number of small
frogs and dragonflies we find in our garden fish, and other pond life are not
totally incompatible.

Are you doing post mortem autopsies on your garden fish?

Janet.

On 15/08/2014 17:07, Sacha wrote:
5 or 6 years ago we stayed at a hotel in Turkey in Dalyan. We were
having pre-dinner drinks one evening when we saw the groundsman going
round, spraying the banks of the river where it bounded the hotel
garden. Ray recognised it as DDT and we moved hastily. The hotel owner
assured us it was 'nothing to worry about' No thanks!

The owner was right. It's not humans it hurts, but birds. (and lots of
other stuff...)

Andy

On 17/08/2014 14:29, Janet wrote:
In article ,
lid says...

One of our neighbours has a small fish pond. Judging from the number of small
frogs and dragonflies we find in our garden fish, and other pond life are not
totally incompatible.

Are you doing post mortem autopsies on your garden fish?

Janet.




s/garden fish, and/garden, fish and/

It took me a while to parse it too.

Andy

On 2014-08-17 20:59:47 +0000, Vir Campestris said:

On 15/08/2014 17:07, Sacha wrote:
5 or 6 years ago we stayed at a hotel in Turkey in Dalyan. We were
having pre-dinner drinks one evening when we saw the groundsman going
round, spraying the banks of the river where it bounded the hotel
garden. Ray recognised it as DDT and we moved hastily. The hotel owner
assured us it was 'nothing to worry about' No thanks!

The owner was right. It's not humans it hurts, but birds. (and lots of
other stuff...)

Andy

Nonetheless, we didn't fancy a martini & DDT cocktail going into our
bodies, thanks!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Sun, 17 Aug 2014 14:29:40 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article ,
says...

One of our neighbours has a small fish pond. Judging from the number of small
frogs and dragonflies we find in our garden fish, and other pond life are not
totally incompatible.

Are you doing post mortem autopsies on your garden fish?

Janet.



It's not that strange to post mortem fishes. Years ago I did many post
mortems on DOA fish imported from Africa at great expense. One of my
friends got a doctorate degree finding out what was killing imported
fish.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software http://www.npsnn.com
EasyNN-plus More than just a neural network http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN Prediction software http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN Just a neural network http://www.justnn.com

wrote in message
. ..
On Thu, 14 Aug 2014 16:08:01 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme
wrote:



Sorry to be a killjoy but except for special occasions, I'm not keen on
garden lighting at all. Better to see the night sky and not confuse the
moths!

I wish I could see the night sky. Most people under 60 have never seen
a bright sky at night because of the street and "safety" lighting. If
it was up to me I would impose a night time blackout on everything
after midnight.

Steve

With the way the power stations have been run down to a minimum
reserve you'll probably get your wish this Winter a long time before
midnight.

G.Harman

It's already happened here in Essex :

http://www.essexhighways.org/Transpo...-lighting.aspx

--
David

In article ,
says...

On Sun, 17 Aug 2014 14:29:40 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article ,
says...

One of our neighbours has a small fish pond. Judging from the number of small
frogs and dragonflies we find in our garden fish, and other pond life are not
totally incompatible.

Are you doing post mortem autopsies on your garden fish?

Janet.



It's not that strange to post mortem fishes. Years ago I did many post
mortems on DOA fish imported from Africa at great expense. One of my
friends got a doctorate degree finding out what was killing imported
fish.

I'm not sure if Martin's fish have been imported from Africa at great
expense. If they were DOA I hope he got his money back.

Janet.