Photo courtesy of Charles & Clint at Flickr.com.

If you’ve got ornamental ponds in your yard and are worried about them becoming mosquito larva condos, don’t resort to nasty chemicals to keep them clean. Bring in a few mosquito fish (Gambusia), which are native to the southern and eastern U.S. These quick-breeding little fish (they never exceed three inches) can each gobble up to 100 mosquito larvae a day, cleaning the wrigglers out as soon as they hatch.

They’re very effective at their job, and in some states can be obtained free from your local insect control district. They also do well in off-duty swimming pools and animal drinking troughs, and when you no longer need them, the control district will usually be glad to take them back. In some states, you may need a permit to use mosquito fish, so check first!

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at 5:51 am and is filed under Gardening Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.