How To Kill Hibernating Mosquito Larvae In Plant Pots

[91210]

Last summer i was plagued with a large mosquito problem which looks like it originated from my plant pots as they were always overfilled with water and were filled with thousands of wriggling insects which i believe to have been the mosquito larvae.

With our mild winter i doubt the larvae and eggs have been killed so will soon hatch and grow into mosquitos again.

My plant pots now are still waterlogged filled with plants and or weeds and are too heavy for me to empty as i cannot carry them.

Is there anything i can pour into them to kill any larvae that remain without effecting the soil so that i can replant some plants and flowers?

Many thanks for taking your time to read this question and any answers i might receive.

[janbee]

Are you sure they are mozzies and not weevils? I have a similar problem but with weevils. I've used nematodes but that hasn't worked.

[melv16]

I have the same problem with the water butts on my allotment. A handful of garden lime does the trick. You probably don't need as much.

[woofgang]

you really need to fix the drainage in your pots. They should never be waterlogged or have any standing water in them. If they are too heavy to move (mine are too) then use a trowel to empty the soil out into a bucket or something you can carry and do it that way. If you can completely refill them with better drained soil the do it, if not add some grit or sand or whatever you have that is more free draining and mix well. There is no point whatever in killing the larvae without dealing with the standing water

[stuey]

This doesn't answer you question; however, I'd just like to add that as a kid growing up in England many years ago, I don't remember there being any mosquitoes. The only things that "stung" me were nettles:)

[woofgang]

stuey where were you living? I am 62 and have been a target for mosquitos for as long as I can remember.

[stuey]

The first time I encountered them was when we moved to Ontario, and they just loved my young English blood!:) As I said previously, I never saw. or felt, any in the Potteries region where I grew up.

[MargoTester]

They are alive and well in the New Forest! They love me for some reason, I counted 30 odd bites on each arm when on holiday down there. Apparently I am hot blooded and that's what attracts them, according to the chemist I visited!!

[woofgang]

might have been less mozzies when there was more industrialisation?

[stuey]

Maybe the smoke from the kilns kept them at bay:) Anyway, I never came across any, and we spent all day, when not in school, out and about in the woods and fields and country lanes etc.

[hammerman]

As mentioned, you need to sort the drainage issue out. Unless you're planting bog or marginal plants, very few other plants will survive in waterlogged soil.

You'll need to empty all the soil out and probably replace with fresh, new soil before you waste any money buying new plants

[Retrochic]

I thought in the UK there was just midges? 'Just' being the wrong word as they do give a nasty bite but not the same as mosquitoes.

[woofgang]

We got both :(

midges
http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/education/midges2.pdf

mosquitos
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/9423223/Watch-out-mosquitoes-are-on-the-rampage.html

[91210]

Many thanks for your kind and informative answers and they are definitely mosquitos.

It looks like i'll have to use the biggest pot to make many trips to transport the waste to the bins as it's quite scary to look out on a summer morning and see a swarm of mosquitos outside my window that are trying to get into my house and at me.

How did they get in there and is there a way to avoid the same situation once i've placed new earth in the pots?