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Are Insects Eating Up Your Waterlilies? |
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Some years ago I observed something eating the foliage on the new emerging leaves of some of my water lilies. The leaves were riddled with holes and as soon as a new leaf got started, it too would be eaten. I felt that if this continued, the waterlily would never mature. What it turned out to be was a type of midge. I took my finger under the leaf and would simply run it against the leaf. On my wet finger tip I would see this little opaque worm about 1/8th of an inch long writhing about. At the moment I do not know what midge it is but know there is plenty of aquatic life in pond water. The plant in question was in a 1 gallon pot inside a lotus container. Once started and thriving, my plan was to be moved it to a pond for continued growing. I dosed it with potassium permanganate at about 10 ppm and the midges were still there. I then treated it with what I figured was 25 ppm more or less and still no elimination of the midge worms. Finally I used a little dylox and all kinds of critters came to the surface in a day or so. The total water volume as probably 20 gallons. All of the above treatment was done in April of 2009. I will let you know what happens over the next several weeks. Photo coming.
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McNeary’s Ponds and Aquatic Plants |
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