Vegetable Oil for Mosquito Larvae Control

[goldtrap2690]

Hola,
I tried the vegetable oil on water idea that i've been hearing about and it worked really well. Even flies that landed on the layer of oil died. It's quite an insect mass grave.

I'm just curious though, because i had some nearby plants and there leaves touched the oil and became thin and translucent. So i guess the leaves died.

I'm growing lotus tubers in there so I'm wondering, will the vegetable oil ruin the leaves of plants or kill plants. Does it kill aquatic animals too like fish?
Thanks folks

 

[Est]

I can only really give you speculation, but I'd be wary of where I put that oil. If it coats a tuber, I'd imagine that it'd restrict the ability of the tuber's roots to uptake water due to its hydrophobic properties. Furthermore, I'd imagine that a layer of oil on top of a pond or some other body of water could be very harmful to fauna as I'm not sure what it does to the gas exchange rates. You could end up killing all of the beneficial things you've got going on in there.

If I were going to use oil as a mosquito prevention tool I'd only use it in water trays (though not if the water level goes very high up the pot.) I'm sure someone with more knowledge in the matter will step in an set us right, though.

 

[Nflytrap]

For the future, their are a few products claimed 100% safe that work by lowering the surface tension so the mosquito larvae drown. I wonder if plain ol soap would work also?

 

[kahnli]

I've heard that catnip works wonders for squitors.

 

[jimscott]

Bugweed mentions using non-stick spray for mosquito larvae. An acquaintance of mine is using guppies for larvae control.