Re: CULT: Bog Gardens and Mosquitoes

>At 04:58 AM 6/2/97 -0600, Donald Mosser wrote:
>
>This seems like a cheap alternative to the hard plastic liners (approx.
>$150.00 locally) if all you really want to do is grow the bog plants and
>mosquitos and don't want the fish or the water lilies.  I would estimate
>$15.00 for the kiddie pool, sandpaper, and spray paint.  Now I just need to
>find a place in my yard to plant one of these bogs.  Anyone else have any
>innovative ideas on bog gardening on the cheap?
>
Well, you could always buy a house that comes complete with bog. Only we
call it The Swamp.

Seriously, how do you control mosquitoes in a situation like this? I've
tried the bt dunks, but I'm not sure the stuff travels because there isn't
always any water flow. Most of the time it's just extremely small puddles,
or just squishy mud masquerading as solid ground. (A couple of weeks ago I
got the garden tractor stuck out there. It took an old car jack, a major
collection of scrap lumber, and two people to get it back out.) Is my
natural bog considerably wetter than artificial bogs, or is there a
mosquito control strategy that works under these conditions?

BTW, Anner is perfectly correct that natural bogs do dry out on occassion.
During the drought several years ago, it was almost dry land, and the only
thing that happened to most of the inhabitants is that the boundary edge
between cattails and grass moved. Now I have an edge of grass that I can't
mow because the tractor gets stuck, but I expect the cattails will reclaim
it over time.

Also, JIs can survive being underwater during the winter. It took them a
very long time to get going this spring, but they are still there, and
getting ready to bloom.

Kay Cangemi
Cangemi@mhv.net
New York, USDA zone 5
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