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Repairs, Maintenance, Pest and Disease ControlPond MaintenanceHow to Cure Murky Water>Pest and Disease ControlPest and Disease Control2Other garden pond pestsWater-lilies probably suffer less from diseases and insects than any other ornamental plants. Perhaps this is because they are extremely healthy in their watery beds, and therefore vigorous enough to throw off ailments that cause many earth-borne plants to fail. Perhaps they have little trouble with insects because goldfish in the pool eat insect eggs and larvae as they appear. However, various harmful insects and two forms of fungi do make their appearance on rare occasions, so it is wise to be able to recognize them. APHIDS (Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae). These reddish-black pests will appear fairly early in the summer, particularly if the season is hot with little rainfall. In the water garden, you will see them first on leaf stems of lilies which hold bloom and leaf above the water. If aphids are not checked on stems, they will move on to the leaves. They live by sucking plant juices, and, if not eliminated, will cause leaves to discolor and eventually decay.
Aphids are easy to get rid of. Twist the nozzle of your garden hose down to a fine, businesslike spray. Wash the aphids off stems and foliage into the pool. The fish wil1 do the rest. BROWN CHINA MARKS MOTH (Hydrocampa proprialis). A small moth with 1- to 1 1/4-inch spread, the orange-brown wings patterned with white. It lays small clusters of eggs close to the edge of leaves, and the eggs soon hatch small white larvae.
The insect is worst in the larvae stage. It cuts pieces from leaves and attaches itself between them to make a floating home in which to travel from one plant to another, borne by wind and water motion, eating around leaf edges as it goes. Fortunately, the pest is rare, for it is hard to kill. Destroy the larvae by removing any floating, stuck-together bits of debris. Dip them from the pool and destroy. Kill the insect in the moth stage with a lamp trap-a lantern or other light set out at night over a dishpan of water on which a film of kerosene floats. The light will attract the moths to their doom in the kerosene. Kill the eggs and newly hatched larvae by dislodging them from the leaves. Just push the leaves under water for a moment, and the fish will do the rest of the job for you. Continue to Pest and Disease Control2 |
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