Repairs, Maintenance, Pest and Disease Control
Pond Maintenance
How to Cure Murky Water
>Pest and Disease Control
Pest and Disease Control2
Other garden pond pests
Water-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 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.
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.