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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Mosquito larvae feed on algae.  They can't live in perfectly clean water.    If you put some cover in the water, such as pond weeds, or even some sticks and floating boards, it will attract dragonflies and water beetles, which will feed on the mosquito larvae.    The predator insects won't go to water that lacks any cover, though.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
For even more grape lessons, go to  http://www.grapeschool.com
For all other things grape,   http://www.vitisearch.com
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
On Jun 27, 2008, at 6:49 AM, Donna &/or Kieran wrote:

Prepare a large plastic lined cistern for water storage but never get to the ferrocement stage.  Have your dogs chase a full grown rabbit into it in Febuary so it drowns before you get home and they have forgotten all about it so they don't tell you something happened.  Note the smell of the cistern with some curiosity.  Let months go by.  Only after the mosquitoes become unbearable do you check the cistern and decide to drain some of it into the garden to relieve plant suffering due to drought and reduce the large numbers of mosquito larvae.  (Yes, there is this side effect, but the frogs will eventually take care of them.)  At that point it's okay to discover and remove the rotting rabbit carcass as the tadpole crop is well under way.    Donna
 
P.S.  In case you haven't noticed, mosquito larvae are apparently God's way of cleaning up dirty water.  They grow so much faster in dirty water.  I had never realised that tadpoles could benefit as well.