Little black bug invasion!

[TheDeuce]

Hey guys,

We're under siege!

Last August we had tonnes of tiny black bugs around our pool. Our landscaping wasn't done though so we attributed it to a certain nasty weed that had taken over and seemed to attract them. This year the landscaping is done, the weeds are gone, but we still have a tonne of the same darn bugs. Very small - almost so small my skimmer is just fine enough to scoop them out - still quite alive despite floating on our water surface for great lengths of time. Here's a snapshot:



As you can see they're so small they almost go through the mesh on my skimmer tool. Any advice?


Thanks in advance!



m.

 

[mickey4paws]

Hi Deuce! I hate bugs and we get little knats every year in late May, early June. So far the only way I've found to get rid of them is to use a solar cover at night in case they hatch. I don't always catch the hatching in time and find hundreds of those nasty critters on the surface of the water. I then take a skimmer net and skim, skim, skim and run the pump.

Another option is to spray a bug killer made for landscaping, and spray your landscaping that's around the pool. There's one called Ortho Home Defense on amazon but I've never used it.

Good luck!

 

[TheDeuce]

Thanks M4P!

We always use a solar cover when the pool's not in use - we're in Winnipeg so going topless would cost a lot in heating expense - but I don't think we're getting any benefit vis a vis insect control from it. I've been trying to ID what species these bugs are so I can pick a pesticide known to work on them but I've not had any luck so far.

I tried doing the Google Image search where you drag and drop a copy of the picture and Google searches for similar images. For some reason Google identified these bugs as a "Downy Woodpecker". An actual woodpecker. Useful, no?

At any rate I think I'll try spraying the yard with Talstar P. It seems to be effective on every bug I can think of.



m.

 

[mickey4paws]

That's funny google thought it was a woodpecker. Looking again at your pic, they look like some kind of small beetle. I might try some of that Talstar P next year. Our pool is built into a hill on one side and the bugs jump from the grass on the hill into the pool. It rained here yesterday and it's super humid today and guess what? Those flying ant/knat things are starting to come out. I ran outside and put the solar cover on.

I hope you can get those nasties under control. I would have thought the solar cover would keep them out. They must get in from the sides of the cover I guess.

Good luck! BTW, your pool is beautiful!

 

[TheDeuce]

Thx!

We use the Talstar P for mosquito control which worked quite well early on but I think the local mosquitoes are building a tolerance for it. I'll have to switch to something else for them methinks.


m.