Dear Editor:
We had a property in Kelowna on Mission Creek, near the lake.
Each spring the creek rose and we along with all the neighbours had shallow pools of still water on our lawns with millions of mosquito larvae ready to hatch.
Our solution to this was to pour vegetable oil on the pools of water and any other suspected areas.
It is not necessary to overdo it. The quantity of oil to pour must reach all edges of the pooling water though so that there is no fresh surface water for the larvae to escape to. The oil floats on top preventing the larvae from hatching. It won’t kill the airborne mosquitoes but will prevent the offspring from hatching.
One of the neighbours had access to used vegetable oil from his restaurant’s deep fryer and shared the disposed oil with us and all our neighbours.
Other restaurants assisted and gave us their disposed old cooking oil, to keep our cost down as we were buying Mazola oil off the grocery shelf.
It matters not if the oil is peanut oil, corn oil or any other form of vegetable oil, new or used. It is all biodegradable and will not harm the lake nor environment.
If the mosquitoes are allergic to peanut oil, all the better. Let them choke.
Used motor oil also works, but we do not recommend that, obviously.
Gary Jackson
Summerland