How can I control leeches in my pond? Allison – Empire, CO
Don’t Leech the Fun from Your Summer
Have you ever climbed out of your pond and found one of those blackish-brown creatures on you? Well it’s a sure fire way to scare the rest of your friends out of the water. So why do leeches decide to call your pond home and what can you do to make your pond leech free?
Leeches tend to use the accumulation of muck and debris at the bottom of your pond as a type of abode. Not only do they find food sources in the debris they also hide from predators that are passing by overhead. The best way to banish leeches from your pond is to remove this habitat. This can be accomplished by pulling out the debris you can reach using a Lake Rake and then adding MuckAway bacteria to digest whatever muck remains. With nowhere to hide the leeches will be picked off by your fish population.
Being the good neighbor that you are, you can help the leeches pack up and move out even faster by trapping and physically removing them. A fairly simple way to trap them is to poke a series of small holes or slits into a milk jug or coffee can. Line the bottom of the can with rocks to keep it weighted down and stable and bait the can with raw meat or fish heads. The leeches can enter the can via the holes you added, but the jagged edges prevent them from exiting. Some trappers utilize accordion folded plastic or thin metal with similar bait to pull up any leeches that find their way into the folds. Check your traps and refresh bait often! Also, keep in mind that leeches become less active as the water temperature drops so you may have better luck trapping them in shallower areas of than in the depths.
Take a look at our past Blog about leeches for some additional information and feedback from our followers. There is a helpful link that explains how to remove leeches safely as well as some user submitted tips and tricks on how to trap them.
POND TALK: If you have found a great way to trap leeches or maybe tried a method that didn’t work out too well please feel free to share it with everyone reading this blog.
Filed under: Leeches, MuckAway, Pond & Lake | Tagged: lake rake, Leech Removal, Leeches, muckaway | 2 Comments »
