Dunks. You can buy them online, or go to any big box store like Home Depot, or even plant nurseries have them. You don't have to use a whole one, not if just a bucket or big container, you can break one into pieces. it will last quite awhile. No mosquito eggs will hatch. Safe too.

Here's my version. Sad, huh?

The white powder is diatomaceous earth, which should kill the Chinese rose beetles eating the lotus leaves into lace. There is one new leaf poking up through the kitty litter, which I'm hoping will prevent mosquitoes from breeding.

thanks for the dunks tip, I'll get some. This bucket overflows when it rains--we get 170" of rain a year, so it overflows a lot. I'll see if the dunks last

steiconi,

Is that bucket placed in your pond? Or do you grow it outside the pond in that

bucket? The bucket looks like all kitty litter, no water. I used a smaller pot and put that small pot with the lotus in it inside of a bigger pot. Then I filled the bigger pot up with water so that the lotus had about 2 mabey 2 1/2 inches of water to float in. Then I just place my fertilizer tabs right in the soil that is in the little pot.

I used regular garden soil, not kitty litter. If I see any bugs, I squirt them into the water in the big pot that the lotus is in and they drown. Or you can remove them, I personally just watch them drown. LOL.

If it rains, since I only have 2 inches of water in the bigger pot, I don't worry about it. But I don't get the rain that you get. You will have to empty the water out so that the lotus doesn't drown.

I have a number of water containers around that I've planted with Utricularia gibba. Never have any problems with mosquitos breeding in the water.

You need to use plain dirt and have more water on top, for the first floater leaves. And I would fertilize them every 3 weeks with pond tabs. They love sun. As you know, in that small pot you would probably need to repot it every year. Oh....guess I should ask.......what kind of lotus is it?

eeeew, that Utricularia gibba looks like ticks on a stick! I want some! Will have to find out if it's legal here.

I dunno what kind of lotus. Someone brought roots to our water garden club, labeled only by color. So I think it's either yellow or white. I fertilize monthly, right after pond club meeting; don't fert the lotus when it has no leaves.

I have seeds for pink, but don't want to bother starting them if I can't get any flowers. I suspect that part of that problem is the high nitrogen content of the water in my fish pond, so I'm hoping moving the lotus to a separate container (which is about 24" wide, not that small) will make it easier to keep the fertilizer components balanced.

Utricularia gibba is pantropical, and also a Hawaiian native (unlike about 90% of the other plants on the islands, LOL). The reason for its wide distribution is probably because over countless millenia it's been spread by water birds.

The red (or pink) Lotus is Nelumbo nucifera and it's a tropical plant. The yellow lotus is Nelumbo lutea and comes from a much colder climate. There's been a lot of breeding of the plants so now there's a bit of a range of colours, double or single flowers, and dwarf types. They grow in depths of water up to 2 metres but prefer to have some depth of water rather than just soil or mud.

According to the USDA, U. gibba was introduced to the Big Island, not native, and isn't found elsewhere in Hawaii. I'm still going to see if I can find some.

USDA U.gibba distribution

coincidentally, this month's speaker at my pond club (Big Island Water Gardeners) is going to talk about pond plants that eat insects. I hope he brings samples!

There are a number of floating Utricularias that should work well. And Aldrovanda vesiculosa is another submerged floating carnivorous plant. The advantage of the floating ones is that they get the mosquitos before they develop. Terrestrial carnivorous plants are only partially effective as emerged female mosquitos (the biting ones) aren't really attracted to them.

Lotus need room to grow. They won't Bloom in small containers. I would only put lotus in 30 or more gallons. Fill the container with dirt up to about 4inches from the top, Place the tuber on top, cover the tuber with Dirt. The tubers will go down. Do not fertilize until the 3rd leave above the water. Plus they need fertilizer. They are heavy feeders. Here are my lotus in Michigan. I will be forever on the Big Island Come November 2016 and I will grow them there too. Scroll down and click on a pic to see How I do it here... and just copy. https://www.flickr.com/photos/area53/