 If you have a lake or pond on your property, you will deal with midges during the summer months. Midges are annoying six-legged insects that can grow in number quickly. Midges are a necessary part of the fish ecosystem as the primary food source for many different fish types. If they become overpopulated, however, they can ruin all your outside activities. You will want to do all that you can to manage your lake or pond's midge population.
Midges have to have fresh water to complete their lifecycle. They thrive in murky waters of lakes and ponds with low oxygen levels. Thousands of midges can be in your water. In some cases, poorly managed water can have 40,000+ larva per square meter. Thankfully, there are several things that you can do to control the midge population. Tips on How to Manage Midges If you want to learn how to manage midges, there are several things you can do to ensure the population stays at a minimum. • Aeration system: One thing that can help manage the midges in your pond or lake can be to install a submersed aeration system. An aeration system will increase the oxygen levels in your body of water. This will help to promote healthy aquatic life that will feed on the midge fly larva. The better your aquatic life system is, the fewer midges you will have. • Stocking fish: Consider stocking your pond or lake with fish that naturally feed on midge flies. Bluegill and Redear both love to feed on the midge fly larva. By eating the larvae, the fish will keep the midge fly population at bay. • Improving your shoreline: Having a shoreline that does not promote the growth of native plants can quickly cause a midge overpopulation problem. If you make the shoreline of your pond or lake full of native plants, it will encourage dragonflies and amphibians' habitats. These are all-natural predators, and will eat the midge fly population. • Nutrient remediation: An important thing that you can do to help reduce the midge population is to reduce the organic buildup in your water body. Midge flies will feed on organic material that is decaying and quickly overpopulate your pond. By making sure that you clean your pond regularly, you will lower the midge population. • Lake management: If you are having trouble learning how to manage midges or have tried things and are not working, it may be time to look into lake management companies. These lake management companies will be able to come out and address the midge fly population. They will offer lake maintenance services that will allow you to have a beautiful pond or lake and a managed midge population. It should never be your goal to eradicate the midge population fully. Your fish thrive on these as a food source. If you are uncertain, how to do this, call a company that offers local lake maintenance services to see how they can help you lower the population of the midges without killing them all off. |