We've been very impressed with the prolific production rate of the tomatoes and eggplants Cindy planted in the three GrowBox containers this summer. The plants have been large and the tomatoes have been numerous and delicious. The Purple Bumblebee tomato planted in the GrowBox was double or even triple the size of the same variety planted in soil in the raised bed: http://plantagarden-itllgrowonyou.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-tale-of-two-tomatoes.html
However, we've also been experiencing a lot more mosquitoes this summer than we've ever had in the past. And two invasive, non-native mosquito species have recently been detected in San Diego County: the Egyptian Mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and the Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes albopictus. These mosquitoes can transmit the viruses that cause Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya and Yellow fever. Fortunately, these viruses are rare in San Diego, but this is definitely NOT an insect you want to encourage in your yard. https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/deh/pests/aedes.html
So we've been scratching our heads trying to figure out why we're experiencing so many more of these lovely creatures this year and where there could be any standing water nearby, and this morning the light bulb went on: they're probably breeding in the water reservoir in the base of the Grow Boxes. The two boxes in front of the garage have been done and cleaned out for over a month now, but the one behind the water tank, the one with the gigantic Purple Bumblebee tomato plant in it, is still going and Cindy has been faithfully adding water to it every day.
That plant is about done now, too, so that box will be cleaned and dried out soon. But that leaves us with the dilemma of what to do about next year: we love tomatoes, but definitely don't want to encourage the breeding of mosquitoes. Any chemical added to the water to kill mosquitoes would probably be transmitted up through the root system into the plants and probably into the fruits as well, so that doesn't sound like an acceptable solution.
San Diego County does encourage people to use Mosquito Fish, Gambusia affinis to control mosquito larvae, so that may be a solution for next year.
As Nan Sterman says, "every garden is a science experiment", and our will probably be even more of one next year.
