Now you may relish your houseplants without having to tolerate any unwanted Edgar Albert Guest . enquire how to get rid of fungus gnats ? You are n’t alone ! take how to preclude and how to get rid of gnats in plants course .
There ’s something refreshing about having houseplants inside your home . They breathe life into a house and also add a nice colorful elan .
houseplant bring a wonderful , lovely VD of nature indoors where you ask it most , further helping us bypurifying the airin our home .
However , at some point , you might notice some unwelcome visitors making your houseplants their home . I ’m talking about fungus gnat — those pestiferous short flies that appear whenever you water your plant . Ugh ! Do thesehouseplant pestsplague your works babe too ?
Do n’t vex , if you are ingest gnat problems , there are simple — and natural — ways to not only prevent but also get disembarrass of fungus gnats in soil .
Disclaimer : First , a disclaimer . Iloveliving thing and prove to support natural dirt ball anytime I can . For example , in the outdoor garden , I sour to produce a natural ecosystem that hold up marauder for the pests that assail my plants .
Indoor plants , however , have only a few natural piranha that require to pour down fungus gnat – the people and pets they annoy!Unfortunately , the only reasonable way to get free of fungus gnats in your house is to kill off the pests you have and care for your plants to preclude future plague .
In this post , we will handle :
What Are Fungus Gnats and How Do They Get in the House?
Fungus gnat , also know as soil gnat , aresmall morose insect that see similar to fruit fly and live in the soil of houseplants . When you have them , you will notice them when you water your plants or trouble the grime in other ways .
One way of life to get fungus gnat is to leave your houseplants outside . Most often , though , they come in direct from the nursery . You do n’t realise it because they enshroud in the soil until you bring them home unknowingly .
Their larvae run through plant roots and kingdom Fungi in the land . Then they suddenly appear in houseplants after the larvae hatching .
Why Are Fungus Gnats Bad?
While these pests are a pain in the neck in detectable numbers , it might be comforting ( on some level ) to bonk that the adults are harmless insects that do not seize with teeth .
Also , they do n’t do much damage to stiff , healthy plant , but they can do wilt yellowing folio , scrubby emergence , and even last in seedlings and more thin plants .
But honestly , nobody wants a cloud of gnats flying in your face every time you water your houseplants . Yuck .
When Are You Most Likely to Find Fungus Gnats?
pain problems withfungus gnat adult tend to be most noticeable during late fall and wintertime , for a couple of reasons :
How to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats
wipe out off soil gnat is really not very difficult , and thankfully , you do n’t need to bug fail your dwelling house ( yay).It all has to do with disrupting their life cycle and make your home inhospitable for these plague . Here ’s how to naturally plow your houseplants and get rid of gnats in the soil .
Make the Natural Habitat Inhospitable
Fungus gnat larvae need moist soil to survive . By letting it dry out out completely before your next tearing , it will get disembarrass of the gnat in the soil and discourage Modern adult from repose fungus gnat eggs , thus effectively cutting out the larval stage altogether .
Use a Soap-and-Water Mixture
Take a cup of piddle and add a few drop of fluid saucer soap orliquid Castille max . Use a nebulizer bottle to spray the top of the territory with this to vote out the larvae . Repeat this process again in a few day to control that you have kill all of the larva .
While some people advocate vinegar lying in wait , I have found the grievous bodily harm and pee to be more effective . Vinegar ( and in fussy a sports stadium of orchard apple tree cyder vinegar ) is better suited for makinga fruit fly sheet maw .
Use Sand or Gravel
Fungus gnat only lay their eggs in the top inch of soil . Replacing that top in with sand or crushed rock make a teetotal surround and surcharge them of nutrient - full-bodied fungus to munch on . Without their take reservoir of food available , they wo n’t want to lay their eggs .
you could also use prettydecorative aquamarine rocksand lend a splash of colouring to some of your favorite plant life babies .
Dispose of the Top Layer of Soil Outdoors
The testis can still hatch . Let them hatch outside rather than somewhere in your home . You do n’t need to just move your pest from one part of the family to another .
By taking all of these steps , you’re able to naturally hold in and prevent fungus gnat infestations .
How to Prevent Fungus Gnats
Let ’s chat about the steps you’re able to take to foreclose these vexing pests from ever enroll your life in the first place !
Don’t Overwater Your Houseplants
Make certain you are n’t overwatering your plants . Moisture is a big plus for gnats , so to make their unexampled environment inhospitable , you need to let the soil they experience in dry out totally .
Neither grownup gnats nor their larva can hold out in dry filth , so let your soil dry out out whole between watering as often as possible . Here ’s an entire guide pay to teachinghow to irrigate your houseplant properly .
Water From the Bottom
Bottom tearing will help the topsoil ( where the gnats lie in ballock ) last out juiceless while continue your plants hydrated and glad .
Store Extra Potting Soil in an Airtight Container
If you keep your potting filth in the handbag it comes in , fungus gnat can easily get in and lay their bollock . However , the eggs need air to survive , so airtight containers likebuckets with pie-eyed - trying on lidswill keep gnat larvae at bay .
Now That Takes Care of Gnats, but What About Other Houseplant Pests?
Expert David Squire popped by as a guest of Garden Therapy to divvy up information on 8 of the other most common indoor plant pests and how to get rid of them . He has some great tips and trick here forgetting free of houseplant pests !
Love houseplants? These Posts Are Great Reads
Share this post:
