If you happen to’ve saved indoor vegetation for any size of time, chances are high you’ve encountered fungus gnats. These frequent houseplants pests don’t trigger as a lot injury as spider mites and scale, and most plant lovers think about fungus gnats largely a nuisance.
Nevertheless, if fungus gnat populations soar, fungus gnat larvae can injury plant roots, and grownup gnats may transmit damping off to younger vegetation.
Whereas fungus gnats are definitely troublesome, the excellent news is that these pests could be simply managed by adjusting your plant care routine. Under, you’ll uncover the very best methods to sort out a fungus gnat infestation to maintain your own home vegetation gnat-free and pristine for a few years to return!
What Are Fungus Gnats
Fungus gnats are small, flying bugs that look very similar to fruit flies. Nevertheless, not like different small flies, fungus gnats have lengthy legs and skinny our bodies, and their flight sample is sort of erratic.
Grownup fungus gnats are about the identical measurement as fruit flies, and so they have grayish-black our bodies and grey or clear wings, whereas fungus gnats within the larval stage appear like small, clear worms with shiny black heads.
Feeding on natural matter, previous plant materials, and fungi in plant soil, small numbers of fungus gnats are comparatively innocent, and so they don’t sting, chew, or straight injury vegetation.
Nevertheless, giant numbers of fungus gnats can destroy plant roots and trigger different points. Worse nonetheless, fungus gnats have the irritating behavior of flying up in your face (or into your drink!) when watering your vegetation!
What Causes Gnats
Fungus gnats might hitch a experience on new vegetation bought from backyard facilities or can fly into your own home by an open window. However what actually attracts fungus gnats is overwatering.
Fungus gnats love moist soil, and if a fungus gnat downside crops up in your houseplant assortment, chances are high you’ll need to regulate your watering routine.
Not solely do overwatered vegetation present the right habitat for fungus gnats, however soggy soil can be a breeding floor for fungus and root rot.
Figuring out Gnats On Houseplants and Indoor Crops
Fungus gnats don’t fly very properly, in order that they spend most of their time hovering close to the highest layer of soil in potted vegetation. You may additionally see fungus gnats congregating within the damp potting combine across the drainage holes of plant pots.
If you happen to’re nonetheless not sure you’re coping with fungus gnats, give your houseplants a delicate shake. If small bugs fly out of your vegetation, there’s an excellent likelihood you’re coping with soil gnats.
Another choice is to put potato slices on the highest of the soil of your houseplants and examine the slices within the morning for indicators of fungus gnat larvae.
How To Stop Fungus Gnats
One of the simplest ways to maintain fungus gnats at bay is to keep away from overwatering houseplants. Fungus gnats thrive in damp soil, and so they feed on fungus that grows in overly moist situations.
Nevertheless, if the soil floor is allowed to dry out a bit between plant waterings, fungus gnat adults gained’t be as eager to put their eggs, and their populations gained’t develop as quickly.
Since completely different vegetation have completely different watering wants, it may be difficult to know precisely when and the way a lot to water houseplants. Nevertheless, an excellent rule of thumb is that tropical houseplants must be watered when the highest one to 2 inches of soil feels dry to the contact, and succulents and cacti have to be watered a lot lower than that. And, in fact, hold vegetation in pots with loads of drainage holes!
Apart from adjusting the way you water vegetation, you may forestall fungus gnats by checking new vegetation over properly and quarantining new additions for a few days earlier than you add them to your houseplant assortment. If doubtful, you can too spray new houseplants with a light cleaning soap spray made with water and some drops of dish cleaning soap to be sure to’re not bringing fungus gnats or different pests into your own home.
You may discover this information to watering indoor vegetation useful, particularly if you’re a newbie.
Injury Precipitated By Fungus Gnats
Small populations of fungus gnats gained’t do a lot hurt to vegetation. But when fungus gnats reproduce quickly, giant numbers of larvae will start to feed on plant roots, which might trigger important hurt, particularly to younger vegetation and seedlings. Injury from fungus gnat larvae seems to be much like the signs of root rot, and contaminated vegetation might wilt, and their leaves might droop, yellow, and drop away.
Apart from root points, fungus gnats may transmit damping off, a very devastating illness in seedling develop rooms. When damping off strikes, it could possibly trigger total flats of seedlings to wilt and die rapidly, and it’s possible you’ll discover that seedling stems wither and switch brown.
How To Management and Get Rid of Fungus Gnats?
The primary and most necessary step in the direction of eradicating fungus gnats is to regulate your watering schedule and supply your vegetation with much less water when you have overly moist potting soil. However past that, there are a number of different steps which you could take to regulate fungus gnats:
- Since grownup gnats usually tend to lay eggs in dry soil, scale back watering and check out putting a layer of sand excessive of your potting combine. Sand drains extra rapidly than soil, so it’s much less more likely to harbor fungus gnat eggs. It’s additionally a good suggestion to scrub up any fallen leaves or different previous plant matter in your plant pots so fungus gnats could have much less natural matter to feed on.
- Another choice is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth over your soil line. This natural product is constituted of the fossilized skeletons of tiny aquatic creatures referred to as diatoms, that are so sharp that they reduce by fungus gnat exoskeletons and trigger desiccation. Simply make sure to put on a masks when making use of this product, as it could possibly trigger respiratory irritation.
- If you happen to’d choose a spray-on product, you need to use neem oil spray or make your individual fungus gnat-busting spray by mixing one half hydrogen peroxide with 4 elements water. Utilizing a sprig bottle, apply the hydrogen peroxide resolution to your plant and plant soil each 7 to 10 days to kill fungus gnats and the fungus they feed on. And as a bonus, this spray additionally combats damping off!
- To manage grownup gnats, attempt putting yellow sticky traps across the soil line of your houseplants. Fungus gnats are drawn to the colour yellow, however once they land on sticky fly traps, they gained’t be capable to escape. When used for a number of weeks, sticky traps can take away grownup gnats and hold them from reproducing.
- For much more choices, you may experiment with sprinkling cinnamon powder excessive of your soil line or watering your vegetation with diluted chamomile tea. Each of those merchandise operate as a pure fungicide and scale back fungus gnat meals sources.
- Lastly, you can also make your individual DIY gnat lure by including apple cider vinegar and some drops of liquid dish cleaning soap to a jar or small saucer. When positioned close to houseplants, this DIY lure will lure in fungus gnats with the candy scent of fermentation, however as soon as gnats land within the liquid, they gained’t be capable to fly away. As a result of gnat traps solely work towards the grownup inhabitants of gnats, this tactic works greatest when used for a number of weeks or along side among the different pure strategies on this checklist.
How To Get Rid Of Gnats In Soil?
If all else fails and you continue to have fungus gnats after treating your vegetation with the above steps, it’s possible you’ll need to substitute your houseplant soil. Fungus gnats lay their eggs in soil, and they are often exhausting to eradicate, however you may nip the issue within the bud by repotting your vegetation with recent soil.
Make sure to toss the contaminated soil outside or seal it in a plastic bag earlier than you pop it in your trash can to ensure no fungus gnats escape again into your own home.
Now we have guides on controlling different plant pests: mealybugs, aphids, and spider mites.
How To Get Rid Of Gnats In Soil FAQ’s
Soil that has an excessive amount of moisture is a breeding floor for fungus gnats. So, the primary factor you must do to eliminate these tiny bugs is to regulate your watering routine.
A hydrogen peroxide combination made with 1 half hydrogen peroxide and 4 elements water will kill off fungus gnats and the fungus they feed on. You too can use natural cleaning soap or neem oil sprays to deal with these pesky critters.
The quickest approach to eliminate gnats is to exchange your houseplant soil. After that, any remaining fungus gnats in your area could be captured both with yellow sticky traps or an apple cider vinegar lure.
Conclusion: Fungus gnats are a standard houseplant downside, however the excellent news is that they aren’t notably tough to deal with. Utilizing all-natural therapy strategies, like neem oil and cinnamon, can do heaps to scale back fungus gnat populations. However one of the best ways to make it possible for fungus gnats by no means happen is to not overwater your vegetation within the first place.
If you happen to’re somebody who typically overwaters their vegetation, think about investing in a soil moisture meter and at all times contact soil earlier than you water to ensure it isn’t already moist. With an adjusted watering schedule and the guidelines and instruments we’ve coated at the moment, you shouldn’t have any hassle stopping fungus gnats from invading your houseplant assortment!
Blissful Gardening,
-Lauren
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Lauren Landers is a Grasp Gardener and gardening author dwelling in Maine. After working a small natural farm in New England for a number of years, Lauren transitioned to freelance writing and loves serving to others uncover the great thing about natural and pollinator gardening!
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