Now you may get pleasure from your houseplants with out having to tolerate any undesirable company. Questioning the way to do away with fungus gnats? You aren’t alone! Learn to forestall and the way to do away with gnats in crops naturally.
There’s one thing refreshing about having houseplants inside your property. They breathe life right into a home and in addition add a pleasant colourful aptitude.
Houseplants deliver a beautiful, pretty dose of nature indoors the place you want it most, additional serving to us by purifying the air in our properties.
Nonetheless, sooner or later, you may discover some unwelcome guests making your houseplants their residence. I’m speaking about fungus gnats—these annoying little flies that seem everytime you water your crops. Ugh! Do these houseplant pests plague your plant infants too?
Don’t fear, in case you are having gnat issues, there are easy—and pure—methods to not solely forestall but in addition do away with fungus gnats in soil.
Disclaimer: First, a disclaimer. I love dwelling issues and attempt to assist pure bugs anytime I can. For instance, within the out of doors backyard, I work to create a pure ecosystem that helps predators for the pests that assault my crops.
Indoor crops, nonetheless, have just a few pure predators that wish to kill fungus gnats – the individuals and pets they annoy! Sadly, the one cheap strategy to do away with fungus gnats in your own home is to kill off the pests you have got and deal with your crops to stop future infestations.
On this put up, we’ll cowl:
What Are Fungus Gnats and How Do They Get within the Home?
Fungus gnats, often known as soil gnats, are small darkish bugs that look much like fruit flies and reside within the soil of houseplants. When you have got them, you’ll discover them whenever you water your crops or disturb the soil in different methods.
One strategy to get fungus gnats is to go away your houseplants exterior. Most frequently, although, they arrive straight from the nursery. You don’t understand it as a result of they cover within the soil till you deliver them residence unknowingly.
Their larvae eat plant roots and fungi within the soil. Then they abruptly seem in houseplants after the larvae hatch.
Why Are Fungus Gnats Dangerous?
Whereas these pests are a nuisance in noticeable numbers, it is likely to be comforting (on some degree) to know that the adults are innocent bugs that don’t chunk.
Additionally, they don’t do a lot harm to robust, wholesome crops, however they’ll trigger wilting yellowing leaves, stunted progress, and even dying in seedlings and extra fragile crops.
However truthfully, no one needs a swarm of gnats flying in your face each time you water your houseplants. Yuck.
When Are You Most More likely to Discover Fungus Gnats?
Nuisance issues with fungus gnat adults are usually most noticeable throughout late fall and winter, for a few causes:
Learn how to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats
Killing off soil gnats is absolutely not very tough, and fortunately, you don’t have to bug bomb your property (yay). All of it has to do with disrupting their life cycle and making your property inhospitable for these pests. Right here’s the way to naturally deal with your houseplants and do away with gnats within the soil.
Make the Pure Habitat Inhospitable
Fungus gnat larvae want moist soil to outlive. By letting it dry out utterly earlier than your subsequent watering, it is going to do away with the gnats within the soil and discourage new adults from laying fungus gnat eggs, thus successfully reducing out the larval stage altogether.
Use a Cleaning soap-and-Water Combination
Take a cup of water and add a number of drops of liquid dish cleaning soap or liquid Castille cleaning soap. Use a sprig bottle to spray the highest of the soil with this to kill the larvae. Repeat this course of once more in a number of days to make sure that you have got killed the entire larvae.
Whereas some individuals suggest vinegar traps, I’ve discovered the cleaning soap and water to be simpler. Vinegar (and particularly a bowl of apple cider vinegar) is healthier fitted to making a fruit fly entice.
Use Sand or Gravel
Fungus gnats solely lay their eggs within the prime inch of soil. Changing that prime inch with sand or gravel creates a dry atmosphere and robs them of nutrient-rich fungus to munch on. With out their wanted supply of meals accessible, they gained’t wish to lay their eggs.
You may as well use fairly ornamental aquamarine rocks and add a splash of colour to a few of your favourite plant infants.
Get rid of the High Layer of Soil Outside
The eggs can nonetheless hatch. Allow them to hatch exterior moderately than someplace in your house. You don’t wish to simply transfer your pests from one a part of the home to a different.
By taking all of those steps, you may naturally management and forestall fungus gnat infestations.
Learn how to Forestall Fungus Gnats
Let’s chat in regards to the steps you may take to stop these annoying pests from ever coming into your life within the first place!
Don’t Overwater Your Houseplants
Be sure you aren’t overwatering your crops. Moisture is an enormous plus for gnats, so to make their new atmosphere inhospitable, you have to let the soil they reside in dry out utterly.
Neither grownup gnats nor their larvae can survive in dry soil, so let your soil dry out utterly between watering as typically as doable. Right here’s a complete information dedicated to instructing the way to water your houseplant correctly.
Water From the Backside
Backside watering will assist the topsoil (the place the gnats lay eggs) keep dry whereas conserving your crops hydrated and comfortable.
If you happen to hold your potting soil within the bag it is available in, fungus gnats can simply get in and lay their eggs. Nonetheless, the eggs want air to outlive, so hermetic containers like buckets with tight-fitting lids will hold gnat larvae at bay.
Now That Takes Care of Gnats, however What About Different Houseplant Pests?
Skilled David Squire popped by as a visitor of Backyard Remedy to share data on 8 of the opposite most typical indoor plant pests and the way to do away with them. He has some nice ideas and tips right here for eliminating houseplant pests!
