fungus gnats

[missy--mouse]

i need to know how to safely get rid of those nasty little gnats that love to live in plants, i need to know a safe way that will not hurt orchids, please respond by private mail, donna

aswingsofeagles@sio.midco.net

[Ray]

[Also sent by email, but this is a place to share...]

Many people recommend a thorough soak in insecticide, and others will tell you the "mosquito dunks" used in ponds (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) will do the best job. And, of course, there is Gnatrol.

I, however, take a different approach, and consider the gnats as the "canary in the coal mine": The mere presence of fungus gnats indicates that your potting medium has decayed to the point of supporting fungal growth, and the gnat larvae are living in it, eating the fungus. Once the population has stripped the fungus, they will begin eating the roots of your plants. To me, it is a sure sign that you need to repot the plants.

[whygreenberg]

Yes, I agree with Ray. I had to deal with the fungus gnats before, and actually never used any insecticide or biological control. I repotted and gave the roots and new potting mix a good Physan 20 soak to kill any remaining fungus. I may have done a couple Physan treatments, but eventually (and not too long) no more fungus gnats and, more importantly, no more fungus.

[Tommyr]

I use Mosquito dunks, they work.

[missy--mouse]

thank you, i stumbled on something crazy but one night i left coffee with cream in it setting on the cupboard and i also noticed they liked to fly around my coffee maker, well, the coffee cup contained several dead gnats when i got up the next morning, so i started setting paper cups of coffee with cream around and it works, i have also ordered a mosquite dunk and sticky traps to use, i have used physan 20 and phyton 27, but i think that i did not dose the whole material with the mixes and so i didnt kill all the larvae, so now i seem to be a little wiser and will do it right when i do it this time, thank you for you input, i truly appreciate it, and will keep plugged into this sight, best regards, donna (alias, missy--mouse) LOL

[snow]

i use those sticky flycatchers. they are attracted to the yellow co;lour.
i has worked great for me.

[Singingirl96]

I have the same problem. All of my plants were recently repoted, so I don't understand why I still have them. I used neem oil, and that seemed to work, but then they came back. I'll try all of these suggestions.

[missy--mouse]

i went to gardens alive and ordered pot stickers and knock out gnats, i didnt have much luck with phyton 20, but maybe i didnt soak it enough, anyway this is what i have coming, i understand that they really like yellow and love these pot stickers, you get ten of them, makes it a dollar a piece, good luck, donna

[missy--mouse]

another thing in order to wipe it out, you need to kill the generations that come along as one application is not enough, it takes about three weeks to get rid of t hem completely, i too just treated them once and got rid of them but did not treat again, donna

[Brookpoint]

I had never heard of fungus gnats, but several weeks ago all of a sudden all these little beasties were flying around in our kitchen. My indoor orchids are growing there. We thought at first they were fruit flies. My story is not unlike your coffee story. A glass with a couple of inches of wine was left on the counter one night. Next day little beasties had gotten drunk and drowned. So of course we continued to leave a little wine for them every night. Guess we found out what they like....They seem to be gone at the moment, but I am going to check my pots and repot if needed.