Natural Remedies for Fungus Gnats

[cirillonb]

for springtail and the other numerous critters that crawl around medium you could try one of the soap insecticide. Probably a drenching in a mild soap (dish soap like Dawn) would do the same thing and be cheaper. Say 1 teasp per gallon but really mixed in.
Nick

[Ray]

There is a lot of suggestions here for treating the symptoms, but little on affecting a cure.

The presence of gnats indicates the presence of eggs and larvae in the decomposing potting medium.

Sticky traps will never wipe out the population completely, as there will always more coming up.

Letting the pots go dry will send larvae to their doom, but some of the eggs go into dormancy, only to reappear later. Severe drying will also lead to blossom loss, which is one of the things Emily was apparently trying to avoid.

I have not tried it myself, but making a tea from "Mosquito Dunks" - i.e., Bacillus thuringiensis v. Israelensis and watering with it is supposed to kill the critters, although I'd guess it's not as quick as an insecticide.

[silken]

Originally Posted by Royal

Yup, springtails are just kind of gross. Those fungus gnat larvae can ruin your day - and fast. I found out the hard way. One little larva knawed through a spike with 3 big fat buds, others have hollowed out unopened buds and destroyed a developing seed capsule.

Royal, a fungus gnat larvae wouldn't do that type of damage. It wouldn't be up in your spikes and flowers either, but in the potting media only. You may have had another worm on the plant. The fungus gnat larvae can chew on tiny root hairs but mostly nibble on the fungus (hence the name) and decaying material of your potting media. Another reason to re-pot before it breaks down too far. They are very tiny and hard to see.