I believe this is a flying aphid and not a fruit fly. I have these guys the past couple of months. Tried with various sprays to eliminate them but nothing helped so far. They seem to reproduce very fast.
On the other hand, I haven't noticed any other crawling aphids on my plants, but these guys are always on or very close to my plants.
Not a flying aphid, it's moving too fast to be one. I work with aphids for my master thesis project, and they don't go nearly that fast!
If it were a flying aphid, that would mean that there is a huge colony of aphids in your plants. Aphids reproduce viviparously at an alarming rate, and once they overpopulate a leaf or plant, the females start producing winged aphids, which will go off in search of new food sources.
But looking at the pictures at the end, they look like parasitic wasps. Or fungus gnats?? Hard to tell without a closer look!
__________________ Camille
Completely orchid obsessed and loving every minute of it....
Thanks Camille, yes you are correct about aphids, I would first seen tones of aphids before these winged ones. Exactly as explained in this video:
(which I forgot and remembered to searched for it and watch it again)
Uhmm... maybe they are fungus gnats... I have seen right now a couple of Google images and definitely I have seen these guys on my plants before but I don't know if there are more than one pests on my plants.
But why is it so difficult to eliminate them? I was spraying two times per day (knowing that these bugs are reproducing very fast) and almost I was about to kill my plants...
Could it be maybe the specific spray that I am using is not good?
Assuming it's fungus gnats, if you are just spraying the adults, it's not stopping the development of any eggs they lay, which then emerge as adults again. Fungus gnats lay eggs in the potting medium. The larvae (small transparent wormy things with black heads) are a real problem because they like to munch on roots! So if it's fungus gnats, you will need to drench your pots with an insecticide to get rid of them.
__________________ Camille
Completely orchid obsessed and loving every minute of it....
I had dealt with reptile mites in the past and I know the cycle (eggs->larvae->adults) therefore I wasn't spraying on the adults but on the top of the pots but after a couple of days they were reappearing.
Do I have to un-pot the plants and spray the whole roots system?
Or maybe this will put the plants in risk? (possible suffocation of the roots when I will put them again inside the pots?)
Last edited by Viperalus; 01-26-2010 at 07:57 PM..
Grigoris, if it are fungus gnats you could also get good results by keeping the potting medium a tad bit dryer.
I had fungus gnats in pots during last spring, saw the little flies but never the larvae, so I guess the infestation wasn't too bad.
I had some plants that needed to be repotted, the medium didn't dry up very fast. So I repotted these plants and for the rest of the plants I made sure I got a rapid wet-dry cycle. For about 2 weeks I kept the plants dryer than I used to do and this seemed to interrupt their live cycle.
I guess if it's only a mild infestation they don't harm the plants a lot but you should get rid of them.
I'm not sure if it's true but I read that the adults lay the eggs on top of the medium or close to the surface. If that is true it could help not to spray the pots in between watering/dunking. If the surface is dry I give the eggs/larvae less chance.
Increasing ventilation and heat speeds up the dry cycle too.
Just my 2 cents on this topic... because I think you can get rid of fungus gnats without pesticides... but if the infestation is severe you might want to choose for a pesticide to protect the plants.
About the product you mention. What is the active ingredient?
I'm sure you'll get rid of fungus gnats with Admire, but you'll have to dunk the pots in the solution to kill the larvae. If you don't change things in the environment (decaying medium, pots too moist for a long time) you might get fungus gnats again.
What I do is use the sticky yellow cards watch the watering and have butterwort and sundew plants on the shelves with plants that like to be moister then some of the others . The picture is of one of the Butterworts as a plus they bloom pretty lavender flowers , I don't fertilize them and use rain or Ro. water .. Hope this helps a little .
me too. I have many Pinguiculas and Droseras and take care of the gnats. But if the larvae are the most damaging thing I am afraid that maybe pesticide would be more effective. what about using water with dishwasher soap once every couple of weeks? would it kill the larvae /eggs?
There is something that I believe works forgot to mention the water that have had mosquito dunks in it .I read it will stop the hatch cycle .I use it all summer .
I agree with those above that this is a fungus gnat. From what I have read they are not really harmful to your plants, but they are annoying. Also, if you are growing in your home, they can be a little gross. I know. I cannot recommend Pinguicula (butterworts)more vigorously. I wasn't sure about them, but a bought two Pincuicula ehrlesiae 'Ascension' recently.
and
You may be able to see a few gnats stuck to the leaves. The results were amazing. I went from a small cloud of gnats to just one or two every once in a while. Also, as you can see, they are very cute plants. They have been in continuous bloom almost since I bought them six months ago and no sign of stopping. As soon as one bloom dies off, another one comes up to replace it. It is also fascinating to see them "at work". I grow all my plants in my house and I didn't want to use any pesticides. This has really worked great for me. Don't worry about the gnats not finding the Pinguicula, they seem to be attracted to it like a magnet. Once they land, they can't get away. I can't be more of a cheerleader for them. They are excellent companion plants for orchids!
Flying aphid??
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