How do I get rid of fungus gnats?!

[Phonelady]

Ok, I decided on the chrysanthemum based insecticide to put in their water. And then I have the neem oil in a squirt bottle. A couple of cycles of this for two or three weeks aught to kill the little buggers.
Thanks everyone!
Carla

[KC Kam]

If it is soil based plant, ive tried killing them by neem oil solution mix, always keep from being too wet and make sure no other rotting material like leaves and so on. Fungus gnats tends to lay eggs on wet medium with rotting materials (food for their larvae).

If you are dealing with fungus gnats on orchids, ive got rid of them by making sure the medium is dried before watering and make use of liquid based fertilizer instead. Some non liquid based fertilizers will breakdown slowly but create wet and nutritious foods for fungus gnats.

Hope it helps.

[Arizona Jeanie]

Here's a link to a whole lot of good information on fungus gnats:
Fungus Gnats Management Guidelines--UC IPM
Bt-i (Bacillus thuringienesis subspecies israelensis) is available in several products, Gnatrol is one, Mosquito Bits is another. (It works on flies/gnats as well as mosquitos.) It's not toxic except to the gnats, very safe to use. Treat every plant you have, you'll eventually need to re-treat, but this will keep them at bay for quite awhile.

[Phonelady]

Thank you very much! With knowledge we are better armed!

Carla

Originally Posted by Arizona Jeanie

Here's a link to a whole lot of good information on fungus gnats:
Fungus Gnats Management Guidelines--UC IPM
Bt-i (Bacillus thuringienesis subspecies israelensis) is available in several products, Gnatrol is one, Mosquito Bits is another. (It works on flies/gnats as well as mosquitos.) It's not toxic except to the gnats, very safe to use. Treat every plant you have, you'll eventually need to re-treat, but this will keep them at bay for quite awhile.

[CA Orchid]

I’m tired of the gnats and now have mosquito dunks. How much should I crumble and apply to 4-5 inch pots?
And how much water does one dunk treat?
I have a one gallon watering can.

Thanks!

[estación seca]

It doesn't take a high bacterial count. Crack the dunk into four pieces. It doesn't matter if they don't break evenly. Crack each piece into two pieces. Crumble one piece (1/8 dunk) into your gallon / 3.78 liter can and stir. Let it soak overnight, stir again and apply. The gnats are near the surface; you don't need to completely soak the root ball.

[CA Orchid]

Thank you Estation. I also crumbled some of the dunk into each of the pots. Hopefully between that and the drenching I’ll get rid of these pests. Thanks!

[orchidsarefun]

You've been struggling for months!
I'll say it again - a pinguicula plant or 2 is a permanent solution.
Mine are outdoors, enjoying bugs. Within a week they are covered and get cleaned when I hose water.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by CA Orchid

Thank you Estation. I also crumbled some of the dunk into each of the pots. Hopefully between that and the drenching I’ll get rid of these pests. Thanks!

Crumbling the dunks into the pots won't help much. The bacteria need to be dispersed through the medium. They won't travel far from the dunks. Crumbling into the pitcher and allowing it to soak overnight will be much more effective.

Also, a fan blowing on the collection, as I mentioned above in the thread, is effective. The air circulation will probably be good for the plants.

[Leafmite]

This winter (too cold to use a fan), I had a really awful gnat problem. The five pots of my ping were overwhelmed. I buried the mosquito bits in the top layer of the soil of my pots and watered. Within a week, no gnats.

---------- Post added at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

You've been struggling for months!
I'll say it again - a pinguicula plant or 2 is a permanent solution.
Mine are outdoors, enjoying bugs. Within a week they are covered and get cleaned when I hose water.

I love my pings. Most of the time, they do a fantastic job controlling the gnats. When they are well fed, they bloom and multiply like crazy.