Fruit Fly Infestation
 

Hello,

I think I have an infestation of fruit flies in my Orchids. I don't think they're mealybugs, they're not leaving the cottony strings anywhere...however, they're not attacking my fruit. I have several different plants in the house, none of them look like they're being eaten, but when I water they come out of the soils (particularily the orchids and my Hoya).

My grandmother told me to spray with soapy water...is this safe? What else can I do?

invest in the yelow sticky paper being sold in orchid supplies....
they will lay eggs on the moist media so spray it with the soap mix:

10 drops dish soap
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon extract
2 cups tepid water

mix them all inside a sprayer and add a cinnamon stick(bark) inside

spray the whole plant and the media until soaking wet

repeat again the next week

*this is not harmful to pets or mammals....but flies, mosquitos and cockroaches drop upon contact

A soft approach can be to have Pinguicula carnivorous plants nearby. But if you have tons, it won't suffice. Bud's solution will help a lot. though it's not good for roots.

Another way to attack is to repot what can be repotted. If the flies are after rotting medium, you spoil the feast. The ones I have here are not into orchids and feast in the compost…

could be gnats ? anytime you have a few plants (especially moist growing ones) you're likely to get gnats.

I love butterworts (a bug eating plant) with the large, rounded leaves. I have gotten rid of most fungus gnats with two of these. I have a ping with narrow leaves that isn't as effective. The sundew gets whitefly and the pitcher seems to do well with larger things. Good luck!

Mosquito dunks work great as well. But you'll need to couple this treatment with the yellow sticky traps at first to take care of the adults. These spread any other pests as well, so take care of them quick (I learned my lesson).

Oh yay, I've been begging my husband to let me get some carnivores for a while now! Good thing he's a forgiving man.

WhiteRabbit- I don't actually know if they are gnats or fruit flies...Everything but my succulents have them.

Unfortunately, it is hard to get anything more exotic than a spider plant around here...special supplies included. I will probably have to order carnivorous seeds online. Has anybody had luck with ebay?

Are sticky papers the ones that hang from the ceiling?

Soapy water - insecticidal soap?

If they are fungus gnats, the adults seem to fly around - kinda willy-nilly (yes I said willy-nilly) and buzz around you randomly.

Fruit flys tend to fly with purpose. Fruit flys need a food source - typically something rotten, sweet or syrupy.

For both I use yellow sticky traps among the plants and with the gnats flush the pot with Ivory dish soap and water solution.

I have never had fruit flys in my plants, so I am guessing you have gnats.

I use Butterworts (Pinguicula) nearby. It never completely clears them but definitely keeps the numbers under control and means they are not a pest in the house.

Common belief is that they are after decaying medium, however they come up from my orchids in lecca as well as the ones in bark. Maybe if I put them ALL in lecca I wouldn't have the problem, however I'm not convinced repotting will get rid of them as just like springtails they seem to imediately re-appear after repotting for me.

Oscarman- They are DEFINITELY gnats...it's the willy-nilly-ness that urks me most about them. One second they're in your face, then they disappear. And they're not after any of the fruit in the house.

I know this is an orchid forum, but can I ask you about your pinguiculas? Are they difficult? I've ruled out ebay, I know these plants are highly poached.

Being in a zone 2, I'm looking at the alpine butterwort or Pinguicula Vulgaris...-40 is kind of how we roll around here, and we're very dry, high altitude. Or would that even make a difference with indoor growing?