Fungus Gnats
Fungus Gnats
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Tiny Flies around Plants
Rarity:
Common
Warning Signs:
All
Common Plants:
Bottom Watering, Mosquito Bits
Easy Treatments:
Warning Signs
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The only sign that you are dealing with Fungus Gnats is if you see them flying around your plants.
They are very small and look like teeny-tiny black flies.
They lay their eggs in wet soil and their larvae eat rotting plant matter. Then they mature into flies to reproduce and continue the cycle. If you are seeing the adult flies, there is most likely larvae or eggs in your soil.
You can use the yellow sticky traps to monitor how bad of an infestation of Fungus Gnats you have.
Treatments
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One way to deter Fungus Gnats is to keep your top soil from being too moist. A good way to do this is bottom watering.
When bottom watering, the plant only takes up the water it needs and the top soil won’t be moist enough for Fungus Gnats.
Note: This works best when you only have a few plants. Bottom watering is a huge task when you have a lot of plants.
My go to for Fungus Gnats is Mosquito Bits, which you can get on Amazon. They are amazing for Fungus Gnats! You sprinkle some on top of your soil or mix some into the soil when you repot. They work as a systemic and hit the larvae of the Gnats and keep them from becoming adults.
Note: The Mosquito Bits can sometimes collect bits of white mold. But it is not harmful to you or your plants. But you can scrape it out or mix up the soil again so you don’t have to see it.
Side Note: Check out my Pest Page for more tips on how to manage pests!
For more Basic Care Tips:
Visit my General Care Tips page. It can give more basic tips for:
Discovering Light Levels - Watering Frequency - Fertilizing - and More!