Home»Pests - Diseases»Fungus Gnats
There are few things more annoying than the speech sound of a fly ball hum around your psyche , but gnats are one of them . These midget flies seem to always seem in swarms , vanish around your head and getting into everything .
The risk of run into gnats is always there , but you might have observe them appear more often in your houseplants . While the problem is most common in summer , gnats can appear at any percentage point in the year if weather condition are right , so let ’s look at what attract them and what you could do about it .
Photo Credit: Instagram @plantologyke
What Attracts Gnats?
Gnats are most commonly attracted by the presence of body of water , although many other factors are also involve .
unlike kinds of gnat will be attracted by slightly unlike things .
Three Common Gnats And What Causes Them
allow ’s look at three common sort to see what can draw specific gnats .
Each of these will hang out around your flora but can be cause by different factors .
The waste pipe fly ( familyPsychodidae ) is a character of fly that looks a quite a little like a flyspeck moth .
They get their name because they ’re often seen creep out of drains where their larvae provender on bacterium stimulate by stagnant weewee or sewerage pools .
And that ’s what can also attract them to your plants .
When you overwater a houseplant , the soggy water can become infected with fungi and other contaminants .
Drain moths will be drawn to the soggy soil , where they ’ll lay their testis so their untried can feed on the contaminants in the dirt .
Fruit fly front ( familyDrosophilidae ) are one of nature ’s cleanup work party and will flock to anything that sense like decay . This can include filthy dishes , spill , and molder yield in the kitchen .
However , overwatered plants can also attract fruit flies , as the piddle may leave a trash layer in which mould contour . They can also be attracted to plant suffering from buncombe or similar disease , especially succulent . To the yield fly , these are the everlasting conditions for feast their young .
Question : Are Gnats and Fruit fly The Same ?
Of all the types of gnat , the fungus gnat(belonging to several family in the orderDiptera ) is most commonly associated with plant infestations .
As the name paint a picture , these flies ’ larvae feed primarily off fungus . The larva are often find in overwatered soil , where they run off mould and fungous spores .
However , they are also cognize to manducate on flora tooth root while searching for their preferred solid food .
It should be observe that certain plants attract fungus gnats naturally and utilise them as pollinators .
The Common Factor
As you could see , each of these different form of gnat has slightly different thing that attract them , but the undivided most vulgar factors are moisture and decay .
Thus , when you seegnats hang around your houseplants , your first instinct should be to check the plant for signs of rot , transmission , or overwatering .
It ’s not rare for the presence of gnat to serve as a warning planetary house that something ’s haywire with plants , sometimes save the plant ’s animation .
Ways To Eliminate Gnats
So now that you eff why the gnats are there , how do you get rid of them ?
The first order of business is toeliminate the gnats and their larvae , which may need some very dissimilar tactics .
Adult gnat wo n’t live very long , and you may commonly belt down them with a simple acetum trap .
Here ’s what you need to do :
The gnat ( specially yield fly sheet ) will climb into the bottle to get to the sweet - smell vinegar and be unable to scat , eventually drowning . More onHow to kill fungus gnat in soil with vinegar .
Fly strip or sticky traps also work very well against these airborne pests . As for the larvae , the good curative is a neem soil soak .
This consists of an emulsion ( 1 teaspoonful of Dawn dish liquid or arrant castile soap added to either a quart or Imperial gallon of water ) in which 1 teaspoon of 100 % percentage pure insensate - press neem crude is add together per quart ( or 2 tablespoons per gallon ) is mixed in .
try a tiny circumstances of the plant 24 hours before use to secure there are no sensitiveness issues or allergy with the plant .
expend the neem in post of regular water system when you irrigate the flora .
The active ingredients in theneem will down the larvaeand protect the plant from biting or chewing pest for up to 22 days .
Ways To Prevent Gnats
Of course , the secure agency to get rid of gnats is not to have them at all .
you may apply the finger joke to quiz the moisture layer by simply stick your fingerbreadth direct down into the soil .
From the tip of your finger to each knuckle is or so 1 ” column inch , so you have a 3 ” inch , wet - sensible ruler on mitt ( literally ) at all times .
For plant life with thickheaded ontogenesis that altogether mist the grease , you could use the bottom - up method , which necessitate sitting the container in a shallow tray of water for about 20 minutes or until the stain surface feels slenderly damp .
Using The Soak and Dry Watering Method
By tearing using these two method , you ’ll avoid create conditions that draw in gnats while keeping your plants happy and hefty .
