These little mfers (fungus gnats) have gotten into every one of my plants. I hate it so much. I have tried: -droughting the plants within an inch of their lives -diatomaceous earth -and recently mosquito bits (I’m on week two). Do I just need to give the mosquito bits longer to work? Should I add neem oil and do all three remediates at once? Should I throw out all my plants and accept the fact that I can’t have nice things? Escape to a monastery?
ugh yeah give the bits time but you’ll want to address the issue too or they’ll keep coming back and you’ll keep having to treat. Your growing medium is likely holding onto too much water. It might be worth repotting in something better draining — adding more perlite and more fine bark — to make it less inviting to these mfers lol
3件のいいねThe irony is I mixed in some perlite when I repotted my monstera - perhaps too much perlite because now it’s basically dry the day after I water 🤦🏻
I bottom water my plants and haven’t had a fungus gnats issue since. If it’s possible for you, you might wanna consider repotting the plant entirely: reducing it completely to its roots, soaking the roots with a mix of 2 parts water and 1 part hydrogen peroxide for 30 minutes then rinsing off with water and gently drying with a paper towel, then using fresh soil and bottom watering for a while in hopes of preventing attracting gnats to wet top soil, and using sticky traps or a apple cider vinegar and dish soap bottle trap to reduce chance of future infestations. I’ve also seen some say the Zeevo light traps have helped with their past gnat infestations. Hope this helps.
4件のいいねSadly a difficult prospect. I live in an apartment. I repotted several of these within the last couple months and I’m loathe to stress them out again. I’ll try bottom watering and see if that makes a difference
2件のいいね I agree with @eatyacarbs too. I have yet to need to use mosquito dunks, but those that swear by them say they really do work once they get enough time to, so hopefully they just need more time to help you. Best of luck with the age old summer battle against ye olde fungus gnat.
0件のいいねStrong dislike!
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It’s gnat season. I’m also dealing with them. I’ve been using bonide systemic granules, mosquito bits and good ol’ sticky traps and been seeing them gradually go away.
2件のいいねSystemic safe around pets?
0件のいいね It’s sprinkled on top of the soil then you water. So unless your pets get into your plants or eat the leaves it’s perfectly safe.
0件のいいね it is not safe for pets — i never rec systemic granules because they are poison. i like to get my hands in the dirt of my plants and you don’t want to be touching that ish
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Mosquito bits do a decent job for me but it takes time for them to work. I like to add them prophylacticly to the pots. The thing is, I find the gnat don’t go completely away but the numbers are dramatically reduced. Monastery definitely.
2件のいいねProphylactic safe for pets?
0件のいいね It’s never affected my dogs that I know of. But I wouldn’t take antidotal information as truth.
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I have a plug in light trap, I water with mosquito bit “tea” and I mixed a few granules into the soil of all of the plants so now when I water it’s doing its thing keeping the life cycle from restarting. I only bottom water now. I have sticky traps in every plant. They’re for sure dwindling down now it’s been about 3 weeks 🥰
いいね 1件 Bottom watering is a perfectly fine method (and very necessary for fuzzy leaves and some others) but it’s important to remember to flush the soil periodically with good old fashioned top watering to rinse salts and other mineral buildup from your soil
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You can also try beneficial nemotodes. They're easy to use - you may need to cycle through a few treatments, but using them in tandem with mosquito bits for waterings in between and sticky traps can help get you through these annoying times. It took me about 6-8 weeks (I've got 40+ plants) to get rid of the majority of the gnats since not everything could be watered at once. Good luck!
いいね 1件Just bought today! 🤞🏻
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I found that putting them outside for a day in direct sunlight eliminated the gnat problem. It’s anecdotal, sure, but you notice when you go from gnats, to no gnats. The downside is the explosion in growth from the biweekly trips outside—it’s growing too fast.
いいね 1件Alas, I’m in an apartment
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Bottom watering I swear is the only way to go. Especially with finer soil.
いいね 1件Thanks all for the suggestions! I’ll hold off on the monastery for now.
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