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Does anyone know what these tiny bugs are that are crawling around my… | Anything about plants | Communauté Planta

Jamzy

Does anyone know what these tiny bugs are that are crawling around my plant? There are at least ten of them and they fly

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2 J'aime 12 commentaires

12 commentaires

  1. Moco

    Gnats

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    • Jamzy

      Ok, are they bad for my plant?

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    • Moco

      Yes. They lay eggs in your soil and feed off roots

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  2. Moco

    Quickest way to get rid of them is to repot and throw away your used soil. Caused by the top of your soil staying damp too long. You can manage them with mosquitoe bits, yellow sticky traps, and pest spray

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    • Nikiller

      There’s also nematodes you can get that you water into the soil and they eat the gnat eggs and larvae which prevents adults from ever maturing. Typically it comes in a bag large enough to feed several plants with a sufficient amount of nematodes but there’s bigger bags available if you have a large collection and want to entirely prevent them from establishing. The nematodes live up to 18 months so you can be gnat free for over a year

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  3. Jamzy

    Ok thanks

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  4. JR

    I disagree w the popular opinion of immediately repotting when you get fungus gnats. If you repot all plants at once, it might work. If your soil was kept outdoors where it was aloud to get wet, it may have come with fungus gnats. Otherwise you have to change what you were doing with the plants or you’ll get fungus gnats again. They are attracted to decaying organic matter. So you are possibly overwatering or you plants top couple inches of soil is staying moist too long possibly from low air circulation. You can catch many adults with yellow sticky traps specifically for fungus gnats. There are many treatments for the soil including making a mosquito bits “tea” and using this to water your plants. In the future let your plants soil dry at least 1” down before watering again. Ideally 2 or more inches if your plant can take it. I’d also start bottom watering if possible

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    • Nikiller

      Only time repotting due to fungus gnats makes sense to me is if the soil mix is the problem. To me fungus gnats is just a symptom of a larger problem. The gnats are gonna find whatever next moist pot is to start laying eggs in anyways, repotting will only stop one generation one time. Don’t repot for gnats, repot for the root rot you may be causing in that soil the gnats are loving the most.

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    • JR

      Good point. It is a good time to check your plants roots

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  5. Leanne

    Does anyone have suggestions for potting soil? I’m having the same problem with gnats. I have used FoxFarm in the past but mix with perlite, Orchid bark or Rosy Soil based on what my plant prefers. I find that the top soil stays moist but am learning I can let the soil dry out more before watering.

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    • Nikiller

      I use pretty much the same thing for everything with minor tweaks. Mainly organic potting soil, a lot of perlite, and then the amounts of peat, pumice, vermiculite, or sphagnum I add depends on what plant I’m doing.

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  6. JR

    I use whatever potting soil and add perlite and bark. Also Sand for succulents or coco coir for plants that like to stay moist. I have discovered things just don’t seem to dry out in my house. I was “snoozing” watering in so many plants and for so long that plants was even asking”should we contact dr planta?” And I still didn’t realize what was going on (I only just started getting big into the plants in the fall). So i had to start repotting everything. I’m doing plants that show signs of overwatering and when something needs watered anyway. I increased the amount of bark and changed from perlite to lava rock for better drainage. I’ve also added fans to the room with the majority of my plants and when I check if things need watered, I poke the chopstick in several times for aeration. I haven’t lost any plants to overwatering but most started showing signs and I had been battling fungus gnats. So I started watering wth mosquito bits tea and that seems to be doing a good job at reducing them. I’m hoping the other measures keep the plants healthy. 🤞🏻 But, I have over 100 plants and repotting all at once just isn’t practical for me cost wise. It has taken 3 large bags of soil, many bags of lava rock and orchid bark. Not to mention the time, I’d prob need a 4 day weekend to get them all done in one shot.

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