Do you will have little flies in your houseplants? They might be fungus gnats! Usually thought of solely a minor houseplant pest, fungus gnats can rapidly grow to be a major difficulty (and annoyance) if an infestation will get out of hand. Right here’s tips on how to determine, remove, and stop fungus gnat infestations in your vegetation.
What are Fungus Gnats?
Fungus gnats are a fruit fly–sized insect pest that primarily impacts indoor houseplants. Interested in the moisture of potting soil, grownup gnats lay their eggs (as much as about 200) on natural matter close to the soil floor. After about 3 days, the eggs hatch into larvae, which burrow into the soil to feed on fungi and decaying plant materials. Grownup gnats emerge from the soil 2 weeks later to repeat the method. Adults reside for about 1 week.
Fungus gnats are totally innocent to people since they’ll’t chew and don’t unfold illnesses. Nonetheless, they could be a downside for houseplants; when the gnats’ inhabitants explodes, the larvae feed on vegetation’ skinny roots. Fungus gnats may unfold Pythium, a bunch of plant pathogens that causes “damping off” in seedlings.
After getting a fungus gnat infestation, constant administration and prevention methods are the important thing to ending it. Additional down on this web page, we’ve listed a couple of of the very best methods to eliminate grownup gnats and stop new gnats from rising.
