They're in your plants, on your walls and furniture, flying all over the place (and shooting into your ears and nose as you're binge watching your new favorite show). Are fungus gnats taking over your home?!
I hear you. It's intense. One day you see one tiny, delicate, mosquito-like fly on or around your plants and you ignore it or give it a good squish and forget about it. Then, all of a sudden they're everywhere!
Quick facts:
- Fungus gnats are that are commonly found around over-watered houseplants.
- They like moist environments, like wet soil, where adult fungus gnats can lay their eggs. The larvae will feed on algae, fungi, and plant roots. The adult gnats are mostly an inconvenience and can carry diseases to your plants, but they do not bite or feed on them.
- Control or eliminate gnats by reducing moisture in the soil or changing it completely if infested. Insecticides can also be used.
Why do you have fungus gnats?
Fungus gnats usually appear when your plant's soil is continuously moist, a perfect environment for laying eggs. Moisture also breads fungi, which the larvae feed on, hence the name Fungus Gnats. To get rid of fungus gnats and its larvae, you must reduce the moisture level in your soil and also eliminate fungi from your soil, which may not be visible to you, but is a food source for the larvae. The larvae will also munch on your plant's roots and if left uncontrolled, they can end up killing your plants!
Follow these tips to eliminate fungus gnats from your life
1. Spray the top soil with a mix of water and dish soap. Make a mixture of water and dish soap at a ratio of 1:1 and spray it all over the top soil in the pot. Make sure it is well-covered in the soapy mist, but not soaked. The mixture should stay within the top layer of the soil. This will make an unliveable environment for the gnats and also eliminate the larvae. Do this every day for about 1-2 weeks (will depend on the amount of gnats and larvae) until you no longer see any gnats. If you see even ONE fungus gnat pop up a few days later, spray immediately to avoid an infestation.
2. Neem them away! Apply neem cakes to your soil, spray neem oil directly to the soil or try neem soil soaks. Neem is effective because it attacks fungus gnats in multiple ways: suffer loss of appetite, infertility, and even the nymphs won't be able to reach adulthood. Some plants are sensitive to neem, although most are not, so be sure to check tolerance level for your specific plants.
3. Change the soil completely. Sometimes you just have a few gnats and larvae that can be easily controlled, but if the soil is infested with fungus gnats and its larvae, your best bet would be to toss it out and replace with fresh, clean growing medium.
4. Use the right potting mix. An alternative substrate, like all-natural and sustainable coco coir is an excellent choice. It is also resistant to fungi and pathogens commonly found in soils. That is all we use and there is not a single fungus gnat in sight!
5. Let the soil dry out between watering. Fungus gnats are attracted to moist soils, so beware of overwatering your plants and let them dry out a bit between watering. If you're using peat moss, you may find it becomes hydrophobic (does not absorb water at all) when you don't water as frequently. That is one of the main characteristics of peat moss, which you can avoid by keeping it moist or using another substrate like coco coir which rewets easily even when dried out.
6. Water from the bottom. Instead of watering your plants from the top down, water directly into the saucer and let the plant absorb what it needs. If your pot does not have drainage holes, then continue watering from the top, but refer above to point number 3.
7. Use sticky traps. These are great to catch the fungus gnats that are flying all over the place. They are pretty clumsy, so they'll easily stick to these and help reduce the amount of adults laying eyes all over your plants.
8. Use insecticides or other control agent. We prefer using the methods above, but if you have no other option and you want or need to get rid of fungus gnats ASAP, get yourself some hydrogen peroxide. To kill the larvae, mix it with four parts water and drench your plant with it until the water comes out the drainage holes. To ward off the adults you can also spray it on the leaves.
They may be big in numbers, but you have many tools to beat them. You can do it!