this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
1 points (100.0% liked)

Houseplants

5306 readers
197 users here now

Welcome to /c/houseplants @ Mander.xyz!

In between life, we garden.

About

We're a warm and informative space for plant enthusiasts to connect, learn, and flourish together. Dive into discussions on care, propagation, and styling, while embracing eco-friendly practices. Join us in nurturing growth and finding serenity through the extraordinary world of houseplants.

Need an ID on your green friends? Check out: !plantid@mander.xyz

Get involved in Citizen Science: Add your photo here to help build a database of plants across the entire planet. This database is used by non-profits, academia, and the sciences to promote biodiversity, learning and rewilding.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.

Resources

Recommendations

Health

Identification

Light Information

Databases

FOSS Tools

Similar Communities

DM us to add yours! :)

General

Gardening

Species

Regional

Science

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Plants & Gardening

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Memes

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
fossilesque@mander.xyz
hiajen@feddit.de
SciBot@mander.xyz
Spacebar@lemmy.world
tinycarnivoroussheep@possumpat.io
Doombot1@beehaw.org
1
Fungus Gnat Help? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Polkira@lemmy.ca to c/houseplants@mander.xyz
3 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I have a fungus gnat problem with my houseplants, I've kept them relatively under control using Mosquito Dunks in my watering can since August and some yellow sticky traps but I can't seem to eradicate them. I was considering buying nematode pot poppers but I've never used them before so I was wondering if anyone had any tips for application. All my plants are still relatively small so I don't have many large pots for any of them (most are between 4-10").

Any and all recommendations welcome, having pests is really taking all the joy out of having plants. I'm in Canada so a lot of pesticides aren't available to me.

UPDATE: I figured I'd update this post incase someone comes looking for solutions and sees this. I ended up going with a top layer of silica sand (2-4 mm in size) on all of my pots. I continued with the BTI water, let my plants completely dry out between waterings, and bottom-watered most of my plants. I haven't seen a fungus gnat in about 2 weeks so I think I have been successful in eradicating them. Will update again if this changes.

Update 2: I take back the update, they're still here... I'm so over the freaking gnats.

top 3 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Classy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This may be a bit of an unusual recommendation, but I've found biological warfare to be the best solution for fungus gnats: Drosera capensis, Cape sundews, are like nature's bug vacuum.

There is a bit of time waiting for the plant to get ready to go, maybe a month to six weeks, but they require virtually no care aside from ensuring they're in a bath of water at all times, and they absolutely EVISCERATE gnat populations. I used to have a terrible problem with them until last year when I got my first D. capensis, and roughly counting, one plant in a month caught over 170 bugs. They're super fun to own and their colors are dazzling.

https://highlandmoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_3733-scaled.jpg

https://preview.redd.it/because-fungus-gnats-carnivorous-plant-haul-v0-8k97rhklvalb1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=2bfdad871281b204f19eec0985141d261ec6f156

[–] Polkira@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the recommendation! I've definitely considered carnivorous plants. Actually I ended up throwing all my plants in water last month (except for some succulents which weren't part of the problem) to convert all of my plants to a semi-hydro system instead. I haven't seen a fungus gnat since! Once it warms up outside and I can rinse off the substrate with a hoze I'll be potting them up in a soilless mix.

[–] Vimes@ttrpg.network 0 points 2 years ago

I had the same issue w being unable to eliminate them entirely for ages. Putting a layer of sand over soil in pot was what finally completely resolved it for me (in addition to continuing all the other stuff you mentioned).