What Is Good to Use if My Houseplant Has Many Flying Gnats? from buzai232's blog

What Is Good to Use if My Houseplant Has Many Flying Gnats?

Indoor plants add more than just aesthetic value to a home or office. Many clean the air and help create a more relaxing ambience. But that soothing feeling can be rudely interrupted if, when you go to water your houseplant, a swarm of tiny black flies rises up to greet you. Fungus gnats (Sciaridae spp.) are a common pest of houseplants, and although they don't usually pose a serious health threat to the plant, they can be seriously annoying.To get more news about Yellow Sticky Tape, you can visit senpinghz.com official website.

Trap the Adults
Trap the winged adult gnats with yellow sticky traps. These environmentally-friendly traps are effective because the gnats are attracted to the color yellow, and when they go to investigate the bold shade, they become stuck to the trap and eventually die. The big positive to this method is that no chemicals are used. Purchase yellow sticky traps at a garden center or make your own. To make this trap, coat two yellow notecards with petroleum jelly. Balance one card horizontally on the edge of the pot. Place another card vertically in the air near the top of your pot -- attach it with tape to a nearby wall or hang it with string from the ceiling or a curtain rod. These traps will catch other flying insect pests too, such as whiteflies and thrips.
Drown the Adults
Another way to trap the adults is to use apple cider vinegar to attract and drown them. Set out a small jar half filled with apple cider vinegar. Add a couple of drops of liquid dish soap and stir. The dish soap acts as a surfactant, breaking the surface tension of the vinegar, which prevents the gnats from being able to walk on the liquid surface. Cover the jars with foil or lids. Punch holes in the foil or lid that are large enough to allow the gnats to climb in. The scent will attract the gnats, and when they investigate, they will drown. Place the jars near the infested plants.

Trap the Lavae
It's not just the flying adult gnats that are a nuisance. Their larvae live in the soil, where they thrive in moist conditions and feed on decaying organic matter. For this reason, it's important to make sure you aren't watering your plants too often, and that the pots have drainage holes in the base. For most houseplants, it's a good idea to let the top layer of soil dry to the touch before watering again. Fungus gnat larvae can damage the plant's roots, so it's important to get rid of them as soon as you see them or the telltale adult flies. One way to draw them out is to place thin, 1-inch-wide slices of raw potatoes on top of the soil. The larvae will come to munch away on the slices, and when they attach themselves to the undersides of the potatoes, you can toss them out.

Kill the Larvae
Food grade diatomaceous earth, when sprinkled over the surface of the soil, will kill both the larvae and any adults that come in contact with it. You can also kill the larvae with insecticidal soap. Mix 2 tbs of the soap with 1 quart of lukewarm water, and then use that water to drench the soil. Finally, add about 1/2 inch of sand on top of the soil. This will help water drain more quickly from the surface, and as a result, adult gnats will be hesitant to lay their eggs in the sand.