So some of my plants have these bugs crawling over them and flying around. I'd like to know if they're harmful.
They seem to also crawl over the dirt (not sure if they also go in it because they're very quick). If I get near them they fly away quickly so they're hard to kill. That one picture was the only good one I could take lol
by Scythe95
7 Comments
Fungus gnat. Harmless but can be annoying
They can be hard to get rid of. Use yellow sticky traps and Mozzy bits. They will keep hatching and infest over time.
Reaaaaaly let your soil dry as much as the plant can take it. Bottom water briefly so that the bottom few inches of the pot get soaked and the top remains dry. The top few inches are where the fungus gnat adults lay eggs and the larvae feed on the organic matter and fungi in the potting mix. So if you keep that region dry, they will die eventually.
Depending on your region, if you have access to mosquito dunks then that you can add that to the water you use for watering. The bacteria in mosquito dunks target the larvae and kill them.
You can also get yellow sticky traps to capture the flying adults.
I had the same and used yellow sticky pads which trapped the flying adults, this eventually got rid of all of them. If you don’t do this they just keep reproducing in the soil.
Does the pot have drainage? Typically they are attracted to rotting roots/ water.
Fungus gnats like others have said. You’re going to end up with a lot of them once you have them, they are just really irritating and get everywhere. Best method I’ve found is to get mosquito dunks (or mosquito bits) and add them to your watering can/jug (let it soak in there) and sticky traps.
The dunks kill their larva form and the traps will kill adults so in time there will be none left, it can take a week~ or so. Good luck!
Oh no __the fuckers__
I can’t tell you exactly what to do, I had some too, took a couple months but I noticed that letting dry out the soil more helped in killing the larvae thus reducing their number.
Also a bug’s light near the plants kept them out of my sight