this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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Houseplants

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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

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.

Update 3: Just updating this post in case someone stumbles across it looking for answers. What worked for me was switching most of my plants to semi-hydro and I now have a Pinguicula Morensis that eats any stragglers that come in with any new plants. The plants that are still in soil are watered so rarely that the gnats are not really an issue.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A comment I read spoke of getting carnivorous plants to help, and now I like having gnats around to feed them! I have three sundews and they capture a lot of gnats.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I was considering sundews and was actually just checking for some at my local nursery but only saw venus fly traps and pitcher plants. I also don't know if I'd be able to keep a sundew alive, how have you found the care for them? I'd say I'm still intermediate with skill level, I only started keeping more than 1 plant in April (up to ~50ish now but most were cuttings from friends so they're all still fairly small)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I think they're easy! I only use rainwater or distilled, I leave about 1/2 an inch of water in the tray, I keep them under a grow light, and that's it so far. They propogate easy too. I'd recommend watching some YouTube videos on their care, and order one online if it's not too cold yet. The three I have are my favorites of the collection