HOW TO GET RID OF FUNGUS GNATS

[YoungBuck]

Ok, so I watered the cinnamon into the soil, and have changed my watering regimen to spread out waterings and feedings until I transplant them. So far I have seen only two gnats, compared to the many that were flying around. The cinnamon is clearly working swimmingly, and smells nice . Plus the seedlings were fine once I lightly misted them with seltzer water.

[YoungBuck]

[quote="YoungBuck"]Ok, so I watered the cinnamon into the soil, and have changed my watering regimen to spread out waterings and feedings until I transplant them. So far I have seen only two gnats, compared to the many that were flying around. The cinnamon is clearly working swimmingly, and smells nice . Plus the seedlings were fine once I lightly misted them with seltzer water.

quote]



Ok well the gnats came back...I'm gonna throw a pinch of cinnamon in my watering can.

[kahuna_ashley]

I have been dealing with an infestation of what I assumed to be fruit flies around my indoor lettuce pot the last few days, which proliferated when I moved them from my windowsill to the grow lights with some of my seedlings for better light a few days ago. I had originally tried sprinkling some garlic powder on the soil, but to no avail. Three days later, it's steadily getting worse, so I looked it up and discovered that they actually could be fungus gnats - I always keep the soil moist for my leafy greens, it's more warm under the grow lights (perfect for fungus growth), and though I haven't seen any of the larvae in the soil yet - everything else fits the bill. Not to mention, I farmed fruit flies in my college biology class and these guys look slightly different (if I remember correctly). They're more "gnat-like", a bit smaller than fruit flies.

After reading this post, I lightly misted my soil with an organic fungicide that I happened to have on hand (Safer 3-in-1), since the larvae eat fungus in the soil, and then I sprinkled a good layer of ground cinnamon all over the top of the soil. The flying adults jumped ship immediately, so hopefully the rest will work its magic in the soil to kill the larvae, too...

[amont009]

I'm new the forum, I signed up as soon as I read the post about using ground cinnamon (thank you to all who tried this and confirmed it works). The adults jumped ship as soon as I covered the top layer with cinnamon... be sure to keep your mouth closed when you do this.. lol. I also read on a different website that fungus gnats are attracted to the color yellow and to vinegar. I used one of those funnel things that someone posted on this forum and filled it with vinegar and placed a yellow sheet of paper under it. So far I haven't attracted any of the little flies, but I figured it doesn't hurt to try this. I'm also going to try the chamomile tea treatment. Hopefully this works.

I also have another issue with a caterpillar, but I will start a new thread or look for an existing one... so if you would like to help me out please look for the thread .


Thank you.

[Kisal]

Vinegar doesn't attract fungus gnats. It attracts fruit flies, which are a different insect altogether.

[rainbowgardener]

But soapy water does. Here's Applestar's method:

Set out a wide container of soapy water next to the plant. fungus gnats love to drown themselves in them

[NTXGardenGuy]

searched the internet for a clue on how to get rid of gnats, found this, joined forum

[rainbowgardener]

Welcome! Glad you found us!

[leviterp]

Hello all! I am new to this site and I am glad I found this thread!

Like many others who have posted here in the last couple of years, I too potted (and re-potted) some indoor plants in Miracle Grow Potting Soil (damn them!) and ended up with what I now know are fungus gnats (thanks to all of you wonderful people!) I have about 10 plants in total, and about 5 are infected (one is a really bad case). After reading through all 5 pages of posts, I went on a "killing spree" yesterday and tried to squash every adult gnat in sight to avoid more eggs being laid. I then sprinkled a good amount of ground cinnamon on the top layer of soil of all the infected plants and mixed it around to try and get about 1-2 inches of soil covered. Then, I placed a small container of soapy water near the really bad plant to attract and drown the adults. So far, there are definitely less gnats flying around but I am guessing that the eggs that were laid will eventually hatch, so I'll have to go through the process a couple more times before I get rid of them altogether. I am also going to wait until all the plants are completely dry before re-watering and I'm going to water them with chamomile tea-infused water as one final shot at getting rid of these sick little creatures! I will keep everyone posted on the progress. I also ordered a bottle of Neem oil in case the other methods don't work.

So now that that problem is being resolved, 2-3 of the infected plants also had little, tiny, white bugs crawling around in it that look exactly like the ones in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fyrTJPNfuQM. Does anyone know what these are and how to kill them? I have read that they could possibly be soil mites (hypoapsis miles) or springtails, but I just don't have enough knowledge to make any conclusions. It sounds like if they are soil mites, that could actually be a help in killing the gnat larvae, but again, not sure. Please help!

[appetoni]

I think the tea you're looking for is chrysanthemum tea, althoug maybe chamomile works too. I have not tried it.

[rainbowgardener]

Chamomile does work, but I think the cinnamon works better, especially if you already have an infestation, you aren't just doing prevention.

But for all the folks who are writing about covering their soil with cinnamon, be a little careful. More is not necessarily better and too much can burn your plants, especially if it gets on the leaves. This year I have just been using a little shake of cinnamon powder in the watering water preventatively, every time from the beginning, including the water I use to moisten the soil with before planting in it.

That works beautifully. I had confirmation that it was really the treatment working (as opposed to "see my elephant repeller is working great, I don't have a single elephant around"), because once I was well in to seedling season and had big plants, I decided it was okay to quit doing it. Sure enough after I had not been doing it for awhile, a couple fungus gnats showed up!

[pinksand]

My office has recently developed a fungus gnat problem. Since I'm the one who pleaded to replace the dusty fake plants with real ones, everyone is now glaring at me to find a solution

The plants are all mature: snake plants, poytail palms, dracaena, arboricola schefflera. The cinnamon will not likely be touching the plants, but will inevitably get on the roots when applying to the soil... will this burn the plant? I've already read that cinnamon can be used as a substitute root hormone so I was surprised to read about the plants being burnt, but this may only apply to stems and leaves...?

I'm going to put some dishes of soapy water out today, but am confused by all of the mixed reviews and information I found online regarding soil solutions. I found some suggestions of diatomaceous earth, obviously the cinnamon recommended here, hydrogen peroxide (although I'm worried about stripping the soil of good bacteria), and neem oil. Any suggestions for what would be best for large tropical plants in an office?

We've had the plants for years and this is the first time we've had a gnat problem. It could be due to some fresh soil I recently replaced on the top layer and also because I had been underwatering and may have overcompensated by now watering too much

[rainbowgardener]

I don't think the cinnamon will bother the roots, it just can burn the leaves if it gets on them. Even so the plant isn't really harmed, you just get some whitish spots on the leaves.

[Rook74]

Hi all, new to the forum here. Its a great place for some info for sure. To the point, I decided to plant some lemon seeds this year as an experiment on container plants. The past two years I have tried planting apples from seed fruit flies took over and killed all of them. This year I noticed a new type of fruit fly- wispier and solid black with transparent wings. I finally identified them as fungus gnats. I count it as a good thing because so far they seem to be less damaging than fruit flies. So far I have tried letting the soil dry (as much as possible as lemons have to keep moist) and replacing regular water with soapy water. They didn't seem to mind the soapy water treatment, cinnamon is indeterminate, though I suspect not doing much as I am seeing new flies each day. After reading through this thread I decided to try the mint tea treatment.
I have an old box of Celestial Seasoning Tummy Mint, thats past date so I decided to use that. I has a content listing of 51% peppermint, 39% chamomile and 6% fennel. I brewed it at a strength of 2 teabags to 1.5 liters water. I gave the plants a watering and put some in a little spray bottle that does a fine mist. I give the lemon seedlings a spritz a few times a day if I pass by them and see any gnats present. They seem to hate the spray and drop to the shelf or ground if I hit them with it, then I smash them for good measure. Most of the gnats I have observed are sitting on the outside of the pot or hovering. Few are actually on the plants themselves now.
I have to say the gnat population has dropped off sharply in only a few days. I get up in the morning and there are only between 2-6 hovering around the potting shelf now, and maybe 1-2 lurking around during the day. I am quite confident in the next few breeding cycles I will have the problem solved. On a side note, I read on another site that fungus gnats are related to mosquitoes and fennel is a natural mosquito repellent.

[Cola82]

I started out mixing cinnamon in the soil for sowing and repotting and putting chamomile tea bags in my watering can, but I stopped doing that after the plants matured and suddenly I had gnats all over my office. :/

So, like a fool, I overreacted and sprinkled the powder directly around the base of every plant. A fluffy mold developed all over the cinnamon on about half of them. >:(

I had to scrape the top of the soil off of everything and I'm drying it all out in a pan. I put a layer of fresh soil on most of them and tried to let everything dry out. I still have a little mold here and there. I think the main problem is circulation, but yeah, anyway, just going to put the cinnamon in the water from now on and be more patient.

[jemsister]

I'm a little confused on how to apply the chamomile/cinnamon. I have the gnats in my tomato bed, which is the only bed under a canopy for the purposes of keeping the soil dry (wet climate here), so I find that kind of ironic. It is not a domed canopy, so it's not trapping humidity at all, but I do wonder if the sides of the soil bed are trapping moisture. Since the dirt settled, it's a little lower than I initially planned (I didn't know about soil settling at the time--ha, I am silly). But anyway, I sprinkled the soil with cinnamon, but avoided direct plant exposure, since it seemed like cinnamon might not be the best thing for that. I sprinkled the soil and then kinda rubbed it around to get it mixed into the top 1/2 inch of soil.

But then I read this isn't very effective. =/ People are now saying they mix it in water with chamomile. I'm confused about how this is applied. Do you water the roots with it? Spray the plants? Spray the soil?

I use a punctured water bottle to water the tomato. I planted sideways (not super deep box), and set the bottle where the root ball was planted. Mostly I don't water at all because the humidity is so high here, and it seems to be enough to keep the soil moist at all times. Anyway, should I fill the watering bottle with the solution and water the roots with it, or will this harm the roots?

Also, with the dish soap thing, again--is this for watering the roots, or spraying the plant?

I'm reluctant to spray the plant because of the humidity, and tomato leaves don't like water (or so I'm told).

[rainbowgardener]

I wouldn't spray the plant. If they really are fungus gnats, they won't be on the plant very much anyway, mainly on the soil. If the insects are staying just on the plants all the time, they are probably aphids or something, not fungus gnats.

I have never had trouble with fungus gnats outdoors, but the circumstances that favor the fungus (and therefore the gnats) are high humidity and low air circulation. Your canopy is probably cutting down on the air circulation as well as blocking some of the light (low sunlight levels would also favor the fungus). I'm not convinced the canopy is helping you.

Since your soil has settled, one thing to do might be to put some nice dry, maybe a little bit sandy, soil on top.

Mixing the cinnamon in to the soil should have worked. Putting it in the water you water with should work.

One thing applestar recommends is putting a bowl of soapy water right next to where the fungus gnats are. She says they like to come and drown themselves in it.

[jemsister]

Thanks for the help, RainbowGardener! The cinnamon seems to be helping--I went out later and didn't see any. We have them everywhere here because of how much rain we get. I see them in the lawn constantly. The open beds don't seem effected. I recently considered the fact that the lawn was horrendously overgrown until last weekend when Hubs mowed. I'm wondering if he stirred up a bunch and they went looking for a new home.

I put up the canopy to protect the tomato from the incessant rain we have been having (typical spring). Can't wait to see some sunshine! People around here tend to grow their tomatoes next to the house so that the eaves can protect from the rain and the light walls can reflect heat to the plant (or else they use cloches). I didn't have that option here, so I'm trying to mimic that I guess. Not sure if it will work, I guess we'll find out! I used a cloche at first, but the plant got too big. Hoping we get some good sun soon! The weekend and the week to follow are supposed to be quite nice and warm, so hopefully I can take the "roof" down and let the soil dry out.

[Ostrich]

hi I'm new to the forum but have been reading this and it made me register. I'm (as we speak) trying the cinnamon on my 107 house plants that have all been ravaged by these little suckers for weeks now. Because of a diferent site I put everything out side yesterday to dry out and was about to use a alcohol water mix when I read this. Glad I did, I wasnt comfortable with spraying all the different types with alcohol

[Ostrich]

Now after I sprinkle the cinnamon can I water right away or should I wait?

[vinyl217]

Don't know about the cinnamon, but a good dusting with Diatomaceous Earth will dry those pesky gnats up quickly. I've used it in both beds and containers and found that after a good dusting a couple times over a week and they disappear, however, you also need to address the conditions that are making your bed a breeding ground for those gnats. But, the DE will at least take care of your current problem.

[jemsister]

Thankfully, I haven't seen any more fungus gnats since the sun came out! =D Not in the tomato bed anyway. They are still in the yard, but they always will be around here. =P

[Scrappy Coco]

With great skepticism, I just sprinkled half a tea spoon of ground cinnamon on the soil of a cherry tomato plant, hopefully it will get rid of those insects. I'll update here, however, because as mentioned, I'm quite skeptic about this method. Not the getting rid of the fungus gnats part, it biologically makes sense, but I'm hoping the ground cinnamon will not damage the roots of the plant or the plant itself. Anyhow, I'll update here with more information about the impact of the cinnamon on the plant, whether it has done any good or bad.

[rainbowgardener]

I have never used cinnamon outdoors, because I have never had any trouble with fungus gnats outdoors. But I use cinnamon regularly with my indoor seedlings. The little seedlings can't be allowed to dry out and the air circulation is limited, and they are in potting soil which holds moisture and may come with fungus gnats already in it, so the conditions are ideal for them. I just always put a little cinnamon in the water I water with. So I can testify that the cinnamon does not harm the delicate roots of my seedlings. I would use it in moderation, but a half tsp spread around a plant sounds reasonably moderate. You may have to renew it every once in awhile.

With my indoor seedlings it is very simple: if I use the cinnamon regularly, I don't have fungus gnats. If I quit using, it I do.

[Ostrich]

I've covered all my plants with cinniman and dried out the lot of them. I still see a few gnats fllting around though. Just this weekend I soaked them all in the camomile tea so I don't know how thats going todo but at this point I'll try anything.

[taralea1979]

So so happy I found this forum!! I used the ground cinnamon and immediately the gnats where going ballistic!! lol now I just have to wait til they die and quit flying in my face! Thanks so much for posting your find on the cinnamon! My husband was getting really irritated with the gnats and was trying to get me to get rid of my plants because I couldn't find anything to get rid of them!

[Malray]

Hi everybody
Re fungus gnats. These little blighters are awful once indoors and I tried various ways to kill them before they decimated my tender plants. In desperation I tried Nippon Ant Killer powder and found this to be very effective in killing them off. I have googled the ingredients and this does not appear to be harmful to plants but I don't have any animals such as cats so I think you should consider this if you try this method.

[rainbowgardener]

Wow.. but why would you want to use a potent poison to get rid of fungus gnats, which are usually more of an irritation than a serious problem and can be easily controlled with non-toxic means?

Active ingredient in the ant killer is Permethrin:

"Permethrin is highly toxic to both freshwater and estuarine aquatic organisms. Most agricultural, public health, and down-the-drain scenarios modeled resulted in exceedances in the acute risk quotient (RQ) for freshwater and estuarine fish, invertebrates, and sediment organisms. The agricultural and public health scenarios also showed the potential for chronic risks to estuarine and/or freshwater organisms. Further, there is a potential concern for direct effects to a variety of aquatic organisms ....Permethrin toxicity data show that the compound is highly toxic to honeybees, as well as other beneficial insects."

https://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsh ... rin_fs.htm

We really need to protect honeybees which are dying off in huge numbers. And you have done your garden no favor if you kill off beneficial insects to get rid of fungus gnats. Bad trade!!

But welcome to the Forum anyway... perhaps if you read more around here, you can learn more natural ways of dealing with problems.

[Malray]

Hi Rainbow Gardener
I stand corrected and agree entirely with your sentiments that our beneficial bees need to be protected. It was not my intention to recommend that chemicals should be used outside. My suggestion of ant powder was for the use on indoor plants only. I had tried more natural methods but those pesky gnats were winning and driving me to distraction. Thanks for your comments and as a new subscriber I know I have much to learn.

[rainbowgardener]

The only place I ever have trouble with fungus gnats is with my seedlings, because tiny seedlings have to be kept moist and because my seed starting area is a somewhat confined space. If I ever get it together to add that fan I always talk about, I will probably have less trouble.

It should not be hard to get rid of fungus gnats from regular house plants. Fungus gnats and the fungus they live on must have moisture to survive. If you let your plants dry out thoroughly between waterings, you will not have fungus gnats. I water houseplants indoors twice a month.

[rainbowgardener]

Not at all meaning to beat up on you Malray. Just because I'm bored at work and looking back at old posts. Seeing this made me think. So for other people that may find this thread in the future.

Malray is right that if he (?) only uses the permethrin indoors, it can't directly harm bees and other beneficial insects. However, if people keep buying the stuff, companies will keep manufacturing it. In the manufacturing, bagging, shipping, etc processes, chemicals get released in to the environment. And other people may not be as careful with it. And then if you use it in indoor potted plants with saucers under them, what happens to the water in the saucers? Do you dump any down the drain? Then you are releasing permethrin in to the environment. What about the container the stuff came in? How do you dispose of that?

The earth is a closed system. There is no "away" or "out" to throw things (as in throwing it away, throwing it out). Everything we use, along with all of its packaging, comes from somewhere, goes through lots of places and processes and then goes SOMEwhere after we are done with it.

So those are some of the reasons I don't buy any of that kind of stuff.

[Gwenivere]

I'm so excited about finding something that works to kill fungus gnats!!!
I have been searching for a few days and this is what I have found. Many people use sand to top their dirt and that seems to help but I don't want sandy plants. I read about hydrogen peroxide mixed with water so I experimented. I put 3 fungus gnat larvae in a glass and added the H2O2 mixed with water. They looked fine. Like they were swimming when I expected them to appear to be in great pain, wiggle and stuff.
So H2O2 is excellent for aerating the soil and I will do that every now and then but fungus gnat larvae were fine. (I watered all my plants with mix and checked them the next day and the larvae were fine .

Ok so I found the perfect solution!!! It's called Beneficial Nematodes!!!! They are tiny little microscopic worms that eat fungus gnat larvae as well as any other larvae for breakfast lunch and dinner!!!
They have a video on YouTube about use of the beneficial nematodes in greenhouses and it's all they use. They put it everywhere since it's safe for humans and animals. There is a short clip in two of the ones I watched where you can see a fungus gnat larvae being eaten alive by the BN!!! It looks awesome I looked online and you can order them from Home Depot for $13 with gives you two treatments. (You just mix the BN with water and water them once and then again 7-10 days later a second time). I suppose you would want to not water your plants for a few days prior to receiving the BN so the soil is ready for a good BN watering. I am super excited to get mine!!!
I would suggest maybe watching the YouTube vid of the greenhouse use because it really shows how to mix it up with the water carefully and store the BN in a colder temp because they are alive and if you kill them before you water your plants with them ... It won't work bec they are dead lol.
I have to say I jumped the gun last night before I found out about BN and I took away all my houseplants soil and put them all in water. I was just so fed up with the evil little things!!!
Since you have to mix up the BN with water I will just repot the plants and water with BN water. ((Also the H2O2 mixed with water (1 part H2O2 4 parts water I think) kills the ugly looking fungus that forms on tops of houseplant dirt. So that looks much better as well as killing a source of fungus gnat food. But you still need the Nematodes because the FG will just eat roots instead.)) I will let you know how it works!!!

[Gwenivere]

Check out Beneficial Nematodes!!!! They eat Fungus Gnat Larvae!!!! And it's Eco friendly safe and cheap!!!

[MI Gardner]

I was plagued with these gnats. Here is what is working for me for the second year:

A biological solution

1. Bonide 803 Thuricide BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) Insect Killer - This thick liquid mixes with water to apply to plants. Within 72 hours the gnats are gone. Reapply in a cycle to prevent them coming back.


2. Bonide Mosquito Beater Water Soluble Pouches. If using a seed propagation system with expanding fiber disks and water in trays with a water conducting mat. Drop one of these granule packets (the packet will dissolve) into the water tray. I did not have any gnats this year.

[Countryladiesgardens]

We just put cinnamon on the tops of some of our vegetables, will let you all know how it goes in a few days! **Fingers crossed**

[Countryladiesgardens]

We tried the cinnamon fix and it didn't work. Any other natural methods? Thanks!

[rainbowgardener]

I'm not sure what you mean by putting cinnamon on "tops" of your vegetables. You mean on the leaves? That would not help anything. What you really care about are the larvae in the soil. For me it works very well to put cinnamon in the water I water with (and then water the soil, not the leaves). Alternatively you could fork a LITTLE bit into the soil and water it in.

[Countryladiesgardens]

By the tops I mean on top of the soil. Seems like they enjoy the cinnamon to be honest with you. On to the next remedy I guess!

[Countryladiesgardens]

Seems like the cinnamon method worked on our latest hot pepper seedlings! Excellent!

[grrlgeek]

I haven't tried cinnamon water yet, but a small contingent of these little guys have been controlling the fungus gnats remarkably well:

2014-05-08carnivore.jpg (24.12 KiB) Viewed 2632 times