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I bought a money tree from IKEA and it came with what I think are fungus gnats (the little flying gnats that hang on the top of the soil and fly when they are disturbed).

I've tried drying out the soil for two weeks and spraying organic essential oil pesticide on the soil every few days. Nothing has worked. The tree's leaves have taken on a faded or browning color and is losing what seems like a lot of leaves.

Is it time to buy stronger insecticide?

Oh, I also changed the soil and added the beads for drainage when I bought it.

HELP!

White fly sticky traps. That's the only thing that helped get my horrid infestation under control. You should be able to find the traps at your local garden center. I haven't been able to find them at Lowes or Home Depot.

For fungus gnats, I use a liquid BT israelensis (Microbe Lift) to water indoor plants and wet the seedling mix, to prevent them. This is for mosquito larvae, but it also kills fungus gnat larvae. You can also grind up some mosquito dunks, and mix it in with the soil.

Putting cinnamon powder in the water you water with (and watering the soil, not the leaves) works pretty well, but takes awhile. Cinnamon is a natural anti-fungal. It kills the fungus in the soil, that the adult gnats feed on.