Tiny little flying bugs in an indoor pot plant

[tony1982]

Hi team

I have a Rubber plant which was thriving. About a week ago we started to notice all these tiny little bugs flying around in the kitchen. Upon inspection the rubber plant is infested with them. Literally thousands of the buggers! I think they may have now infected my fiddle leaf fig too.  I've had to move them outside

Pics below aren't great  they don't stop moving so hard to get a pic.

I bought this in bunnings but it doesn't seem to help much 

https://www.bunnings.com.au/yates-750ml-ready-to-use-pyrethrum-insecticide_p2961012

Any other suggestions?

 

 

 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @tony1982,

Those are fungus gnats and are commonly found in potting mixes which contain compost and bark. I would suggest swapping the mix the plants are potted in for Scotts Osmocote 10L Indoor Plants Premium Potting Mix which is specially designed to minimise gnats populations.

If you didn't want to switch the mixes then the next best thing would be to use Yates 4.5L Gnat Barrier. I've heard a lot of great feedback about this product and it seems to work quite well.

With both of these methods, you need to do it to all your indoor plants. It will not work effectively if you only do the pots that appear to be infested. There are likely eggs in all of the pots now.

Please let me know if you need further assistance or had questions.

Mitchell

[tony1982]

Hi Mitchell 

Thanks for the response! 

I think i will try the Gnat barrier first and see if that works. How long would you expect it to take to start making a difference?

Thanks again 

Tony 

[MitchellMc]

Tony (@tony1982), 

The product creates a barrier to stop the gnats from laying their eggs. Since there are most likely eggs in the soil now I would expect them to keep hatching and being a problem until this cycle ends. To effectively control them you really need to remove the potting mix and add the gnat barrier at the same time. You could try to keep spraying the pyrethrum as well but I don't believe it will do much for the un-hatched eggs.

Mitchell

[tony1982]

Great,  thanks for the advice. I'll just go ahead and repot them all,  seems like the best thing to do. 

A job for tomorrow 

[Lumberhack]

Hi @tony1982 

How’s the fungus gnat situation now you’ve repotted all your plants? These guys are the BANE of my existence! They took over my balcony veggie garden and turned what should have been a pretty good yield into something that only my worm farm could enjoy 😞

I just wanted to say that the most effective treatment I’ve used is NEEM OIL Soil Drenches. Neem Oil is pretty expensive for a balcony full of plants, but a little goes a long way & it shouldn’t break the bank if it’s just some indoor plants. With fungus gnats, it’s the larvae that hurt the plant. When they hatch they feed on the roots of your plants and/or spread disease which is what ends up killing the plant. The adults themselves don’t cause too much damage but they’re super annoying and they keep laying eggs.

The soil drench (applied fortnightly and then as needed/if needed) suppresses the larvae’s appetites so they stop eating and die. 

Spraying the plant itself with a mix of NEEM oil & water will take care of the flying adults so they stop breeding!

Other things you can do to:

- don’t over water your plants (if you poke your finger into the soil up to about 5cm and it feels damp, don’t water)

- ensure pots are well draining

- target water at soil level and avoid splashing too much water around 

- water plants when they have adequate sunlight/air to for the top soil to dry off 

I hope the little buggers have moved on! 

[JEKCROW]

They are most likely "Gnats" they are little buggers, & they love our indoor plants.  I use these sticky traps they get stuck on them & die. I brought them from Bunnings. Good luck..

[MitchellMc]

That's a great suggestion, @JEKCROW. I can't find those same sticky traps you've used, but these The Buzz Mini Insect Indoor Pot Traps look very similar and trap gnats.

Many thanks for sharing, as I'm sure any of our members coming across this discussion will appreciate your input.

Mitchell

[Jason]

As this has been a popular discussion, we asked @Adam_W to put together this helpful guide - How to get rid of flying bugs on indoor plants

We trust you will find it very useful.

Jason