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?

 

 

 

[JacobZ]

Hi @vickilee211,

Thank you for your question.

Unfortunately, I'd need to see a photo of them to have much hope of identifying them.

Your description sounds like they could be Collembola - springtails, but it would be impossible to say for certain without seeing them.

If you can upload some images, I would be happy to do some investigation for you.

Let me know if you need any assistance with this.

Jacob

[vickilee211]

 

 These are the best pics I got of the varmints, but I do see they do have legs and wings but tiny like a flea?

[Jason]

Are they fruit flies @vickilee211?

Jason

[MitchellMc]

Hi @vickilee211,

As @Jason mentioned, it sounds like a fruit fly, also known as a vinegar fly. They love fermenting fruits, including onions and potatoes and are attracted to sweet liquids such as fruit or vegetable juice and unwashed soda and beer cans with liquid inside them. I had a small infestation of them a few weeks back and inadvertently created a fly trap by leaving a beer bottle out. However, removing the adults will not resolve the issue, and eliminating the food source is key. 

As long as your scrap bin is emptied regularly, it's not the source of the issue. I would suggest that at some stage, there might have been some fruit that had larvae in it, and they hatched, producing the flies. Now, the adults are after your scraps in the bin to lay their eggs in. Try popping a beer or soda bottle with a little in the bottom next to the bin. Every hour, check to see if there are flies inside. If there are, pop the cap on the bottle and shake it so they fall down into the liquid. Repeat this process until you've captured all the adults. I managed to get a dozen of them within a few hours this way.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell