Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of gnats, and keep house plants indoors. (George Weigel) Q: I've been noticing lots of little flying bugs that look like gnats all over some of my houseplants. Inspect for pests on a daily basis. One of the best ways to combat this is watering less since most plants do fine without watering multiple times a week. Remove Plants That Attract Gnats. Uproot the old soil and verify you don’t hurt the roots. To prevent and battle fungus gnats, avoid overwatering your plants in the first place. Always quarantine new soil. When you buy new soil from the store, you should quarantine it by placing it in an isolated container. This is often due to overwatering the house plants, ignoring the soil conditions, the season, or the plant growth (on this more on the prevention part). Consequently, replanting the house plants in another pot of soil may spare them from gnat assault. Remove as much of the old soil as possible, brush it all out, and then wash the pot in hot, soapy water. They like to travel in packs, and they often invade our homes. How to prevent gnats in houseplants. We covered several tactics such as using insecticides, repotting your plants, and using fly traps. Fungus gnats are also drawn to damp soils. sand.on.houseplant2.jpg. As we’ve already established, fungus gnats love moist soil – and need it to breed! In this guide, we showed you how to get rid of gnats in houseplants as well as how to keep them from coming back. On the other hand else, take out the highest layer of soil, as the eggs are laid on this layer. Therefore, overwatering your plants can easily lead to a fungus gnat problem. Isolate new plants for 6 weeks to monitor for pests. Drench the soil. The wet surface represents the best place for females to place their eggs. This will help stop the gnats from spreading and laying eggs in all of the potted plants around your home. After you’ve isolated the problem plant, start taking steps to control its soil moisture. A little sand over the soil can discourage fungus gnats. Add fresh vinegar and water as needed until the gnats are gone. They can lay up to 800 eggs in one breeding … Fungus gnats thrive in the presence of wet soil. The gnats will fall into the liquid and the soap will keep them from escaping. Gnats, especially fungus gnats, are attracted to damp soil and that’s where they lay their eggs. Gnats are annoying little pests. Wet Soil. Direction. Find a spot in another room for your other plants where your new plant will still get enough sunlight to stay healthy. To prevent bringing gnats into the home, re-pot your plants into some new soil. Dump the new soil in and re-pot the plant. Note: Try to keep the soil dry all time to get rid of gnats. There are also several commercial products you can use to get rid of gnats on indoor plants and keep gnats away from house plants. Here are some tips to prevent fungus gnats from getting all over your soil in the future. Fungus gnats before damp environments so the easiest way to get rid of them is to let your plant’s soil dry out completely. Here’s how to protect your plants from future fungus gnats. Thus, it's important to quickly identify the food or plant that attracts the gnats, and remove these items from the home. Fortunately, there is an easy remedy. I had the hardest time with fungus gnats in the soil of my dwarf banana tree because the soil has to be kept so moist. If you’re overwatering your plants, these bugs will find their way there and start laying eggs. Here are a few that Amazon recommends. Keep it near your affected plants. Even if the plant appears clean, keep it away from the rest of your plants for at least 6 weeks after you first bring it home. We want your house to be a gnat-free zone! 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