11/01/2024
So youâve got fungus Gnats now what?
You bring a new plant home and within a week youâve got tiny flies circling every plant pot like vultures. They seem impossible to get rid of and nothing fully iradicates them⌠well. Thatâs not entirely true.
Iâm going to tell you âthe secretâ it took me sooo long to figure out.
It seems like nowhere online gives you the full breakdown of a treatment plan for these icky mosquito looking expletives and their wriggly, writhing, squishy, gross offspring đ¤˘. Next thing you know theyâre spreading root rot everywhere, killing off your propagations with their ick and baby TCs⌠half their mortality rate Iâm still messed up over a TC baby spiritus Sanctus I had gotten my hands on only to find it covered in fungus gnat larve and itâs stem eaten out not 3 days later.
Well I went down a rabbit hole about a year or so ago when I had my own outbreak of fungus gnats. I bought all those fancy products and tried everything to get rid of them. Bug zappers, sprays, mosquito bits, predatory mites, the works. It took me a while to find what works. And itâs only two products and a plan.
First. Fungus gnats are attracted to moist/wet soil. Bottom watering can help as they tend to only lay within the top two inches of soil. But I said to heck with that. Yknow whatâs better? Biochemical warfare.
Fungus gnat are members of the Culicidae family⌠yknow what else is? Mosquitos. đŚ
Yeah, turns out the pond keeping community already has it all figured out. Theyâve got this thing over there called Bacillus Thuringiensis, woof try saying that ten times fast.
This magic bacteria feeds off the whole of the Culicidae family. People originally cultivated it for mosquito control, and of course it works on fungus gnats too. But most importantly - its mortality rate is high. So high in fact you can eradicate every single fungus gnat in your home with a good regiment. Remember the first episode of attack on titan? This thing is the titan coming over the wall to fungus gnats.
Hereâs the brand I have, and coincidentally the cheapest I saw. Buy your bioweapon against the gnat arts here - https://amzn.to/4eXsdl7
This stuff will eat the larve from the inside. Metal way to die though, pretty zombie-esque.
But what about the adults?
Well the adult fungus gnat is drawn to yellowing leaves. It signals to them it could be an unhealthy plant that their offspring can dig their grubby little mitts into. Hence those yellow sticky traps you see all around exotic plant greenhouses. Eventually, the adults will become less and less till they cannot breed as prolifically and then not at all.
Hereâs the cheapest I could find. Iâve bought and used this one before. - https://amzn.to/3BC1a0f
- Use one single drop of BT (BMC) in each 1-2 gallons of water in ALL plants. Every single watering. Even after you stop seeing gnats. Be careful not to get it on your hands or in your mouth. Itâs safe for us and pets and even most other insects but⌠probably not the best to put whatever the bacteria feeds off before it gets into the flies in your mouth or on your face. Ick.
- Now keep those yellow sticky traps in every every other pot. We cut them in half so theyâre not as bulky looking and to spread them out more. We still use them to monitor for any unwanted activity because theyâll catch anything that flies.
Thatâs it. Thatâs all you need to do to get rid of these buggers. No more headaches. A whole treatment plan for eradication for under 30$ and almost no hassle. Itâs what we keep up with even now. And Iâll bet money it works for you too.
