Nearly each proud plant guardian has a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) on their shelf.
And each spider plant guardian can relate with the irritation of getting to bat fungus gnat adults away from their face and the stress of stewing over how one can rid their plant infants of the root-chewing maggots.
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Fear no extra. Controlling fungus gnats in your spider crops is solely a matter of mixing just a few of the simple methods we’ve compiled for you, to make your job as a plant guardian just a little simpler.
1. Keep away from Overwatering
That is a very powerful, and one of many first steps you’ll be able to soak up controlling fungus gnat numbers in your spider crops.
Fungus gnats love saturated rising mediums, particularly in a heat indoor atmosphere.
Moist medium shouldn’t be solely enticing to fungus gnat females on the lookout for a spot to put their eggs, it’s the right atmosphere for his or her maggots to thrive and develop as much as change into the subsequent era of annoying flies.
Fungus gnat larvae usually hand around in the highest two to 3 inches of medium, so enable the highest few inches of the potting soil your crops are rising in to dry out between watering.
Make certain your pot has drainage holes to permit further water to circulate out as effectively, stopping sodden soils.
Not solely is moist – not waterlogged – medium more healthy in your spider crops, that are extra resilient to maggot injury when given correct care, dry intervals in between watering make the medium much less enticing to the pests and fewer conducive to maggot growth.
2. Hold Your Spider Plant Wholesome
Talking of resilient spider crops, wholesome crops are a lot much less prone to be affected by just a few fungus gnat maggot nibbles.
Typically, spider crops take pleasure in medium to shiny oblique daylight, and temperatures of 65 to 75°F.
Get extra particulars about correctly caring for spider crops in your house in our information.
3. Repot Recurrently and Cowl Up
Positive, these tiny, quiet flies like peat moss-based mediums, however they like it much more when the potting combine is previous and deteriorated. An absence of construction means extra water retention, in spite of everything.
You possibly can check whether or not it’s essential to repot by feeling the medium along with your fingers. Strive crumbling a small handful again into the pot. If the medium is not fluffy, comfortable, and filled with chunks of assorted sizes, it could be time to repot.
As soon as your plant is fortunately settled in new soil, attempt masking the floor with half an inch of coarse sand or advantageous gravel as effectively.
Moisture will circulate by means of this layer and go away a dry, unappealing floor on high. This may deter the females from laying their eggs there, as it’s a lower than supreme dwelling for his or her infants.
Mosser Lee Desert Sand Soil Cowl
Desert sand soil cowl from the Mosser Lee Firm is accessible in five-pound packages from Amazon.
4. Keep away from Overfertilizing with Natural Materials
Similar to deteriorated peat moss is enticing to fungus gnats, different sorts of natural materials are appetizing too as they start to degrade in your houseplant’s container.
Fungus gnat larvae usually feed on algae, fungi, and decaying natural matter, and solely flip to plant roots when populations are giant.
So, wealthy sources of meals like a lot of manure, blood meal, or different fertilizer merchandise excessive in natural matter are all too good for them to move up.
Equally, take away any fallen particles, corresponding to leaves, from the medium floor.
5. Monitor the Drawback
Fungus gnats can go from just a few to many in a short time. When that occurs, competitors between the larvae for meals leaves them no alternative however to show to your spider plant roots.
So control the issue so that you’ll know when it’s time to attempt a brand new or stronger tactic.
You should use sticky traps in your house to watch the adults. Sudden inhabitants explosions are very noticeable on the brilliant yellow playing cards!
Observe that though sticky traps will assist to catch adults, generally in important numbers, they don’t seem to be usually sufficient to eradicate the pests and get rid of the issue on their very own.
To efficiently management fungus gnats, you’ll want to focus on them of their larval stage, which is the interval earlier than they will mate and lay extra eggs.
These Houseplant Sticky Stakes, accessible from Dwelling Depot, make good traps.
6. Make use of Nematodes
Useful nematodes, corresponding to Steinernema feltiae, which focus on fungus gnats, are microscopic worms that sniff out the maggots by detecting carbon dioxide and larval motion.
They enter the maggots’ our bodies and launch micro organism, which kills the larvae inside three to 4 days.
These nematodes are accessible for buy at Arbico Organics.
Be sure you apply the nematodes after repotting, in case you are attempting that technique as effectively.
These nematodes will reproduce within the lifeless maggots and persist within the medium, controlling future fungus gnat generations, so that you don’t need to throw them out with the previous soil!
7. Strive a Remedy
If altering the atmosphere doesn’t fairly do the trick, otherwise you need to knock down populations earlier than using nematodes, attempt AzaGuard, accessible at Arbico Organics.
A pesticide product that comprises azadirachtin, it acts as each a repellant and as an insect development regulator.
I’m a Spider Plant, Not a Gnat Plant
Your spider crops need to develop and lightweight up your private home in peace.
Fungus gnats are a type of annoying sorts of bugs that may change into an issue if populations get uncontrolled, so preserving the ideas we talked about above in thoughts gives you head begin.
You’re now effectively in your strategy to avoiding future issues!
And if an infestation is already in progress, the following pointers present wonderful strategies that will help you management the little flies too.
Have you ever had a fungus gnat infestation in your spider crops? Tell us the way you handled it within the feedback part under!
When you’re enthusiastic about defending your spider crops, it’s a good time to brush up in your understanding of those crops in different areas too, beginning with these guides: