hello,
I have annoying little flies who made their home in a pot with recently planted paphio maudiae flasks. they came about a week ago when there was extremly hot wether and staied ever since. are they harmful, and how can I get rid of them without harming the delicate seedlings?
thanks
amber

hello,
I have annoying little flies who made their home in a pot with recently planted paphio maudiae flasks. they came about a week ago when there was extremly hot wether and staied ever since. are they harmful, and how can I get rid of them without harming the delicate seedlings?
thanks
amber

Fungus gnats... Look like fruit flies? They love damp orchid mix. Not harmful. They eat microscopic fungus growing on the mix. Never heard of them actually eating a root. They are mainly annoying. You could nuke them with a pesticide of some sort. But I'd suggest getting a yellow piece of card stock and painting it liberally with sticky stuff. Or buy sticky traps.

Welcome to the forum, Amber!

I have had good luck mastering the gnats with carnivorous plants such as Sundews. I have also heard that another carnivorous plant, the pinguicula is an excellent gnat catcher. These are sometimes called Mexican Butterworts.

Hope that helps.

thanks everyone!
amber

The solution you want is Gnatrol, and some sticky papers.

Would Venus Flytraps work on the problem? I always wanted some.

Ah, lovely fungus gnats.

Already this year I have potted out almost 500 Paph seedlings and a good 20 compots and the fungus gnats have been insane (I grow indoors.)

The other suggestions are good, and I have been told watering the plants with Chamomile (sp?) tea can kill the fungus the gnats feed on- but I have no idea if the tea is harmful to Paph roots.

I have seen photos of Butterwort plants being used in the home to contain these pests just covered with dead gnats. It certainly seems a good option.

Venus Flytraps should work, but I have found that each leaf will spend a few days going through a single insect. Gnats are too numerous I think for the Flytraps to work.

My solution has been the good fortune of Mother Nature.

I live in a wooded area, and we have lots of spiders. Fortunately, spiders do not bother me. So I have encouraged- with success- a few various small to medium sized spiders to live in my mini-blinds throughout the house. Being in the blinds, they are out of sight and so no worries.

Every week or two I gently raise the blinds an inch or two and clean the dead gnats off the window sills.

By hand I get maybe 20 gnats a week on average (they come and go in waves), but I easily clean 200+ bodies off the window sills.

And the more spiders I get happy in this apartment, the less I see the gnats! In fact, these days I usually only get them in the bedroom where I have yet to find a spider willing to take up residence.

So I suggest you befriend an arachnid or two 8)

I love these natural approaches. Actually, i'd like to encourage a lizard to live in my growing area but I am not sure the cat would be amenable to that.

I tried a Venus Flytrap last year, but it caught a big black fly and died. Go figure. So, I've been happy and had much sucess w/ the sundews! They are only about $5 here too, so economical.

Despite their abundance at Lowe's/HD, Venus Flytraps are actually a bit difficult to grow well inside. They require very bright light and a cold dormancy to live for more than about a year. Go to California Carnivores website for more details...they do a great job and have a red one for sale.

Sundews and Butterworts work great and love conditions that orchids do too. I highly reccomend them even if you don't have fungus gnats. They do require RO/rain/distilled water though to thrive. Gnatrol is also a great product and works well on them. I also have my share of spiders on the payroll...but not everyone is happy to have them around.

I recently got a Liparis lilifolia which is a "weed" in woods around here for a native orchid, and it has leaves much like a Butterwort...but it only traps them so you have to clean the leaves every couple months. It grows surprisingly well indoors, but does require a cold winter rest like a Cypripedium.

Jon

I have various sundews and pitcher plants along with a lot of spiders and I also let anoles out in the my basement area. The anoles never go too far from the HID lighting because of the heat. When I put my plants outside in the summer, I try to catch as many as I can put them in a terrarium.

I have various sundews and pitcher plants along with a lot of spiders and I also let anoles out in the my basement area. The anoles never go too far from the HID lighting because of the heat. When I put my plants outside in the summer, I try to catch as many as I can put them in a terarium.

Cool!

Haven't tried them myself, but I've seen some pretty good results with the mexican butterworts.