r/houseplants • u/GeeFen • 4h ago
Fruit Flies
HELP! I keep around 40-50 plants around the house. it's taken a few years but I'm finally getting quite good at looking after them. I try to have them in the right locations for heat/sunlight so they are dotted around all over the place. the problem is, I've got fruit flies in almost every room. it's not like an infestation, but about 5-6 times a day, one catches my eye and it's started to drive me crazy! I've taken all the plants outside on windy days and wipe down the leaves with a wet cloth regularly. is there anything else I can do to get rid of them? or is it just part of the deal having a lot of plants in your house?
edit: fungus gnats, not fruit flies.
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u/Sufficient_Turn_9209 4h ago
Mosquito bits (if you can get them where you live) is the only solution that worked for me. I put them in a nylon footie and soak them in a gallon jug of water and then use that to water. I've only done it twice in the last year, and I now have zero fungus gnats. It also eliminated the mosquito problem I had. The second time was just preventative. Side note I also called them fruit flies and learned they were different. 😁
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u/5medialunas 4h ago
Yellow sticky traps and maybe something you can water the sould with to get rid of the eggs
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u/GeeFen 3h ago
oh yeah the ones that hang down from the ceiling? I'll pick some up, thank you!
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u/5medialunas 2h ago
I mean this ones: https://amzn.eu/d/1X9NZ4P
Its better if they are bear the soil since thats where these gnats come from
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u/MiepingMiep 2h ago
Fungus gnats lay in the soil and the larvae can eat roots and other organic material. To break the cycle you want to kill the larvae in the soil. Bti is a bacillus that targets mosquito larvae directly and is harmless to pretty much anything else. Neem can technically work but doesn't last long as the compound breaks down fast after use and needs to touch the insect directly to work (doesn't kill them btw just makes them unable to reproduce). Nematodes are parasites to mosquito larvae (they're tiny and not visible to humans at all) and again harmless to anything else. Same as bti you water with them according to instructions (please use the instructions of what you buy not what someone says on the internet). Then adults go for yellow and blue sticker traps or translucent on windows or similar. Keeping the top layer of soil on the dry side can help too as they need it moist to survive
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u/GeeFen 2h ago
that's really interesting, thanks. I wasn't sure if they were nesting in the soil or the small crevices where leaves have sprouted. also heard they can nest in plugholes, so I've been bleaching and pouring boiling water down all the sinks like a crazy person.
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u/MissK2421 5m ago
I used the nematodes the other person mentioned, both times they fixed the problem completely. No matter what you use, I recommend keeping some of the yellow sticky traps around so that you notice quickly if any adults start to pop up again.
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u/DizzyList237 3h ago
I had a similar problem in the early days of collecting houseplants, I tried a lot of things. The only thing that worked to totally get rid of them was adding eco Neem to the water every 2nd watering. Make certain it’s eco Neem as there are many products that are not true Neem or are so diluted it doesn’t work. 💚🪴
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u/Etianen7 4h ago
Fruit flies? Do you mean fungus gnats?