How to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats

Fungus gnats commonly enter the home when a new bag of potting soil is purchased for your plants. These gnats have transparent wings that are gray in color and they resemble a tiny black fly. They are so tiny that the adult fungus gnat only measures about two centimeters in length when they are fully grown. The adults also have tiny long black legs and long antennae. These gnats do not cause harm to humans and they are more annoying than they are harmful. The adult gnats are not even harmful to your houseplants, it is the larvae of these gnats that you need to worry about.

If you discover that you have an infestation of fungus gnats, there are a few steps you can take. Here are some possible options:

• Allow your plant to go through a drought period. Be sure that your plant can handle not being watered for a period of approximately two weeks. Allowing the soil to dry out takes away the breeding ground for the gnats and they will simply disappear to look for a more optimal breeding ground.

If your plant cannot tolerate a period of drying out, then you should take other measures to get rid of your houseplant infestation:

• Get a yellow piece of fly strip to catch the adult gnats that hover around your plants.
• Keep in mind this will only catch the adults and it will be necessary to leave this up for an extended period of time to ensure that the larvae that have already hatched in the soil are caught as well once they emerge.
• If you do not leave the fly strip up for long enough, the process will begin all over again as the new adults come to the surface.
• Yet another thing you can try is treating the plant with an insecticidal soap that is made to treat and kill fungus flies. Most of these soaps are safe to use on your houseplants and will not cause any damage to them.

What Are Fungus Gnats and What Do They Do? 

If you are concerned about getting rid of fungus gnats, you may want to learn more about what the gnats do and how they can be harmful:

• Adult fungus gnats breed and the female lays about one to three hundred eggs at a time.
• They are attracted to moist potting soil where they lay their eggs.
• Once the larvae hatch in four to six days after being laid, they will begin feeding on the roots of your houseplants.
• The damage that these larvae do to the roots of your plants puts them at greater risk for contracting other diseases.
• The larvae will feed on these roots for only a couple of weeks before going through a pupal stage.
• At this point they will come out of the soil and become adults themselves to begin the process all over again.

The gnats can be found only upon close investigation because they blend in so well with the soil of your houseplants. They are also very tiny so it will take a careful eye to see them. They will remain right around your houseplants for two reasons:

• They are attracted to the soil because it is the breeding ground that is optimal for them.
• The gnats cannot fly very well even when they are adults and can just be seen hovering over the plant itself.

Due to these facts, fungus gnats love moisture loving plants such as ferns, African violets, and over-watered plants.

So, now you know more about how to get rid of fungus gnats, as well as about how these gnats live and what they do.