A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 little flies

Hi. I have a few dozen violets and various other plants in my apartment. This year I am having problems with little bugs which fly around and seem to live in the dirt, mostly in the violets. They don't seem to be bothering the plants, but they are DRIVING ME CRAZY! They fly around our heads when we sit at the computer and my kitty tries to attack them, thus knocking over violets...not nice.
Anyone have any tips on how to get rid of these little flying bugs...they are really small, like fruit flies. Thanks in advance.

Hi Muskrat, haven't seen you on in ages. Welcome back. About your fly problem. There was some discussion about flies breeding in the soil of house plants and if I remember correctly the answer was to cover the top of all your houseplants with aquarium gravel. the flies could not lay the eggs in the gravel so therefore died off. If you do a forum search, I am sure you will see the topics and discussions.

Thanks for that tip...I will give it a try...and keep looking for tips. Not many folks talk about how to get rid of the little buggers....because they don't harm the plants.

So far my new kitty has only knocked over 2 or3 violets. She hasn't chomped on any of my plants yet...I was terrified for my bonsai, but she can't jump that high yet...and seems to be leaving the others alone. Phew. As she gets older she will jump more smoothly and gracefully, I hope.

Hey Muskrat,
You're going to have to join the kitty
group with Catlover and JC2weho!!!
We'll have to start a post for you 3!!!

How's your weather over there???
Are you in your "Fall" time as we are?
Or is your season's the opposite of us!!!
Just curious!!!
Weezie

Have you seen our guest map??
It's on the New Member Section..
You should post on the map, where you are.

Hi Muskrat,
Your little flies are called fungal gnats and can actually do damage over time. Here's some useful info.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7448.html

For environmentally friendly solutions, try here.
http://www.gardensalive.com/index.asp?bhcd2=1061471537
http://www.extremelygreen.com/index.cfm

I changed the soil of my violets and scrubbed the pots and that worked for me.

Good luck,
Newt

~Muskrat

Hey Weezie,

I just saw your post about the Kitty Group! Too fun! Perhaps we do need a garden and my cat area for Catlover, Muskrat and myself. I only grow african violets indoors, as Ms. Monroe tries to eat any other type of plant!

jc2weho

Muskrat I had the same problem for awhile. Those nasty little gnats are a pain! I have cats as well and what I used is very poisonous to cats but I did it outside and then later brought them back in. And I don't know how African Violets would react to this stuff. I used Diazinon granules and sprinkled them on top of the soil....scraped it in within the top 1/2-1 inch of soil....then sprinkled with water to activate. Had to repeat 3 or 4 times over several weeks but it sure did the trick. The key is to keep the soil dry enough on the top but yet enough water for your plant....I know nothing about African Violets or their care. Then I placed a layer of pea size rock on the top. Finally got rid of those little suckers. Remember it is poisonous to animals. There was no way I was going to remove, repot,etc. It was a do or die solution.

Now Will Creed will totally disagree with me.(sorry Will) We had a lot of postings on fungus gnats but don't know if they went history when the site went down for awhile. But this is what worked for ME!!!!