Have any of you ever had a problem with little knats coming out of the soil of some of your plants?
One of my customers was telling me she had that happen and wondered what she could kill them with. I had ants after having put the plants outside for the summer, but never knats. I used those stake ant traps in the pots and it worked fine. Any suggestions?
Knats !
Sounds like fungus gnats, they are a common problem when soil is kept a little bit (or a lot) too wet. I would advise your customer to check on her watering--if she's watering too much it could lead to more problems than just the gnats. The adults don't harm plants but the larvae can do some damage to the roots--you can use yellow sticky traps to catch the adults, and then Bt (same stuff as mosquito dunks) can be watered into the soil to take care of the larvae. There are other remedies too but I can't remember them off the top of my head--if you go over to the seed germination forum they come up a lot over there so you might find some other tips.
Thanks ecrane3, I have never heard of them. I will pass on the info. JB
If you get anymore suggestions, I will be happy to have them.
From Gardenguides.com:
The easiest way to prevent fungus gnats is to water your plants properly. Overwatering, which causes your potting mix to remain moist for extended periods of time, seems to attract fungus gnats. If your plants are already infected, allow the soil to dry out between watering. Alternatively, sprinkle a 1/4" of sand on top of your soil to confuse the adults. Since the sand drains water quickly, it can sometimes trick the adults into thinking the soil is dry.
Potting mixes containing peat seem to be particularly affected by fungus gnats. If the problem is reoccurring for you, think about switching from a peat-based mix to one that only contains perlite and vermiculite. Lastly, if the adult fungus gnats are bothersome, trap them by making your own sticky trap. The adults are attracted to the color yellow. Make your own sticky trap by smearing Vaseline or Tanglefoot on a yellow surface and hang it up close to where the adults congregate.
I will pass this info on. Thank you so much. Gnats and Knats LOL...I guess they are the same. .....I still never heard of them, Thank God!