is this approach correct for fungus gnats?

I have got an Aglaonema sp which is infested by fungus gnats. One of the primary reasons could be repotting to a much much bigger pot than what's required (this leads to greater period of soil being damp).
These are the steps I took for keeping them in control.

Didn't water for 3 weeks.. after leaves were starting to wilt, I removed the top layer of soil and watered the deeper soil (still above the roots) with reduced quantity of water. Put the dry top soil back and made it little tight.
In addition I got cinnamon powder but I was scared of it burning the leaves so I kept it in a bowl which I kept above the soil..
Should I sprinkle cinnamon powder or keeping it in bowl for strong odor enough to get rid of these insects?

Is my approach safe/good enough?

Plant picture -http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1353095/

I don't really know your plant by that name however, any plant that has an infestation of those fruit flies has been growing in the wrong soil, wrong light and over watered.

My advice would be to remove the plant from the pot, tease out all the soil onto a newspaper, wash off the roots VERY GENTLY, and use a smallr pot, half fill with NEW potting compost for INDOOR PLANTS, spread out the roots onto the new compost and top up the soil level with the new compost.
Place the pot / plant into a shallos saucer, fill saucer with water, allow plant to sit in the saucer full of water for about 30 min's and throw away any water left, let the pot drain and sit the plant in saucer into good light, after a few days, stick your finger into the soil to find if it's dry or wet still.
Dry soil means you need to repeat the water method of filling up the saucer and throw away the excess after 30 mins, if the soil is wet, it needs NOOOOO water.
Plants tell us when they need re-potting, the roots begin to grow through the holes in the bottom of the pot, OR the top of the pot / soil looks over filled with roots.
Every few weeks you can start to feed your plant with HALF strength plant feed in liquid form, add this at watering time say once every 2 weeks

Just keep an eye on the plant BUT don't kill it with kindness either, any problems are NOT fixed out over night and fixing the problems don't show huge improvements either overnight,
Relax and enjoy your plant instead of fretting over it.

Best regards. WeeNel.

Aglaonemas are pretty tough plants.
One of the things I would be doing is to allow the soil to dry out more thoroughly between watering.

If cinnamon will work at all, I think it has to be in the soil.

I do not like the idea of constantly removing the soil and replacing it when it is time to water.
Better to plant the plant in the right size pot if that is part of the problem. If you like the looks of the big pot, then plant the plant in a smaller pot, and slip the smaller pot inside the larger one.

It looks more like Dieffenbachia than Aglaonema to me. Looks like it might have spider mites, from the stippled pattern on some of the leaves. A cotton ball damp with rubbing alcohol can help remove those, concentrated usually on the bottoms of leaves.

I agree with letting the soil dry more thoroughly, but don't believe this can kill the gnats, just that it's more healthy for the plant. I've seen FG's going in/out of drain holes at the bottom of a pot, so letting the top couple inches dry will do nothing to combat that. Do they sell 'mosquito dunks' where you are? Added to the water you give your plant, they can kill the gnats.

The soil in that pot looks like it's comprised of all tiny particles (sand, silt, peat, clay) which would lodge against each other, eliminating any tiny air pockets in the soil. If the roots only have moisture, but no oxygen, they can't function and may rot. Packing the soil tightly also eliminates the tiny air spaces. If the soil isn't suffocating/rotting roots, pot size is irrelevant.

If you have a source of more chunky/airy stuff for pots, I would repot into something else. If what's seen in the pot now is the only option available to you, you could poke a stick/skewer into the soil to allow some air to penetrate into it more easily, from the top and from the drain hole(s) in the bottom, though that's just a method of coping, not an ideal solution.

The only reason I gave of washing off the soil already in use was to remove the gnats eggs, these flies live off any rotting stuff in the soil and they lay their eggs in the same soil so the cycle just continues especially IF the plant is sitting in a pot too large for it and wet soil because the plant roots are not taking up enough room in the soil, just sitting in wet soil.
I also would not advocate constant removal of the soil BUT sometime you have to be more brutal to remove the problem HOWEVER, If the problem is spider mites, no amount of soil changes are going to help that problem as the spider mites live and suck the foliage, you need to search the underside of the leaves as that's where they live and breed,

Misting the plant foliage will slow down the breeding of those mites and the garden store may be best to help you with a remedy as they are sheer hell to get rid off.
Hope between us all you are able to save your plant and get more pleasure for them.
Best Regards. WeeNel.

So basically, my leaves were yellowing before i applied cinnamon powder.
After applying cinnamon powder, i moved my plant outdoor, so it gets some wind and the gnats get a place to run away maybe.

But i think direct sunlight outdoor in my balcony caused leaves to scorch and many more leaves became yellow.
So i bought it inside within 5 days.


Now it has been few weeks since its inside but so many leaves had been yellowing and i might have plucked more than 10 leaves....

The plant looked very little, compared to the pot size( it was already in a bigger pot and further lost so many leaves).
So i decided to re-pot in a suitable pot size.
Weirdly after having so much space and so big pot, i discovered the plant is root bound to some extent. Can this cause the leaves to become yellow, brown?

The fungus gnat infestation is cured by 70%.
There are flying fungus gnats but it all seems in control compared to what it was before.


I have repotted in smaller pot today as you all can see in the pictures, but any advice on what i should do with the root-bound?


Old pics here(months old) - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1353095/
Today's picture attached after repotting

Fungus gnat is no more a problem, but yellowing, browning and losing my leaves are a problem now.

This message was edited Apr 14, 2014 5:15 AM

I would suggest the plant is suffering from shock, you changed it's environment too fast by putting it outside, normally you do that gradually, like out in day time and back indoors at night as night temps can drop dramatically over night, and you do that routine for about a week, then after that, it's normally safer to leave the plant outside day and night.
This plant either has variegated leaves NORMALLY or there are some kind of aphids sucking the sap from the foliage, this can be a common problem and the way to try help this situation is to MIST the foliage ever day, if it's spider mites, this misting wont kill them BUT the moisture helps prevent their breading cycle and therefore less mites, have you examined the underside of the leaves as that is where MOST aphids settle and feed, maybe you would have to look through a magnifying glass to find them as some of the sap sucking insects are the size of a pin head, IF you find and can identify the culprit sucking the plant then there will be a cure for the problem, there are sometimes different methods for each type of insect.

Hope this helps you out.
WeeNel.

It does have variegated leaves - Green and Silver/White. But the yellowing is not common. I removed most of the yellowed leaves, which is why the yellow leaves are not visible here.

Immediately after submitting my above post, i watched 2-3 videos on how to clear root bound and decideded to clear my root bounds as well the similar way. It had not been more than an hour since i had potted it, so i guess this would do the minimum damage.

Being a first timer, i tried sorting it out, not sure it will prove beneficial to the plant, or i caused more damage... Only time can come to tell..

Does it look like i did more damage to roots rather than clearing root bound?

1 - The roots after i removed from the pot again
2 - My attempt to clear root bound
3 - Potting back again - put this much soil in base before placing plant
4 - Potting again 2nd time. Hope its done all good and neat. Putting soil on side gap seemed tricky.
5 - Roots lost during the process.

All i have to do now, is keep it in the same place. And water properly - which is possible now because its in a correct size pot..

This message was edited Apr 14, 2014 12:13 PM

You have done the best you can, with plants, you don't get instant results, they take sometimes up to several weeks before you notice any improvement, other types of plants are speedier at recovery.

I would leave it alone for a good few weeks, only water when you have tested with finger to see if the soil is dry and this indicates the roots are dry too. give a half dose liquid indoor plant feed after a week as by then it should have settled the roots a good bit. don't ever over feed thinking the more feed the better the plant will be, that's the very opposite, too much feed can kill the plants.

Keep an eye on the underside of the leaves and keep checking with spy glass ofr aphids the size of a pin head, these are the type that are most difficult to find but they do the most harm.

Hope things get better soon and please don't give up on the new found gardening hobby, it can only get better from now on, you have done your best now you need to leave the plant to settle down in new pot and get used to it's new environment.

Best wishes. WeeNel.

Go buy a package of "Mosquito dunks" at the garden center. Put one quarter of one in your watering can. This will kill the larvae in the soil and stop future generations. Use sticky traps and manually kill the adults.

Tried and true way to get rid of fungus gnats: These little pests resemble your everyday fruit fly only smaller. Most often appearing on newly purchased or newly repotted plants. High moisture and decomposing surface soil can be an attraction. I've used a light misting of soil surface with Lysol disinfectant [yes,that stuff they sell for bath&kitchen surfaces] in homes,offices and public areas for 20 years and have recommended it to anyone who will listen. It works. Avoid leaves and stems,just lightly dampen soil surface after you have watered. Look around for soggy dish gardens and plants in cheap baskets sold by florists,as this is also a common source. Decorative moss in contact with soil can also be a problem. Lemon scented Yellow colored dish liquid can be put in small shallow saucers and placed near windows. The wee devils drown in this clever goo and can be rinsed down the drain. Other than annoying and disgusting us,on a high note:Fungus gnats don't harm our plants that I've ever seen .