I have a big, almost ripe, seed pod on Butterfly, and today when I checked it, it was covered with tiny tiny insects, looked like little fruit flies or something. I don't see any cracks/holes on the seed pod, but they are so small, they may have chewed their way in there and I cannot detect that small of a hole. At any rate, I sprayed the whole thing with raid. Anybody know what kind of bugs these were and what damage they may have done to the seed pod?
Insects on my seed pod
Is it possible might be fungus gnats? Think they are the ones getting into our seeds. I too, would have used flying insect spray. I use it all winter long inside, I try and watch that I don't overkill and lose my leaves and plants to the spray, as it is really good, but strong. Sure hope you can save those seeds, as it should be a good one.
Gee Mary, I have never had a problem with insects on my pods. I did have little black flying things in the center of my brug blooms last summer. I also used raid flying insect spray to get rid of them. They looked like little black fruit flies. I should look for the thread I started on them for i had a pic on it. I never could see any damage they did but they sure ruined the looks of my blooms just just by being in them!
It could be a type of gnat. When you pick the seed pods and get the seeds out to dry, dip them(the seeds) in 10% bleach solution for a minute then lay them out to dry as usual. That should take care of any gnats or larvae that might be on the outside of the seed coat.
Thank you S.
Thanks, Susie, I will definitely do that.
I wonder if they are fungus gnats?? Keep us posted, Mary. Let us know what it looks like inside when you pick the pod. I sure hope that pesky critters aren't getting inside!
Well, when I checked it again after spraying with Raid, there were no more living ones, only dead ones, so hopefully they won't come back. I checked all my other seed pods in the greenhouse and they weren't on any of the others.
Maybe you spilled a soda on it and they were there to sip the sugar. LOL! I have no idea why they were there, but I'm glad they are gone. Hoping that they didn't make it into the seeds.
Usually they like moisture, in soil or otherwise. Hope they are gone for good and didn't get into seeds.