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How To Get Rid of Fungus Gnats in House, Plants and Soil

How to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats Naturally in the House, Plants and Soil

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Let us cut to the chase and share with you how we keep fungus gnats at bay! Because Fungus Gnats feed on fungi growing on soil, it is essential we remove the primary source of their life cycle, Fungus!

Many of us who love gardening and grow houseplants have all dealt with the daunting problem of warding off pesky fungus gnats. Once the problem gets out of control, it can become a cumbersome task to resolve.

How To Get Rid of Fungus Gnats in House, Plants and Soil

In California, we grow some sensitive tropical plants indoors through the winter. Our goal is to provide a healthy environment for ourselves and our plants. This includes minimizing stressors in the environment, such as Fungus Gnats.

All our houseplants are grown in a soilless mixture of coco fibers and minerals. For the common houseplants, it is a 1/3 mix of coco bark, coco coir and perlite. We also top the soil with sulfur fungicide and diatomaceous earth. This special blend is not only a great compound for houseplants, it is also NOT a great host for fungus to grow on! Unlike organic rich soil, our balanced blend of coco fibers, perlite and natural soil treatment minerals is lightweight, offers great drainage, reduces decomposition and compaction time, provides healthy moisture retention and keeps fungus gnats at bay! Problem solved! Get rid of Fungus Gnats naturally by potting your houseplants in our specially curated blend! 

Feel free to create your mix at home with these ingredients or shop our pre-packed blend. For your convenience, we offer this mix in a 1, 2 or 5 gallon pack. If you only have one or two houseplants, it may be more economical to get our pre-packed blends instead of buying all the ingredients. However, it is worth the investment if you have more than a few houseplants. Remember to fertilize regularly for best results!

Suppress the gnats and spread the love by sharing this with our plant community!  SHOP NOW! 15% off first order! Code: NoGnatsHere15 

Get 15% off your first order using code NoGnatsHere15! Hop on over to our blog to learn more about Fungus Gnats and learn how to identify their squiggly larvae growing in your soil!

Q&A

Does this kill fungus gnats and their larvae? Yes!

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a fine powder made from fossilized remains of diatoms, microscopic sea creatures with hard silica shells. When coming in contact with small insects, these highly sharp shells disrupt the waxy coating of the insects' exoskeleton. These cuts create openings for moisture to escape, ultimately drying them out within hours or days. Diatomatecous Earth remains effective as long as it is kept dry and undisturbed. It is also worth noting that food grade DE is non toxic to humans and pets.

 

How To Get Rid of Fungus Gnats in House, Plants and Soil

About Fungus Gnats

Fungus gnats are small, dark, short-lived gnatsThe larvae of most species feed on fungi growing on soil, helping in the decomposition of organic matter. The adults are 2–8 millimetres (0.08–0.3 in) long, and are occasionally pollinators of plants and carriers of mushroom spores. They also may carry diseases such as Pythium on their feet,  which causes "damping-off" to kill seedlings.

Most fungus gnats are weak fliers, and can often be seen walking rapidly over plants and soil, rather than flying. However, when airborne, the gnats may be quite annoying to humans by flying into their faces, eyes, and noses, both indoors and outdoors. 

This species goes through 4 stages of life: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The adults can live up to 10 days and lay up to 200-300 eggs at a time in the moist top layer of the soil. These eggs will typically hatch within 4 days and progress through the cycle. The pupa stage also consists of about 4 days, then adult gnats emerge and begin the whole process again.

Fungus Gnats Larvae

How To Get Rid of Fungus Gnats in House, Plants and Soil, Fungus Gnats Larvae

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