Flies in houseplants

luvvlyjubbly

Hi....I've recently brought my Chilli Pepper plants inside for the winter and seem to be getting those horrid tiny black flies.....as I will still be eating the chillies, whats the best way to get rid of the blummin things.....
Along with buying some dodgy fruit I have fruit flies too....
Suggestions please...
Thanks in advance, off to kip now so will read in the morning...

kitschkitty

Washing up liquid & water in a spray bottle?

Leif

They could be fungus gnats. These tiny flies have a slow irregular flight, and get everywhere. They hatch in the soil, live as maggots, then emerge as flies. There is a product called something like Gnats Off. It is worse than useless as you water it on, which increases the moisture in the soil, which the maggots like. It is best to keep the soil as dry as possible. The best solution I found was Pyrethrin powder squirted onto the soil surface. It is toxic to humans, but only slightly, and it soon breaks down on exposure to sunlight. I think it is derived from a natural source. I used Py Powder, but there are other brands. There is no need to squirt it onto the leaves. By the way, do this a few times over a period of a few weeks. The life cycle of the fly lasts that long, and it only takes one fly to return to the soil and lay eggs for the infestation to continue.

demystified

fungus gnats, sciarid flies, drain flies, call 'em what you will. Usually caused by compost thats constantly wet. Letting it dry out between waterings will prevent reoccurance.

My mothers kitchen drain got blocked and there was an infestation as a result, had clouds of them in the kitchen. Not nice.

luvvlyjubbly

I did buy another chilli plant from wilko in the sale and I have a feeling they came from there, the compost was soaking and the plant died soon after.

Kyrae

I read a remedy where you sprinkle cinnamon on the top soil and then water on, no idea if it works but worth a try!! chamomile tea is said to help too.

Steve_xx

kitschkitty wrote: »

Washing up liquid & water in a spray bottle?

I think this might be a bit of a myth. I went to a Gardeners Question Time recording recently and a member of the public raised the washing up liquid spray theory as one of the questions. Anne Swithenbank reckoned that you'd just have very clean flies by using it!

Leif

luvvlyjubbly wrote: »

I did buy another chilli plant from wilko in the sale and I have a feeling they came from there, the compost was soaking and the plant died soon after.

The maggots can be bags of compost. They shouldn't be if the compost is correctly made, but I've had it happen a few times. God I hate these little flies. I once rented a flat, and at the end of the summer the ceiling was covered in fly splats. They sort of wobble around in the air, teasing you with their pathetic flight. But as another poster said, keeping the compost dry is good practice.

Rovver125

Has anyone heard of the idea of putting sharp sand on top of the compost in your pots to combat these flies?

It's like a jungle in our two bed bungalow, we love our houseplants, but the flies were becoming unbearable during the summer.

Read about putting sharp sand on the pots in another forum and tried it. Does seem to have made a difference, but I'm not sure if the weather getting cooler would make a difference to seeing so many anyway?

Steve_xx

Rovver125 wrote: »

Has anyone heard of the idea of putting sharp sand on top of the compost in your pots to combat these flies?

It's like a jungle in our two bed bungalow, we love our houseplants, but the flies were becoming unbearable during the summer.

Read about putting sharp sand on the pots in another forum and tried it. Does seem to have made a difference, but I'm not sure if the weather getting cooler would make a difference to seeing so many anyway?

I've not heard of doing that to combat them.

But I think that what others have said about keeping the compost dry is probably helpful. If it's soggy I would take the plants out of their pots and sit them on some newspaper to let it absorb the surplus moisture before putting them back in their posts.

I notice that some plants that I have in the house have greenfly on them at times. I think that this is due to the warmth of the house, now that the central heating is on, causing them to hatch out and multiply. I think I've found a way of dealing with this. What I do is to put the plants outside in the cool, during the day. This seems to stop the greenfly in their tracks as it's too cold for them outside now. I blow on the stems and turn the plants upside down and shake them a little. When I do this is see like a snowy shower of what I assume is greenfly larvae coming off the plants. Obviously it'll take a few days to get rid of it all.

savemoney

I had this trouble with parsley initial I grow some on a wooden shelves I kept outside for herbs. I brought one in house and left in in southern facing porch and had flies part fo summer I kept killing the blighters and even used houseplant spray still they kept coming. Cleaned soil of plants and replanted and still didnt kill them ended up taking parsley back outside in end