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Fungus Gnats

trashcan

O:-)
I recently discovered fungus gnats in my lowland terrarium.
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They are everywhere! Any suggestions for removing them?

Thanks,
Pat
 
One nice large ping should bring them under controle quickly. I didn't even know I had fungi gnats till mine started ketching them on it's leaves when I put it in the terrarium.
 
Great idea! Any recommendations for a low maintenance ping?
 
I'd say Pinguicula moranensis. It's low maintenance, and it seems to catch a lot of those guys... GOOD LUCK!!
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I love fungus gnats! My plants do anyways,why do you want to get rid of them?
 
Let me get a culture of them for you and send them to you then.
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They are not our friends unless your contained infestation is light and the plants do keep them under control which is very hard to do. Heavy larval infestation negatively affect the roots of any plant and can lead to the death of it if some action is not taken against the gnats.
 
I hate them because they are eating the roots of my bicalcarata, and I believe that is why they are stunted. The conditions are good, and they refuse to grow. I had been wondering why until recently when I discovered TONS of them.
 
Fungus gnats are not so benign in my opinion. They can easily eat the root hairs which is the most important part of the root for moisture and nutrient uptake. This also opens a pathway for potential disease organisms to enter the root.. which can cause further root decay.. producing more decaying organic matter for the larvae to feed on.

The Bt stuff is virtually harmless to use and highly effective. I highly recommend it. Just be sure to buy it fresh in small batches in a quantity sufficient for several applications. It's effectiveness declines over time so best to use fresh stuff when it's needed.

Tony

Tony
 
  • #10
When I get the Bicalc, Trashcan, I am definitely doing some bug treatment!
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I'm not worried about it, I'm just glad to know of possible pests ahead of time.
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SF
 
  • #11
Don't worry, I plan to do a thorough cleansing before mailing, and including a note to everyone who gets any plants from my lowland terrarium.
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FWIW, I discovered this after offering the plants for trade.
 
  • #12
No problem. To me, it does not affect the value of the plant one iota.

SF
 
  • #13
Fungus gnats, your day has come.
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Thanks to homer for helping me find the shop to get this plant.
 
  • #14
A good 'ol d.capensis always does the trick as well, I have gone so far as to "borrow" my capensis from another windowsill if the gnats are getting out of hand somewhere else (usually near my vfts)
 
  • #15
I thought fungi gnats sort of went with the concept of CPs. I mean, how can you NOT have them when they fly into your house and take up residence in your convinyent pot. Heck, I had larvea for a while and couldn't figure out what the heck was in my pots till someone here told me. Guess what, last saturday, I saw my very first adult (excluding those that Grim had captured when I first brought it home)! Yup, 3 of them. I guess they like the new fountain in the terrarium and didn't evacuate the terrarium like they must normally do.

...BTW, nice P. morenesis reminds me of Grim before if went all funny.... *sniff*... *lip quiver*.... *SOB! why is it so mad at me! I don't understand whats wronge, why won't it get better!*.... sorry, I miss it looking nice, and am affraid it will die at any moment.
 
  • #16
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Tony Paroubek @ Jan. 18 2004,14:28)]Fungus gnats are not so benign in my opinion.  They can easily eat the root hairs which is the most important part of the root for moisture and nutrient uptake.  This also opens a pathway for potential disease organisms to enter the root.. which can cause further root decay.. producing more decaying organic matter for the larvae to feed on.

The Bt stuff is virtually harmless to use and highly effective.  I highly recommend it.  Just be sure to buy it fresh in small batches in a quantity sufficient for several applications.  It's effectiveness declines over time so best to use fresh stuff when it's needed.

Tony

Tony
Of course freshness counts, it's a liveing organism! LOL. Bacteria are our freinds.
 
  • #17
I'm starting to see some fungus gnats in my terrainium, hope they don't get out of hand... A while ago when I hasn't growing carnivorous plants yet there was a BAD gnat infection that was growing in the house plants, there were literally at least hundreds of them everywhere they always flew up your nose for no apparent reason and buzz around you just for the heck of it
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If your gnat infections ever get that bad, then just go out and buy some of the pestacides where you spray around the whole house to kill flies and cocroaches, and in a few days you should find the gnats all dead near the window seals.
 
  • #18
Hello all,

When I originally noticed these pests, there were a couple (literally) gnats flying around, so I assumed they had just started reproducing. Now there are no flying gnats, but _tons_ of the little white specks crawling around, especially in my campanulata's pot.
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. Maybe it is something else? Is it possible to have so many larvae and no adults? I only see three fungus gnats that were caught by my Ping.

I will try later to take a picture of the larvae, but I think they are too small for my camera.
 
  • #19
A good way to see all those white dots go crazy is blow at the pot and see them go scurrying....if you have a bad infestation it should look like an ant hill if it's disturbed. What you are seeing is the larval form of the fungus gnats.
 
  • #20
Yes, I have done that, and that is exactly what happens. But - I don't see any adults for some reason.
 
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