Goodbye Gnats!
Our living room houses a variety of plants, some small and some large. Greenery in a home is just so beautiful to me and adds the right amount of bohemian cool to any space. After caring for and growing my fair share of plants, I was introduced to the dreaded and very annoying plant gnats. They're these small, black bugs that lay eggs in the soil of your newly purchased plant and thrive in wet, damp soil. Did I mention that they reproduce like a.... They reproduce FAST which can lead to an infested home and unhappy home owners, like my Husband and I.
We just didn't understand what was happening at first and thought our son had left some kind of food laying around that had attracted bugs. When we realized the said bugs were coming from our new plant, there was at least 10 tiny gnats flying around our living room. It doesn't seem like a lot but boy, it felt like every where we looked there was a gnat buzzing around. We were so overwhelmed and disgusted that we thew out the source of the gnats, my beloved Split Leaf Philodendron and shortly after, that seemed to do the trick and they all disappeared. Since then, I've been very careful when shopping for new greenery. Here are a few tricks, although not guaranteed, to make sure you don't have to deal with these pesky little guys.
- Purchase plants AND potting soil that are stored indoors: Stores like Ikea house their indoor plants in the "Market Place" located at the lower level. It is no where near the outdoors which makes them less prone to being infested with gnats! There's a higher chance you will have to deal with gnats if you purchase from stores like Home Depot and Lowes as most of their plants are outdoors. As for potting soil, stores like Walmart sell some of their potting soil indoors. I've read endless reviews about fellow gardeners having to deal with gnats that had laid their eggs in bags of soil they purchased that were stored outdoors. Not to worry, I've got a trick to stop the reproduction of gnats.
When my beautiful new ficus started showing signs of newborn gnats, I decided that I would put a end to their reign and finally do something about the situation. I tried everything, including tying a garbage bag around the pot in hopes of suffocating the little guys but in the end, they managed to find their way out. Eventually I took my ficus outside and repotted it with new soil. Which leads me to...
- Sand: I purchased sand for the kids' water and sand box and found a gardener saying that sand put an end to their gnat infestation! Gnats lay their eggs within 1-2 inches of the soil and once they hatch, they climb up to the surface and start their life. The sand is supposed to stop them from reaching the top. I poured about a half an inch of sand that covered the entire surface of the soil and waited. A month later, I can happily say that we no longer have issues with gnats! THANK YOU SAND!
- Watering globes: Like I mentioned earlier, gnats love damp soil and lay their eggs 1-2 inches deep from the surface of the soil. Using water globes (like this) allow for the soil below to be watered without motivating the reproduction of gnats!
Guys, this is months and months of having to deal with these guys. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be finally rid of them. There were other methods I tried that just didn't work, here's a list of what I did:
- Garbage bag: As I mentioned above, I tied a garbage bag around the pot and base of the plant. I thought this would suffocate the little guys but boy was I wrong.
- Red pepper flakes and cinnamon: Apparently mixing the two in soapy water and pouring it over the surface of the infested soil is supposed to kill the gnat eggs.
- Seize watering: Gnats thrive in damp soil and allowing your soil to dry will stop their reproduction cycle.
- Rocks: I covered the surface of the soil with rocks. Like the sand, this is supposed to stop the gnats from reaching the top of the soil. I noticed a lot of the gnats found their way out through the small exposed spots.
Other methods I read about but never tried:
- Yellow sticky tape: This is supposed to be placed near the base of the plant and acts as a trap against the flying adults. If they can't fly away to lay their eggs in your other plants, reproduction is unlikely.
- Bleach: Pour and fill bleach solution in a sink. With kids, this was a BIG no for me.
- Lemon scented spray: Spray this mixture on the top area of the soil and it should do the trick!
There are SO MANY different methods of getting rid of gnats and I swear, I was a little overwhelmed at first but again, I am so thrilled to have finally found a method that worked! I hope this works for you as well as it worked for me and my family.
