A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems bugs are inside house with plants being stored for winter

every winter we bring in plants for the winter and in come the nats or small flies help me to eliminate them please
rickus

Anything I bring in from the outside to winter over in the house gets sprayed with an insecticidal soap before it comes in. My gardenia ofter needs another spraying midway through the winter.

Hi,
You cn get a small jar or cup put some vinegar in it and put plastic wrap tightly over the top and poke holes in it big enough for them to get through and thell wander in there and die.

Or you can do the same thing with some dish soap just a lil bit with water and do the same with the plastic wrap thell get in there fall down and die.

either one works fine!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have little nats in my house plsnts dirt what can I do to get rid of them?????

the little gnats can be gotten rid of with play sand or aquarium gravel on top of the soil.

Good idea about the gravel. I have a problem with these little flies in my soil. also I think it's tiny aphids that I have that I can't seem to get rid of. I shower my plants over and over and it does no good. I hate using poison, but I'll have to do something. Any ideas? Thank you.
Linda T.

i soak my plants in a bucket of water to drown anything i can. i usually leave them in the bucket about 2 hours, then drain well, and resume watering as they dry out.

I spray the plant and soil with a natural insecticidal soap before bringing them in.
Works great safe for use in house. I hated getting bugs in the house.. What am I talking about We live in the woods and a log home, bugs think it is there home!

This year I was lazy and brought mine in without the usual dunking....I had a zillion fungus gnats....I just kept killing them and now the weather is colder I haven't noticed any for a long time.

I used a soap stuff I got from home depot, supposed to be natural. Of course I started bringin them in before I knew about the stuff so, for weeks I had those little gnat thingys. Took everything outside again, soaked em down and gave em a good shot of that stuff.. so far so good. I do like that vinegar n water trick. I'll be doing that today. Thanks!

Do you spray the vinger and water on your plant?

Gah! I have 3 plants total in my room (mint, bamboo, and an aralia), they get lots of light and grow great even during the winter since my room is always 75+. But I use organic soil, and now my room is completely taken over by these gnats!

Does that gravel and sand thing work? The gnats don't seem to mind climbing around on everything and anything!

They are fungus gnats... fruit fly traps will not work. The best treatment is to drench the soil with beneficial nematodes to control the larvae. For the adults you can use yellow sticky cards to trap them. The adults are attracted to yellow.

here is more info Fungus gnats