Does Your Indoor Plant Have Fungus Gnats?

Fungus gnats are commonly called "plant flies" or "midges". They're small, annoying flies that breed in plant soil and eat hair roots.

These plant pests are very common, and learning to identify them is a key milestone for any plant parent.
 
Fungus gnat under a microscope

Fungus gnats are attracted to moist organic areas.
 
Places like drains, indoor plants, and forests are perfect for them to bread and grow. They breed in the wet matter to ensure their eggs eat the soft roots. They are also cold-blooded creatures, so they enjoy saying cool and thrive during the winter months.
 
When looking to see if your indoor plant has fungus gnats, you need to move around the top 5cm (2 inches) of soil and look for a tiny black insect moving around.
 
Check the topsoil of your plants
 
Gnats will emerge as small bugs moving around in and on the top layer of soil. Adult fungus gnats will usually take flight and move out of your way. Because you're disturbing their nest/home, you won't kill anything by moving the soil, so don't go hurting your plant's roots by digging around.
 
To help prevent the spread of fungus gnats, quarantine your infested plants in a closed room and treat them simultaneously. Once you find them remove them from the 'clean' plants, or else they will breed and spread more.
 
Gnats stuck to a plants leaf
 
Follow A Fungus Gnat
 
If you've looked in all your plants and still don't know where the gnats are breeding, follow one. Just like ants, they leave scent trails behind them to ensure they can find their way home. If you scare a fungus gnats, it will head home to safety.
 
Follow it back to its pot, then spray it with neem oil before it can bread. Finally, place a sticky trap in the soil to catch any other adult who may also be breading.
 
Isolate the plant and any others around it. Then, take it into a separate room, close the door and let the neem oil work its magic.
 
Check in on the plant every few days to ensure it isn't dying. Then, enjoy watching the sticky gnat traps fill with small black insects.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions about fungus gnats, we'd love to help you.
 
Keep growing,
Emily
What are Fungus Gnats?

Fungus Gnats are small, black, flying pests that breed in moist organic matter like plant soil (they look like tiny mosquitoes, just without the stinger).

These pests have no regard for personal space and are also referred to as Midgies and Plant Flies. 

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