Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: Goosegirl on September 17, 2023, 13:21
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Mods, move where you think appropriate.
Recently I re-potted some houseplants using my Sylvagrow compost. Apart from the fact that my potted-up plug plants grew some strange very slim stemmed fungi earlier on, all was ok. My OH said that my plants were covered in tiny flies. Anyone know what they are and should I spray them before bringing them back indoors?
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Sound like fungus gnats.. the eggs/larvae are in the compost and when the compost warms, the eggs/larvae hatch resulting in tiny black flies. When I grow my chillies, I microwave the compost in small batches to kill off any eggs/larvae, some folk use their conventional ovens!
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GG, I agree, it is most likely fungus gnats.
Spraying may not treat eggs and larvae in the compost. I would remove the house plants from their pots, rinse compost off of the roots as much as you can, and re-pot with fresh compost (from a fresh unopened bag in case the gnats have invaded your opened Sylvagrow compost).
Fungus gnats invade compost that is breaking down (fungus developing so something for gnats to eat). They also invade compost that is too wet (which also encourages fungus). Fresh compost kept a bit drier should help.