Tiny tiny flies in my home

[AJ2009]

This is driving me mad. Over the last couple of months I see 1 or 2 really tiny flies flying around my living room.
It's usually when I'm sitting on the sofa I suddenly see it flying in Front of my eyes and I bat it away then a few mins later it's back again.

Today it landed on my jumper so flattened it and then I saw another a couple of hours later:

I never see them in my kitchen, always living room and maybe once or twice in bathroom. I think I'm mainly seeing them in the living room as that's where I spend most of my time when home.

I can't seem to find the cause of them. There's no rotting food downstairs and no bad smells either.

Bathroom the same thing.

And there's not loads just 1 or 2 at a time and it's everyday.

Just wondered if anyone else is having the same problem and if it's been sorted?
Or does anyone know what they are.

Agree fungus gnats. I have brought lots of plants into my office and all was fine until just before Christmas when they all got infested with fungus gnats! I wasnt popular. Yellow stickies and treatment of the soil has helped

I might try the mosquito bits before throwing out

Use neem oil diluted with a but of liquid soap and some water and spray the soil. It will kill off the flies without harming the plant.

I’m currently using the yellow sticky traps (which are working quite well) but I’ve ordered some food grade diatomaceous earth which I will layer on top of the soil. That should kill the babies emerging from the soil. Hoping this will work because I’m so fed up of seeing annoying little flies around the house.

@AJ2009 Don't throw the plant away, just put a couple of drips of washing up liquid in your watering can next time you water, and water from the top of the soil so it drains downwards.

These flies are doing my head in too.

Thought it was coming from b&q plants but have bought ones from Asda and Tesco since as well as the expensive soil enriched compost in a sealed bag… and dumped them in the kitchen overnight only to find the next morning the place was full of flies. I put the plants and compost out and the majority of flies went.

I think the flies lay eggs on the compost then we buy a bag of it or a plant bedded on it, and the warm house hatches the eggs and we get infested. Sigh.

Now where to buy mosquito bits as that sounds worth a go!!

Elieza; I just went to my default site, and amazon have them. www.amazon.co.uk/Summit-responsible-solutions-Mosquito-116-12/dp/B0001LE1VC/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3J8B5LW13CNNJ&keywords=mosquito+bits&qid=1676194580&sprefix=mosquito%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-5

Oh great, thanks 😃

I just fly spray them and watch them drop to the ground.

Fungus knats destroyed my beautiful and old rubber plant. It was only after getting rid of it they went. Horrible things.

Yes they seem to go for my eyes!

I found as soon as I got a meal or snack, they were right in front of my bloody face.
Disgusting. We had fruit flies in summer & I think the last lot were from house plants. Threw the plants out & got more bought for my recent birthday.. ;-) aargh! Will slowly replace with fake..

I had loads of fungus gnats last year but really didn’t want to get rid of all my plants. I got loads of the yellow sticky traps and put them everywhere and covered the soil in each plant with tiny jaggy stones.
That helped but then I used some indorex spray and I’ve not seen one since.

So me and husband were just chatting and we noticed a little fly again around the living room.
So took the plant outside and we could see about ten crawling around in the plant pot 😱

Defo confirmed it's fungus gnats. I'm hoping it's the last of the fuckers now.

Will try and get some mosquito bits soon

They will die down for a few weeks, and then reappear as there will be eggs in the soil which hatch.

Urgh, isn't it disgusting.. :-(

I had some recently from a windowsill parsley plant I’d had for a few months.

Try putting something like balsamic vinegar into a ramekin and cover with clingfilm, then prod holes in it and place near the plant or even in the pot if large. The insects will be attracted to it and fall in. I’ve caught loads of them that way last summer

Yes this, I had a total plague last year. Used those sticky pads to catch them.

I did this with cider vinegar-if you add a drop of washing up liquid it breaks the surface tension; so they drown instead of floating. If I get any this year I'm going to invest in these traps from amazon-quite stylish!

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DNX8192/?coliid=I29OQ1JCELM19K&colid=3A79FKCWUBGR4&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

A key way to tackle fungus gnats that hasn't been mentioned so far is to keep the soil and the pot the plant is in dry - the gnats need high moisture levels to breed. It is not an overnight fix but I follow this regime after we received a plant that infected the others I had (refused to bin!). It is free and involves no toxins, but does take a degree of attention and patience.

1. Quarantine any plants you see flies on the pot/soil to another room (stop the spread).
2. Remove the inner pot. You may see tiny wiggly things in any water left in the bottom of the outer pot, these are the babies and need to go. Take the outer pot and wash it thoroughly and dry.
3. Put the inner pot back. Allow the soil to dry out over days, regularly lift the inner pot to check for more babies. Smush any adult flies when ever you find them, usually on the pot/wall/window by the plant.
4. Do not water the plant unless it get sad/saggy/clearly crisping out. (Also less chance of killing by overwatering).
5. When watering - remove the inner pot, flush through with lots of water in the sink, leave it to drain for a few hours, only return to the outer pot once it is not dripping at all from the base.

Keep step 4 and 5 as the only way you water house plants. We use home made outdoor compost, which is prone to the gnats, but this regime with steps 1 to 3 as needed keep the gnats from surviving. Whenever i find the gnats I also find a plant with some water in the bottom of the outer pot (oops).

Try nematodes for sciarid flies. They're really effective. You can get them on Amazon.

Don't bin the plant! I put a couple of cm of sand on the top, and then some pebbles on top of that. They went away immediately. I also had some of the sticky traps, but it was resolved with the sand, as the larva couldn't come back through the soil

And I didn't water for a couple of weeks, to allow the soil to dry out.

Fungus gnats thrive in wet, mouldy conditions as the name suggests. Allow the plant to dry out a bit and don't overwater and the majority of them will go.

If you fancy keeping the plant, go into ebay and type in Hypoaspis. You can get a pot of it for about £10 from sites like Dragonfli. It is a soil mite (microscopic) that you spinkle over the soil... this will eat the larvae of the fungus gnats. Usually it comes in pots of 2000 and realistically, you only need about 50 per pot, so you could treat 40 pots with it... so better to sprinkle around every indoor plant you have.

Don't despair :)

Look on Amazon for yellow fly paper, really helped me in the summer, stuck them on every window

Yellow Sticky Fly Traps,Fly Paper Stickers,Sticky Fly Catchers Dual-Side for Insect against Fungus Gnats, Whiteflies, Aphids, Leafminers,etc- (6x8 Inches, Twist Ties Included) 20-Pack amzn.eu/d/2TtFPLj