Fruit flies ?

[DustyLee123]

I’ve never had this before, but I appear to have small black ‘fruit flies’ hanging around the potted plants in my house.
Does anyone know what they are and how I get rid ? They are more around the rubber plant which is under an open window, if that helps.

Anyone ?

Put out little bowls of cider vinegar with a drop of washing up liquid in them

They lay eggs in your plant pots and then you'll have thousands of them. I bought a little sundew plant. It ate the lot and now there's only one or two for it to eat :(

Water from the bottom (if you can) after you get rid of them.

Nematodes will do the trick

Thank you for this. Just opened a bottle of wine, poured a glass and the little blighters all dived in for a swim. Followed your tip and they are all in there instead.

I didn’t know this was a thing with plants ! Never had it before.

Me neither! I think the eggs come in the soil. I bought flycatchers which also helped but were way more disgusting. At least the sundew eats them.

@DustyLee123 its generally as plants are too moist. Let it dry out more (the soil) and the flies will die off.

water plants less often during cooler periods. Check if they really need it (is soil still damp). Make sure there is never water sat in the drip tray.

Plants sitting in water can also get root rot issues which invites bugs as well.

over time you’ll also figure out if the area is too cold/hot or draughty or your plants.

mine need moving around with the seasons. The 7’ triffid loves the summer sunshine through the patio doors. But not that corner in the winter as it’s too close to the radiator.

fussy bloody things.

I had this in a plant a friend have me then they colonised the others. You have to cover the soil with gravel to disrupt their life cycle so they can't breed - they're called fungus gnats. You can get a special gravel called no more gnats at garden centres or just use normal gravel-

www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/fungus-gnats

Apple cider vinegar is the bizz. I have a cup permanently set up in my kitchen. My resident spider doesn't do fruit flies, so this was the alternative.

ugh I hate them. I can never buy bananas In the summer because the minute they start to get freckly they’re all over them.

They like malt whisky, too, which is why I have a selection of watch glasses, because that is not a sacrifice I am prepared to make in order to eliminate them.

I'm fond of most insects, but fruit flies annoy the living shit out of me, because when they're not dying an enviable death in my drink, they're dithering around idiotically between me and my laptop screen.

Update - I put the cider vinegar and washing up liquid out right next to the plant, and closed the curtain. This morning - not one fly in the vinegar, but plenty buzzing around, so I’ve put the plants outside in disgust !

Disregard all the above posts (sorry)... they're not fruit flies, so the apple cider vinegar trick won't work.

These are fungus gnats. They're small, black, and have pointy abdomens, and as the name suggests, they eat fungus. They tend to occur only around pot plants in houses because of overwatering, so the soil gets a little mouldy, and they thrive.

You have three options:

Pesticides won't work by the way... these live in the soil so spraying will just kill the adults.

Either treat with nematodes, (microscopic worms) that eat the larvae (fly babies). These are mixed with water, poured on via watering can or similar... but the soil must be kept wet for these to work. Look for Steinernema feltiae, costs about £10-15 from ebay/Dragonfli websites.

The other option is a small mite called Hypoaspis (new name: Stratiolaelaps). It crawls around on the soil, and eats larvae too. This does not need to be kept wet, but is about 90% as good as the nematodes. Costs the same.

Option three is drying out. The fly likes wet environments because the fungus likes wet environments. Drying out the plant so the fungus dies will reduce numbers.

The treatments above are child and pet friendly, won't infest anything else, and will keep working for many months. You can also treat many plants with them, and even outdoor plants.

You could also tuck a yellow sticky trap behind the plant to catch the adults. These bugs are little sh!ts and will preferentially aim for your nose and eyes...

Yup. As my above post said @C1N1C. I find drying out the easiest option.

Putting outside if it’s heavy rain where you are @DustyLee123 might not help and I’d make sure the plants have drainage or water will be sat in the trays and rotting roots.

Ive taken them out of the decorative pots, so they can drain. One is going, the rubber plant I’ll put in the garage for a while. I don’t want to deal with it now !
They are in garden compost as I didn’t know there was a difference.

Disregard all the above posts (sorry).

I recommended nematodes early on, for the soil obviously.

Definitely fungus gnats. I find allowing to dry out completely for a day or so before watering, sparingly, and covering the compost with fine grit, really does the trick.

Fruit flies are the ones with (relatively) huge buggy eyes that hang around brown bananas. Goodness knows what they get up to when there are no brown bananas.

When we have fruit flies, I get a little ramekin dish (or three!) and put white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar in it. Cover with clingfilm and poke holes in it with a toothpick. The flies get in but can't get back out again. It's always worked for me!