Anyone up for a house plant chat?

[PinkPrincessPhilo]

I couldn’t find one by searching.

Is anyone else a lover of house plants? I’ve built up a nice collection including some rarer finds like a Pink Princess Philodendron and a variegated monstera. Plus plenty of monstera in general.

My current hobby is house plant propagation- having most success with monstera, various tradescantia, dieffenbachia, and maranta. Going to try a snake plant and the pink philodendron next.

Does anyone have any advice about how to get rid of those tiny flies that seem to take up residence in my plants? I've had some success with the yellow sticky things from Amazon (but they're so ugly).

Any ideas where they come from? How to stop them arriving?

Which kind are they? Just this evening I've been washing a kalanchoe plant to try to rid it of teeny tiny whiteflies that seem to love the dying blooms, but also the newest leaves. I think I caused them to take over by letting the plant get a bit stressed.

My strategy was to remove all the dead blooms, rinse off all the white flies that I coud see and correct the cultural conditions (too much direct sun, too little water). If that doesn't work I will use a insect killing spray for houseplants, but I try to avoid that if poss.

They're tiny black ones that just fly around.. not on the leaves as far as I can tell.

Maybe fungus gnats?

I'm having the same problem more lippy. Also using the sticky things. I've let the soil dry out a bit and covered the top with little pebbles. It's helped but not got rid of them altogether. I'm hoping it's seasonal and they'll go now it's cooler?!

Probably fungus gnats (aka sciarid flies). Sticky traps. Letting top of plant dry out. Top dress with fine gravel. Water the plant from the bottom. I've also put a ramekin with dilute vinegar and a drop of washing up liquid (to make it sinky) to attract and drown the flies. Oh, and my helpful spider (rip).

I think they can be brought in if you buy a new plant with an infestation. I'm not sure but they may live outside, as part of the garden fauna, and might make their own way in.