How to get rid of these tiny flies

[Katherineryan1986]

My husband has grown a little lemon tree from the pip of an organic lemon. It’s his pride and joy, however it has got tiny flies in the soil. We bought some spray but it doesn’t seem to be making any difference.
Can anyone suggest a product to get rid of these flies please?

It’s hard to tell but it could be fruit flies. I’m inundated with them at the moment. They like soil and food. Cover/put away any food you would usually leave out, and fill a jar lid or two with apple cider vinegar if you have - they are attracted to that and drown.
i hope that helps.

Google suggests it could also be fungus gnats. It lists lots of actions to take to get rid of them. If that’s what it is you are as well googling and having the list to hand.
A close up of the flies might help google pic identify them.

You can’t get rid of fungus gnats as more will
come into the house even if you do. Put a sticky trap in the pot and it will catch the adult ones and reduce the numbers overall.

When you water it, add a drip or two of washing-up liquid in the watering can. The other thing you can do is to cover the surface of the soil with horticultural grit or fine gravel to about 1cm deep.

I have tried so many ways to get rid of the tiny fruit flies, I did the apple vinegar and clingfilm trick, no joy. I ended up walking around the kitchen squawking them in my hands (with washing up gloves on), only way I could do it.

If you stop watering it so much and let the surface of the soil dry out between watering, they will all die.

My poinsetta had a bad infestation of fungal gnats, so did some googling and found the below, which worked great.

Anti-Fungus Gnat Soil Treatment –... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DQR3RBZF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Let the soil dry out and then use as per instructions. Ours were gone between the first and second application, but still did a second application to make sure they were gone.

In addition to all of the above, you can also take off the top 1-2 cm of soil as that's where the fungus gnats' eggs are. Replace with fresh soil (the plant will enjoy the fresh nutrients). I then sprinkle on some cinnamon which is supposed to help, and put some grit on top. It helps keep them out and looks nice. You can also use crushed shells.

I'd also consider nematodes, as this problem is likely to recur all winter. Gnats are a cold season problem in my house.

Thank you everyone. Tomorrow he’s going to take off about 2cm of soil, replace it with new and then put a layer of grit on top. Let’s see how that goes.

It's also usually advised to water from the bottom and try not to overwater

Sounds like lots of good advice, just wanted to add a well done- I'd be delighted to grow that from a pip! How long has it taken so far?

He planted it about 6 months ago. It was a pip from an organic lemon. He set 2 but only one survived.

Get some sticky traps from Amazon. They look like large plant labels. The flies stick to them, pretty gross, but they work with time to reduce the numbers.

Cover the top of the soil little pebbles so the midges can't lay eggs there.
Get some beer in a little saucer and leave for a few hours/days, several adult ones will drown in it.
Get some of those yellow sticky traps for midges.
Be patient, they'll die eventually. Nasty things, I hate them.

Oh ignore me, I just repeated what everyone else has said, haha!

I had this problem and would support what Geneticsbunny and Harrysmummy say above. Let the soil dry out each time as much as you think the plant can possibly take until the problem is gone. Then water only from bottom. In addition consider tapping the plant furiously and moving away and then squashing/hoovering up all gnats you can see.
Worked for me!