Flies in a flower pot: how to get rid of annoying guests

Good day! In our village, almost every mistress has a dozen indoor flowers.

This is beautiful, and does not require daily attention. But a couple of days ago Anna Petrovna came to me and complained about flies in a flower pot.

And just a month ago I figured out the exact same problem. I took the time to my neighbor and told me how to get rid of a fly in a flower pot. Now I will share with you a proven and working way. Read all the details in the article below.

Flower midge - who is it?

Scyarides or, in a popular way, flower midges appear as a result of excessive moistening of the plant, when the soil between the irrigations does not have time to dry out. This usually happens in winter. The midges themselves are not dangerous for the plant on which they are located (they irritate the hosts of the flower more), but their larvae can damage the root system.

If there are so many larvae in the pot that you see them with the naked eye, you will have to transplant the affected plant into new soil, disinfected and treated with special means from flower midges.

Prevention of occurrence

Follow a few simple rules, and sciarides will never appear in your plants:

• periodically loosen the earth in a pot;
• do not allow frequent and prolonged waterlogging of the soil;
• do not forget to examine the leaves of plants, and if you find patients, immediately remove them;
• Do not experiment with water for irrigation. “Tea”, “meat”, “coffee” water is a real treat for flower midges.

So, midges start from excess moisture. To avoid stagnation of water in the substrate, water it when the upper part dries by at least 1-1.5 centimeters. Use only soft water for irrigation. To soften the water, you can boil it, defend it, freeze it, acidify it with peat.

How to fight

Here is one of the most economical ways. To process a medium-sized flower pot, you need 4 matches. Insert each match with your head into the ground, lightly water the soil.

Method number 2. Water the flower affected by the midge with a weak solution of potassium permanganate (do not overdo it - a strong concentrate can burn your plant!). Method number 3. Use a mild soap solution for watering.

Method number 4. The recipe for German gardeners: chop 3 heads of garlic and pour a liter of boiling water. The mixture should stand for at least four hours, then sprinkle the plant itself with strained garlic infusion and water the soil in a pot. This method is suitable for those who do not mind the smell of garlic in the apartment.

Method number 5. Eat an orange, and tear the skin into pieces and stick them in the ground.Method number 6, also with garlic: cut a few cloves along and spread across the soil with a slice down.

Method number 8. Use a pencil from insects such as "Mashenka". You can pour shavings from a pencil directly onto the ground and draw a few dashes on the pot itself.
If you are not a fan of folk methods, use the store tools: "Thunder-2", "Bazudin", Mukhoed.

Why are there midges in a flower pot and how to get rid of them?

All lovers of indoor plants at least once in their life have encountered the appearance of midges in flower pots. And of course, they asked how to get rid of them? It seems that there is no special harm from midges, but it is very unpleasant when they fly apart during watering and flower care.

Most often, midges appear from waterlogging of the earth. And usually this happens in the winter, when the earth does not dry out for a long time and the earth stands wet after irrigation. This is the main reason for the appearance of midges - they multiply, laying eggs, only in moist soil.

Also, midges are very fond of fertile soil: with the addition of humus, coffee and tea dressings. If you spoil your plants with such “goodies”, then you feed the midges at the same time.

Contaminated soil may be another reason for uninvited guests to appear in flowers.

What midges are there?

Frequent guests are ponds or tails (white midges). They can be seen with the naked eye on the surface of wet soil or near the pallet. The size of the pore is not more than one mm, usually white or brown in color.

They do not sit still, always jumping on the leaves of the plant. Their larvae can severely damage plant roots. Most often, the tails appear in winter and spring in flooded flowers. At this time, the water dries slowly.

Another familiar florist - sciaridae - black midges. These are small insects constantly flying around a flower, which strive to get into a plate or mug of tea. They are not so harmless - a large number of larvae can damage the roots of flowers. The soil during the accumulation of larvae becomes dense and depleted of oxygen. The larvae look like translucent two-millimeter worms with a black dot at the end.

Different midges have their own tastes. White is more common on begonias, fuchsias - plants with soft leaves. And black midges prefer denser leaves - violets, azaleas, ficuses.

How to get rid of flower midges in pots?

The methods of struggle are different - choose the one that suits you best. A prerequisite for getting rid of midges soon is limiting watering. This is the main recommendation for the prevention of midges in flowers.

Water the flowers with soft, protected water - its quality also affects the appearance of midges. Use for watering a decoction of vegetables, water after boiling eggs, helps midges to thrive in your flower pots. It is better to stop using such plant nutrition if you want to get rid of pests.

You can water the ground with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, just do not overdo it, otherwise you can burn the roots of plants. Wash the flower with soapy water from ordinary household black soap. And periodically water to get rid of insects.

You can spray the plants with the infusion of garlic. To prepare, grind 3 garlics and pour a liter of water, after 4 days, strain the infusion and pour the earth in a pot, and spray the leaves.

Use these funds only according to the instructions - it is usually on the packaging. Treat plants in the absence of children and animals. And do not forget to take protective measures yourself - gloves, a mask, a bathrobe.

If you don’t want to use chemistry, and midges are few, then you can simply remove the top layer of the earth, replacing it with new soil. And for midges hang a fly tape. It is verified from our own experience that at the beginning of the appearance of midges, matches help. You need to stick them with sulfur heads in the ground. Sulfur gradually leaves the earth, and midges disappear.

If there are a lot of midges and nothing helps, then such a flower needs to be transplanted. Moreover, completely throw out the old soil and wash all the roots, if they have damage from the larvae - cut off. The new earth must be roasted in the oven for disinfection, and the pot should be washed with soap and treated with boiling water.

Many popular folk methods for controlling midges:

• Sprinkle ash in a pot
• Or tobacco dust
• Spread citrus crusts on the ground or stick into the soil,
• Dig the ground with chopped garlic cloves.

How to get rid of midges in indoor colors

It is difficult to imagine an apartment where there are no pretty flowerpots with indoor plants on window sills or racks. But along with colossal positive emotions from communicating with our green friends, the need comes to save them from uninvited guests.

Often flower growers are faced with such an unpleasant situation as midges in indoor flowers. The question arises, what to do: get rid of the plant directly with a flowerpot or can you remove the unfortunate pests?

Why start up?

Breeding domestic plants is not an easy task, it requires scrupulousness, attention and, of course, a love of flowers. Agree that many argue that they have a heavy hand, but this is self-deception. Before you start breeding flowers, you need to answer important questions: will you take care of them (watering, replanting, fertilizing) or are you too busy for this?

They use the land of potted plants to set aside their larvae. In the future, these larvae will feed on the roots of flowers, which will cause an irreversible process of decay and slow withering of plants.

If midges fly over indoor flowers, then do not rush to say goodbye to a green friend. It is necessary to determine what could affect their occurrence. The most common cases:

• waterlogging of the soil - in the hot season, most housewives often water the plant, believing that it dries up. That's why, water stagnates, and the presence of excess moisture turns into a favorable climate for the emergence of unfortunate pests;
• open window - flying mushroom mosquitoes can fly to your home. Having found wet soil, they will settle in a flower pot with pleasure;
• non-sanitized soil is one of the important features of low-quality soil, which consists in the fact that in the substrate all the processes of decay are not completed (the presence of residues of deciduous humus in the ground). Such land is an excellent source for laying off larvae by pests.

Types of midges

Emerging pests can be detected with the naked eye. The most common are white gnats (ponds or tails). They can be observed on the surface of the flooded soil or at the foot of the pot. Ponds of small size (0.2-1 mm) are predominantly white or tan.

They are very active, constantly jumping on the sheets of a green friend. Their delayed larvae can cause irreparable harm to the root system of a home plant. White midges on indoor flowers mainly appear in winter or early spring, when moisture does not evaporate very quickly from the surface of the earth.

In addition to white pests, black gnats can also start. Scyarids are small midges that annoyingly fly over green spaces. They are harmless to humans, but cause great discomfort, as they fly throughout the living room, constantly falling into plates of food and cups of tea.

But for the plant and soil, they are very dangerous. A large number of larvae can cause damage to the root system of the flower, as well as make the earth airtight and more dense. If you saw translucent worms in the soil 2-5 mm long. with a black dot on the head, these are sciarids.

Black midges in flowers can appear if you prefer to fertilize plants with folk remedies, such as tea leaves, decayed leaves or other organics. You can also introduce pests using non-disinfected soil for transplanting flowers.

Favorite plant species. Experienced flower growers claim that not all varieties of flowers attack midges. For example, ponytails prefer plants with soft leaves, such as fuchsias, begonias, etc. Sciarides, on the contrary, take root at the roots of plants with dense leaves: violets, azaleas, ficuses, and others.

How to eliminate flower midges?

If midges in flowers wound up recently, then you have a high chance of getting rid of them easily without spending a lot of money. There are quite a lot of options for how to remove annoying tail tails and sciarides - from folk remedies to chemical aerosols.

As for folk remedies, they also have the right to exist. They are safer, while the necessary substances are always at hand. Here are some simple ways to bring small midges out of your flowers.

If you tried all the folk remedies and the result is deplorable, then you can use the chemical options for the fight.

Chemical methods to combat midges and their larvae:

Before starting, it is important to familiarize yourself with the instructions, since each type of solution has its own characteristics, starting from the temperature of the added liquid and ending with the ratio of solution to water. After watering, you must not water the flower for at least three days.

When using chemicals, it is important to observe safety measures. Processing should be carried out only with rubber gloves, a respirator, goggles and a dressing gown.

Preventative measures

1. moderate watering. The first thing to start with is to carefully analyze the frequency of irrigation and their volume. Indeed, in autumn, winter and early spring, plants need to be watered less often, unlike summer, but not to overdo it on hot days;
2. soil moisture. Before watering the flower, you need to touch the ground, if wet it is worth the time;
3. good drainage. It makes it possible for a domestic plant to be enriched with plenty of water and at the same time does not lead to acidification of the soil, as well as to decay of organic residues;
4. loosening the soil. You must not forget about the periodic cultivation of the earth in a pot.

Thanks to what the root system is enriched with the necessary oxygen and the process of soil decay is prevented.

If you suspect that guests have appeared in the pot of your green friend, then use folk remedies for prevention or contact a specialized store where they will tell you how to water flowers from midges. After choosing a tool, immediately treat it with a plant.

If it got into the soil, then it is necessary to transplant the infected plant into another soil as soon as possible or treat it with special folk or chemical means. If you notice that the ground is very wet, then take a while and then water it.

Do not forget to treat all home plantings that are in the apartment, as it is quite difficult to distinguish between healthy and infected. It will be necessary to fight not only with larvae, but also with adults.

Prevention of midges in indoor colors

Often we notice that small midges appeared in the house, but attributing this to the fact that garbage had not been removed for a long time or flowers were standing in a vase for a long time, we do not attach any importance to this, hoping that the insects will disappear by themselves. But this does not happen, because these small midges are sciarids, or as they are popularly called flower midges.

These insects not only sit on plants and fly above them, but also crawl through the soil in large numbers. Flower midges arise due to abundant and overly frequent watering of plants, as a result of which the soil does not even have time to dry out, as it receives a new portion of water.

Such insects are not dangerous for plants, at least for the “external” part, but the root system can be seriously damaged, because midges actively lay larvae on the ground. If a huge number of larvae is observed in the pot, then it is necessary to transplant the flower into a new “healthy” soil, which must be treated with a special remedy for midges.

For a person, the midge does not pose any threat, since it does not bite and is not able to infect. Of course, these insects affect the state of the psyche negatively, because few people can withstand such an invasion of insects in their home.

Young children can be especially impressed, so you need to regularly monitor the soil in flower pots and try to prevent the formation of flower midges so that you do not spend time in the future fighting hard.

Methods of struggle

How to get rid of midges in indoor flowers, and is it possible to get rid of them forever? Yes, we are able to eliminate these insects, but the re-emergence depends solely on us and on how we will care for the plants.

Method number 1: Economical and effective, but the minus is that for a complete disposal of midges requires a sufficiently long time. It is necessary to process the flower pot as follows: take four matches, stick them with their heads in the soil, and moisten it a little.

From time to time it is necessary to check the condition of the matches, and after the sulfur has dissolved in the soil, it is necessary to replace the matches with new ones. To completely eliminate midges, you must repeat the procedure 5-6 times. Such a number of procedures is necessary in order to kill all the larvae that the midge lays in the soil.

Method number 2: The most popular. To get rid of flower midges, our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers used a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The procedure must be repeated several times with an interval of two days. The main thing is not to make the solution too strong, because you can burn the entire root system of the plant. In this case, preference should be given to systematic irrigation, rather than the strength of concentration.

Method number 4: It is a long-standing recipe for German flower growers. It is necessary to take three heads of garlic, chop them or crush using a special kitchen appliance, and pour a liter of boiled water. The mixture is infused for four hours, after which this infusion should be sprayed with the plant itself, and then water the soil.

This recipe is good because two procedures are enough to get rid of midges, but it can be unpleasant for those who do not like the smell of garlic.

Method number 5: Suitable for citrus lovers. In this case, you do not even have to spend money, since only the zest is needed. It must be divided into equal pieces and thrust them into the ground at a distance of 4-6 cm.

Method number 6: In other words, garlic. A few cloves of garlic need to be cut lengthwise, and placed over the entire area of ​​the soil with the cut part down.

Method number 8. Repeated processing of plants with tobacco infusion, for the preparation of which it is necessary to insist 20 grams of tobacco in half a liter of water. And after two days, dilute the solution with another liter of water and treat the top of the plants.

Due to the fact that science does not tend to stand still, today you can get rid of flower midges not only in folk ways, but also with modern means. The well-known insect pencil “Mashenka” can provide help in the fight against midges.

It is necessary to scrape some part from the pencil and sprinkle the chips on the ground. You can also draw a few marks on the pot itself. Many growers are advised to use the Raptor.

Recently, flies-fly-eaters have gained popularity, they also help in the fight against midges, only new individuals will again grow from the larvae that are delayed. Among flower growers, store-bought products gained popularity: Thunder-2, Bazudin, and Mukhoed.

Prevention of occurrence

So that you do not have to "break" the brain in search of a means to combat these insects, it is necessary to prevent the appearance of midges in flowers.

Despite the fact that the flower midge is safe for humans, it still causes a number of problems related to its extermination. Therefore, it is better to prevent the occurrence of these insects dangerous to your indoor plants!

3 step-by-step instructions and recipes for home remedies

In this material we will tell you how to get rid of midges in indoor colors with folk and special means, namely from the following 3 types:

1. Drosophila, which is also called fruit or fruit midges. They look more like small flies.
2. Scyarid, other names are flower midges or mushroom mosquitoes, and they really look very much like small black mosquitoes.
3. Whiteflies or Aleroidids that look like small white or light gray small aphids. They settle mainly under the leaves.

We will consider ways to combat fruit and flower flies in the first chapter, but if white flies settled in your plants, you can find out how to get rid of them in the second part of the material.

How to get rid of Drosophila and sciarid

Flying flowers are not only flying small flies, but also their larvae that live in the ground. In one pot, several generations of insects can develop simultaneously - from eggs to adults.

Also, keep in mind that mushroom mosquitoes can spread quite quickly from one plant to another. Therefore, in order to remove insects forever, you need to deal with them comprehensively and often repeatedly.

Because of this, midges appear in indoor flowers: a common reason - they could appear when a plant is transplanted into purchased land, which was already infected with eggs and larvae. In addition, midges could simply fly into the summer or autumn from the window and settle in your flowers.

One way or another, the main factor in the emergence and propagation of sciaridae and Drosophila is moist, transfused soil, which attracts midges and creates favorable conditions for the transformation of sleeping eggs into larvae. By the way, Drosophila could get into your apartment along with purchased vegetables, fruits, or fly to the smell of a stale product, and after that, take a fancy to your flower pots.

Damage caused: adult individuals themselves are harmless, but their larvae, eating root juice, destroy the plant. Especially dangerous flower midges for seedlings and young plants.

Prevention: watering plants as they dry 2 cm of the upper layer of the earth, as well as periodic loosening and timely removal of diseased leaves. Moderate watering will make the soil less attractive for egg-laying adult midges and less favorable for the development of larvae.

Methods of struggle

Instructions 1. With the help of folk remedies:

Step 1. Allow the soil to dry after the last watering so that at least 2 cm of the top coat is dry.

Step 2 Catch all adults. You can do this with:

Step 3 So, we got rid of adult egg-laying midges, now we need to cultivate the earth to get rid of the larvae. To do this, loosen the dried soil and water the plant with one of the following folk remedies:

• Garlic infusion: make garlic infusion at the rate of: 1 grated head of garlic + 600 ml of boiling water per 1 flower pot. Allow the product to infuse for 2-4 hours, then water and sprinkle the plant with it, and deepen the remaining pulp into the ground. You can also stick 1 head cut into three parts into the soil of each infected plant. Do not worry, the smell of garlic in the apartment does not appear.
• Manganese solution: it should be so weak that it appears colorless in the palm of your hand. Water and spray the solution with the plant no more than 1 time per week for a month.
• Soap solution: grate 20 g of laundry soap and dissolve it in a liter of warm water, then pour and spray the plant with the resulting solution.
• Sulfur: stick 4 matches head down into the ground at the same interval and slightly water the plant with water. Change matches every other day, every other day.
• A solution of antiparasitic drugs for pets: buy anthelmintic drugs at a pet store, such as Drontal. Dosage suitable for cats or puppies, dilute in water and water the plant as usual. After a week, it is advisable to repeat the procedure.

Instruction 2. Using insecticides and creating a "toxic greenhouse"

Step 1. Wait until the soil becomes dry after the last watering.

Step 2 Gently loosen the ground.

Step 3 Put the pot with the plant in an ordinary bag, spray a little "Dichlorvos" into the soil and tightly tie the bag so that only the pot is completely covered. After 4-5 hours, midges in the ground should die.

If midges are found not only in the ground, but also settled under or above the leaves, then you need to do the same actions, but pick up a bag of such a size that it fits the entire plant “in full growth”, and spray Dichlorvos not only in soil, but also on the package (!).

Dichlorvos can replace Raptor, Neo or Raid. In addition, instead of sprays, you can use solutions of special insecticides for plants, for example, Thunder-2, Actara, Bazudin, Actellik and Karbofos. In this case, before wrapping the plant in polyethylene, it must be watered and sprayed with a product.

Step 4 Hang special or home-made traps on the windowsill so that the remaining midges that do not fall under the package sit on them.

Step 5 Repeat the procedure after 8 days to eliminate the possibility of re-emergence of midges.

If there are a lot of larvae in the soil, and you are sure that the plant will withstand the transplant, then it is best to do this by replanting the flower in a new, previously cultivated soil.

To prepare the earth, it must be calcined in the oven at a temperature of 100-120 degrees 1 hour, and then restore the microflora with any fertilizer.

How to get rid of whiteflies

To get rid of whiteflies, you also need to carry out comprehensive measures to destroy adult insects and larvae 3-4 times with an interval of one week.

Damage caused: whiteflies in themselves do not harm the plant, but because of their stools on the lower leaves, sooty mushrooms may appear that can severely damage the flower. In addition, white midges can infect the plant with a viral infection. On the right is a photo of a leaf affected by a white-winged.

Methods of struggle

Step 1. First you need to catch all adult flies. You can do this in the following ways:

1. Set up special or home-made traps described in the first instruction.
2. Catch all the midges with a vacuum cleaner.
3. Pour the jam in the saucer, place it next to the pot and wait until the whiteflies flock to the bait and get stuck in it.
4. In the morning, create a slight coolness in the room where the flowers are located, for example, turning off the batteries or opening the window. Low temperatures will prevent the flies from taking off.
5. Next, carry out the procedure described below.

Step 2 Once most adult whiteflies have been caught, take the plant to the bathroom and flush the leaves from the remaining insects, eggs and nymphs.

Step 3 Now treat the plant by watering and spraying with solutions of systemic insecticides (Actellic, Confidor, Mospilan or Fufanon), and then create a “toxic greenhouse” by closing the plant in a plastic bag for 4-5 hours.

If there are not so many whiteflies, then instead of special means, you can use the garlic infusion described in the first instruction.

Step 4 If desired, transplant the plant into uninfected soil and discard the infected soil.

There is another way to destroy whiteflies in indoor flowers. If the infected plant can tolerate temperatures below 14 degrees, then just leave it in this coolness for a week or a little more. Unable to withstand low temperatures, the whitefly and its larvae will die.

How to quickly get rid of midges in flower pots?

For many indoor flowers, midges become the real scourge, which most often appear in the winter. These small white insects lay eggs in moist soil, from which larvae then form. This raises questions: why there are midges in flowers, what to do if they cause damage to plants.

There are several reasons for the appearance of pests:

How to get rid of midges in home flowers if they are found? With a minimum number of insects, it is enough to dry the soil to forget about uninvited guests. If this is a neglected case, then you will have to use folk or chemical agents.

How to find annoying guests?

Puppies in flower pots will quickly announce their presence. They can be found on the surface of the substrate, and even in the pan, where they flow during the next watering.

Types of midges living in flower pots

More often, white actively jumping mosquitoes precipitate the flowerpot, whose larvae can cause some damage to the roots. They are also called taillights or fools. Their size is 2-10 mm, the color is white or yellowish. Numerous delayed larvae cause significant damage to the root system.

The higher the humidity level, the faster they will multiply. Begonia, fuchsia, camellia, gardenia are subject to their attacks.

Black guests, or sciarids, are no less agile. Adult soil mosquitoes do not feed on plant sap; they damage the growth point, which then becomes a hotbed for the development of rot. The female eventually lays eggs in a moist substrate.

The larvae feed on plant rotting residues, therefore, during mass reproduction, they can cause significant harm to the root system of plants. With a small amount of spiaride, it is enough to let the soil dry well so that the pests disappear.

Take preventative measures

The risk that midges in pots will be minimized if appropriate preventive measures are taken in time. We offer some simple ways that can get rid of this trouble:

If all preventive measures are followed, midges simply will not be able to start, but such measures should be applied regularly, otherwise the small ones will quickly attack the flowerpot they like. Knowing how to deal with pests, how to grow seedlings, when and how to feed cucumbers and tomatoes, you can easily equip a garden or a miniature greenhouse on the windowsill.

Priority folk methods of struggle

If you still have midges in flowers, how to get rid of them is the next problem. Verified folk remedies will help.

You can use ordinary soapy water for processing. To do this, the laundry soap must be grated and dissolved in water. The proportion is as follows: 20 g of soap should be taken per 1 liter of water.

Some gardeners recommend putting several cloves of garlic in the soil. The earth will have to loosen more often, reducing watering.

Wood ash will also help, it will not only get rid of insects, but will also serve as an excellent fertilizer. It is enough to sprinkle earth on it and the problem is solved. Care must be taken with plants that prefer acidic soils. Excess wood ash will be disastrous for them. In acidic soil, azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas, etc. are preferred to grow.

If midges are wound up in the room flowers and you are unsure what to do, use chili peppers. It is enough to take 1 tsp. ground spices and 0.5 l of boiling water. The container with the mixture is covered with a towel and insisted for a couple of hours, then the composition is filtered. For 1 medium-sized flowerpot, 150-200 ml of infusion is required.

If white midges appeared in the flowers, then immersion of the pot in water will help to get rid of them. It only remains on the surface to collect the emerged insects.

Chemicals

Soil mosquitoes can be destroyed in other ways. For example, using chemicals that are sold in many stores today. But resorting to such measures is best if all the others have not brought the expected result.

Insecticides will help to fight the larvae radically.The solution can spill the ground and spray the foliage. A popular chemical agent for midges is Aktara. You can use Fitoverm, Kinmiks, Intavir.

After treatment with chemical preparations, the plants are not watered for 4-5 days, so as not to weaken the active effect of the insecticide.

Since insect larvae provoke decay of the root system, you need to shed the substrate with any systemic fugnicide. Topsin, Fundazole, or Gamair is suitable. If you help your pets in time, then many problems can be avoided.