You don't need Gnatrol unless you have a large collection.

For the worms or larvae of fungus gnats, the bleach in water will kill them. The adults fly. So if you can find them, get some NO PEST strips. These are sticky cards which you set up near your plants. The flying gnats are attracted by the color and will get stuck onto the card and die.

If you can't find the No Pest Strips, you can make them using vaseline spread onto cards--anything sticky.

Nancy

Now I have about 25 pots
thanks Nansy

I used to have a bad fungus gnat problem. Tried something similar to Gnatrol (active ingredient, correct strain of bacillus thuringiensis) but it was not successful. I tried putting a layer of fine sand, as some have suggested, because it would cut and kill the larvae as they went to the surface. Not effective. My infestation was very heavy!

But finally got rid them using a surprisingly simple method! I hung yellow sticky traps on each shelf. It took about a couple of months for complete eradication because my infestation was very bad. In the first few weeks, a large number of gnats were trapped. This reduced the breeding population, and kept reducing, and kept reducing the numbers till none were left. I had not expected such good results, and was surprised by how well it worked. I got my traps from bluebird greenhouse (http://www.bluebirdgreenhouse.com/).

Good luck!
shireen

Thanks for info guys
I bought some stiky traps and already 3 gnats stick on it)))))) also leach the soil with bleach/water
Will see

Bleach won't kill the plants??? 1/10 you say?

I found tiny black flies, I wonder if that is a fungus gnat? What ever they are is it has stunted my plants growth.

Edna

If I am not mistaken there are only two pests that fly: thrips or fungus gnats. Fungus gnats are smaller and black.

Nancy

If you lose your cup of coffee on the plant shelf somewhere, when you find it again, it will have caught a couple gnats! tish

I'm not new to the forum, but have been away for some time.

I tried the sticky paper and other remedies with limited results. About a year ago I tried a suggestion which gave me immediate and permanent results.

Sprinkle cinnamon on the soil. It kills the soil fungus gnats feed on. Without a food source, the gnats die off.

I have also sprinkled cinnamon liberally over the leaves just to see if it would cause any damage. A week later I washed the leaves with warm water and found no damage.

Try it,

Sherri

I've had waaay too much experience with the gnats going for a swim in my coffee, but the cinammon tip is a new one for me.How much do you use? Do you completely cover the soil? Must you use it on all your plants at once?

You can also buy seeds or plants of carnivorus plants such as Butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris, plantifolia, or grandiflora. These plants fit well on our shelves, produce a 6-12 inch spike with lavender flowers. It emits a scent that only insects smell. Every part of the plant is sticky and when insects go in for a closer smell they are stuck onto the plant. The plant absorbs the insect so you don't have a nasty looking thing to look at like the sticky yellow cards.

Plants are about $5.00, seeds are about $3.00.

Nancy

I think I got this idea here at the web, but I'm not positive. When I had a bad infestation last winter I kept Dunks in my water can and always refilled it after watering. I was skeptical but it worked. Anita

Hi Plantlady,
I just sprinkled the cinnamon lightly on top of the soil once and have had no real problem since. I brought in some new plants and found a few gnats so sprinkled them. Other than that I just use a pinch in the soil when repotting.

Since cinnamon kills fungus, will it help with powdery mildew?? HMMMMMMM I haven't tried this yet.

Sherri

Best way is to by a good electric bug zapper for indoors. We had literally millions of gnats due to a septic line break under our slab. Nothing worked for an entire year. Purchased 2 electric zappers and it killers about a thousand a day for a few weeks, we are down to two-three gnats a day. It was a nightmare.