Are these very small trees?

Fungus gnats are more of an aesthetic issue than anything.

It can be unsettling to see little gnats flying around your plants, but they aren't doing much harm.

As far as I know, fungus gnats eat decomposing organic matter (a la Peat),
and very seldom feed on living tissue. I have heard that they *can* pose a threat
to seedlings that do not yet have sufficient roots. I've never experienced this, though.

I don't use any peat moss in my soils. It's just not worth the hassle.

Josh

When fungus gnats are a problem I avoid using peat moss completely. They seem to prefer it to all other media.

When I have used it, I solved the problem by only watering from the bottom and never allowing the top layer of media to be wet. This might be hard to do when it rains everyday. You might cover the top of the media with gravel or rocks or even something like plastic to keep it dryer and keep them out.

A light gravel or bark mulch can be quite effective, indeed.

Josh

Thank you John and Josh! Yes, put me in the "no more peat moss" column. My happiest-looking tree was the one I used pumice instead of peat in the 5:1:1. That was something Josh and Mike helped me with earlier on. Gave that tree away so it wouldn't get contaminated with scale or gnats, it's working out well.

It might just be that I'm using foam pots rather than clay, they don't "breathe" as well, if at all. Picking up on John's suggestion, if the gnats don't relent soon, I'll replace the top inches of soil again but go peat-less this time.

Bought a couple of new trees so now I have 3, they're 2-3 years old. They're now going under cover if it rains. I've only seen one gnat in the past 24 hours and there are none on the sticky paper. Gnats are harmless but I don't want them spreading to my house plants in the fall. Besides, it's annoying when they buzz you while working on the computer (but they seem to enjoy it!).

Josh, I wanted to ask whether you still used the recommended amount of dolomitic lime when you substituted pumice for peat, or do you decrease it? Anything else I should know? Thanks very much!

Yes thank you John and Josh..:-)

I guess I also had a misguided fear of the buggers too! Maybe it is a good thing, since that fear has forced me to plant all my plants into grittier mixes and not have to needlessly worry any more..lol

Mike