Lately I've been having a problem with gnats. The gnats come out when I pour water into the soil. They fly out then. I bought some insecticidal soap to try to solve this problem. I first applied it last Friday.

Today (now 1 week later), I poured water into the soil and sure enough gnats flew out. Not as many as there used to be. 2-3 gnats. I don't know if the soap actually worked, or if it's needs to be tried again. I ultimately decided to apply more today.

This product I bought says it's made for houseplants, so I hope it won't hurt my Robusta. So far my Robusta seem to be unfazed. They haven't declined or anything. I only applied it to the soil, not the actual foliage or anything.

I hope these gnats will dye. I don't want to go through repotting it about, since it's just starting to thrive. I don't want to disturb the root system. Robustas don't like that and it sucks to have to repot (even more now that it's Winter). I just need to kill off the gnats and then my problem will be solved.

I worry that the gnats will damage the roots, and they are pests flying around my house. We've not seen too many gnats in the last week though, but I hadn't watered it for a while either.

How do Washingtonia Robusta handle chemicals in the soil? Do they not care? Will this insecticidal soap harm it? I've read they tolerate acidic soil. So far they don't seem to care and I first applied it 1 week ago (and again today)?

Has anyone else had this problem? What should I do? Is there a better product I should be using? I would appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.

Here's the product: