As a garden consultant, I hear this question a lot: What do I spray to get rid of the fruit flies in my house plants?
The first thing I try to determine is whether the pest is truly a fruit fly or is actually a fungus gnat. They’re both tiny and truly annoying. Fruit flies tend to invade our kitchens, particularly during harvest season and sometimes they move into our houseplant soil along the way. I’ve posted ways to use carniverous plants in your kitchen to control them, and some of my readers have shared their methods as well in this post.
If the problem does turn out to be an infestation of fungus gnats, the more likely culprit to live in houseplants, I steer people away from the pesticide aisle and suggest a few simple environmental and pesticide-free control options:
- Add a thin layer of pebbles or gravel to the top of the potting soil in your indoor plant containers. Fungus gnats lay eggs in the top layer of the soil and hatch from there. They can’t do this in pebbles.
- Clean your catch trays. Gunky catch trays can be egg-laying spots for fungus gnats.
- Insert sticky traps into your houseplants. These are inexpensive, pesticide free papers covered with a sticky material. As the gnats buzz above your plant, they are attracted to the yellow color and smack to the sticky surface never to fly again.
If you’re not sure whether you’re dealing with fungus gnats or fruit flies, know this: Sticky traps attract both pests and may solve the problem regardless!
Tags: fruit fly, fungus gnat, houseplants
Really good suggestions for controlling fruit flies and fungus gnats. No one really want to use chemicals anymore as a solution.
Getting rid of fruit flies can seem like a daunting task for many people, but its easier than you think. We don’t want to have toxic solutions, however there are many products marketplace which offer a natural and non-toxic solution to combat fruit flies to prevent health issues.
I am in an apartment and have an indoor composting bin with “red wiggler” worms. I need to know if there is an herb that I can but in my bin that will combat my infestation of fruit flies, that will not be toxic to the worms.
Appreciatively,
Rick Coash (co-ash)
Rick,
Unfortunately I don’t have the perfect remedy for your fungus gnat infestation. You could trya tip another reader sent in: put a shallow dish filled with vinegar on the top layer of the worm bin (make sure it won’t spill). The flyin’ buggers may be attracted to it where they will drown. It won’t kill them all at once, but it may eventually break the life cycle. If my indoor bin ends up with a hatch, I set the bin outside where it is cold for a bit to freeze off the gnats. I may lose some worm productivity this way, and I have to take care not to freeze the entire bin, but it can help beat back the gnats, which like the warm. Not sure if you can do this in an apartment, but it’s an option.
And, worst case, clear out the entire bin, sorting out your worms to keep. Spread the compost or recycle it outside the house. Clean your bin well and start over taking care to keep everything sealed and free of already-infested gnat goodies.
Thanks for writing in & good luck!