Fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae) include more than 3000 species of the dipterous insects of the Nematocera family. They are small mosquitoes with slender and fragile bodies, long thin legs, and even thinner antennae divided into 8-16 segments. Living in all zoogeographical regions of the Earth, mainly in forests, sometimes in marshy meadows and pastures. For these insects, any area is suitable where their food grows - mushrooms. Adult insects are not as dangerous as larvae, which can lead to the death of the plant.
Fungus Gnats
Signs of damage
- Initially, adults (in fact, harmless) can be seen flying around plants or congregating at a nearby window;
- The plants affected by fungus gnats grow slowly;
- The leaves of such plants wither;
- Flowering is poor or absent at all;
- Yellowing of the leaves;
- In cases of severe infestation, significant parts of the plant may be lost.
How to prevent
Make sure that air circulates abundantly over the surface of the substrate; in this situation of strong ventilation, ensure the plants are well watered. That said, be careful not to give too much water, especially during winter. When transplanting, avoid using organic materials that contain water, such as algae, as they can promote the spread of pests.
Heal
The best recommendations possible are to dry the soil, try to use insect traps, and feed the plants with benign nematodes.
Methods of combating these pests are mostly insecticides, but there are also other folk remedies.
If the soil is too moistened, the rapid reproduction of midges is inevitable. A primitive, but generally not the most effective measure in the fight against midges is covering the soil with a layer of dry sand approximately 1.5 in (3-4 cm) thick. At the same time, it is necessary to treat the soil with chemicals (insecticides). Among the folk methods, the best known are the use of ash from matches, sticking them into the ground several pieces down into a pot along with orange peel steamed in boiling water, which can be buried in the ground.
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