An effective way to get rid of gnats outside is to introduce natural predators of fungus gnats to your garden. The … Put a fabric softener sheet on top of the soil to repel the gnats. Larvae of flying insects get infected with it, leading to their passing into bug heaven. Neem oil is also an effective soil drench to combat fungus gnat larvae. Cultural Changes. Please note that damping-off can't be cured, only prevented. The larvae can survive freezing, though may suffer some tissue damage in their heads and "tails.". There are literally countless approaches to address both aspects. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 16,753 times. The annoyance with this is you'll need to start watering from the bottom of your container so you don't wash the sand away. You can order them in bottles that contain as many as 25,000 of these mites, which trips me out. Best Natural Ways to Kill and Prevent Fungus Gnats Petroleum jelly and vegetable oil. Many come with guiding lines so you can cut them into tiny squares, which I recommend doing. You'll want to use this pellet solution for two or three months if you want to be extra thorough, though two or three times total seems to do the trick. Mosquito Dunks - This is really the only method to take care of the larvae. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Getting rid of them and preventing them is pretty simple, so the whole thing becomes quite the relief. So let me tell you how to get rid of these pests, what causes them, and how to prevent it from happening again. The larvae have a thin body, usually white or a pale see-through complexion. Place a candle in a candlestick and fill the holder partially with water. The Fungus Gnat Predator - If you're dealing with a large scale garden, good decision is to introduce a predator into the mix. Below are a handful of the most common questions I ran into when researching this topic: The best method for the outdoors involves either introducing predatory mites into the area or diatomaceous earth onto and into the soil. This article has been viewed 16,753 times. Otherwise, they continue their normal life cycle of birth to death in 3 to 4 weeks. Those products are used for getting rid of spider mites and insects that lay their eggs and hatch larvae above ground. It also helps stop growing larvae from every being able to emerge out of the soil and through the sand. The first move is to get rid of the adults to stop the laying of any new eggs. Dust the surface of the soil of the affected plant with diatomaceous earth, paying extra attention to the inside of the outer edges of the pot and around the base of the stem. Keeping that bacteria around in the soil will stop these pesky buggers from going through their life cycle in your potted plants, which means no adults flying around and no larvae harming the roots of your plants. Pesticide sprays containing bifenthrin and cyfluthrin can also work. Direct action is encouraged to get rid of fungus gnats, as opposed to hoping they leave on their own, due to their rapid replication. Light the … Prevent gnat invasions by keeping your yard and garden neat and clean and addressing moisture problems. As a preventative measure you only need to do this once a year after the initial treatment. This is a reasonable method if you're trying to cover a lot of ground outdoors. First let's talk about their activity levels. They have long legs and antennae and a thin body. They'll lay eggs in your houseplant soil, and that's why they tend to stay close, though they'll get distracted by light like any insect will. They also carry a pathogen caused by fungi that they like, such as Phtophtora and Pythium. When they do fly, they dart around a lot more than fruit flies do, and will explore the area in front of your face and around your sugary and sweet drinks. Neem Oil. The Stratiolaelaps scimitus seeks out fungus gnat larvae and other insects. Where Do Spider Mites Come From? But most often they stick to the plants and soil. They're typically just annoying, but there are predator types in the Arachnocampa genus in the Keroplatidae family. Lauren has worked for Aurora, Colorado managing the Water-Wise Garden at Aurora Municipal Center for the Water Conservation Department. As you can guess, I'm writing about how to get rid of fungus gnats because it's a plan I'm enacting right now. Thankfully these are very passive methods that take nearly zero effort the first time and then you don't have to do anything else. It also gets into their joints and causes internal injuries. The whole life cycle from laying of the eggs to adults dying off of old age takes place in 3-4 weeks total, with the range changing depending on the local temperature. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. The key here is consistency. This entire life cycle can occur in a single potted plant, hosting several generations at once! The pellet contains a bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis, a subspecies of isrealensis. Neem oil can also be used as a soil drench to help with soil fungus and to get rid of fungus gnat … {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/56\/Get-Rid-of-Fungus-Gnats-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Get-Rid-of-Fungus-Gnats-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/5\/56\/Get-Rid-of-Fungus-Gnats-Step-1.jpg\/aid9401557-v4-728px-Get-Rid-of-Fungus-Gnats-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"