FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I've posted before about my seedlings. They are doing pretty well, I thought. The largest is about the same size as a pencil eraser at this point. Well, I was observing them this evening, trying to help some of them settle their roots a little better. I moved the biggest plant and BAM! Fungus gnat larvae gnawing on the roots. Not five minutes before I had commented to my wife about how some of the little plants had died. I was going to attribute it their death's to too much sun, even against my reservations. But the gnat larvae told me all I needed to know... GRRR...

So... what to do? I know BTi dunks work, but no one in my town has them. I'll have to wait until at least Sunday to get some, and I want the dudes gone NOW! I have a weak neem oil solution... will that help at all?

I was thinking about setting a small piece of potato on top of the soil to attract the larvae to it and save my little roots.... anyone ever done this?!

The neem shoud work man... best of luck!

Well, I've just applied potato chunks to all my carnivorous plant pots. I also put some BTk in the watering trays... I know BTi is meant to kill mosquitoes/gnats, but I googled that BTk might be somewhat effective.

I'll give it until the morning, see how many bugs are in the potatoes, and then spray the neem oil.

Thanks for the reassurance tc3driver!

I would just stick with Neem oil. It works great and doesn't seem to have any effect on the plants. I had to douse my plants in it for a few weeks due to a spider mite problem and the plants came out happy (although a bit chewed up )

95slvrZ28 wrote:I would just stick with Neem oil. It works great and doesn't seem to have any effect on the plants. I had to douse my plants in it for a few weeks due to a spider mite problem and the plants came out happy (although a bit chewed up )

I third the neem oil thing. You can douse carnivorous plants in the stuff and they won't even flinch. Fungus gnat larvae, on the other hand, get their asses handed to them.

Here's the specific bottle of the stuff that I use: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Light-Neem- ... 000GXQMQC/

By the way, these also work very well for fungus gnats. I know a lot of people who swear by them: http://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Sticky-Tra ... B001L9MXAY

Thanks for all the advice.

I found some BTi and applied it to the watering trays. I tried the potato pieces and didn't get any hits on the plants with fungus gnat larvae. I also placed potatoes in my two outside plants and found lots of small white bugs... I think they are springtails, but I'm not sure. They were TINY and jumped big time when I tried touching them. Probably no harm, right?

I use neem oil alot on these same outside plants (once a week or so). My purple pitcher was getting chewed up BADLY... I tried the neem oil with great success on them. All my new pitchers would be demolished before they were an inch long.. now I have four new pitchers coming up in good shape! GO NEEM OIL!

Thanks again guys.... hopefully the rest of my seedlings will make it.