FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I discovered a fungus gnat larvae outbreak on some of my pygmies this morning. Although fungus gnats themselves dont normally pose an enormous threat, their larvae does. They like to munch down on roots and other matter. Ive also discovered soil mites scurrying about with the larvae. Ive been noticing some of my pygmies wilting. Some of the lamina is curling up into a ball, and petioles are beginning to darken.... I have mosquito dunks in my watering trays as of today, but its really going to be awhile for it to take effect. Im looking for more immediate results. What im wanting to do is use a dilute Orthene solution and do a soil soak around the plants and then let it leak out from the bottoms of the pots, totally covering every bit of soil as it washes down. Then maybe follow with a distilled rinse out in a day or two. Afterwards, letting the soil get to near dry conditions that would be less suitable for larvae to exist. I use Orthene on my vfts and sars and more hardy plants during the summers every year and i have excellent results. What i want to know is if anyone else has ever had any luck using it on pygmies? Or had anyone tried? Given the fragile root systems on pygmies , i dont believe at this point in time that repotting into fresh soil is a very good idea.

Buy a package of "Mosquito dunks" at the garden center. Put one quarter of one in your watering can. This will kill the larvae in the soil and stop future generations. It is all natural and safe. Use sticky traps and manually kill the adults.

tommyr wrote:Buy a package of "Mosquito dunks" at the garden center. Put one quarter of one in your watering can. This will kill the larvae in the soil and stop future generations. It is all natural and safe. Use sticky traps and manually kill the adults.

Ive had dunks in the water since thursday but i havent put out sticky traps yet though. That will be my next move. Havent seen any flying around yet, but that doesn't mean theyre not there. Looks like a couple of my pygmys have perked up a bit. I ended up introducing a very weak solution with Orthene in it into the soil. I do not see as many larvae worming around today. Thanks