Topic: Fungus Gnat, does flypaper work?

[hellohelenhere]

I seem plagued by fungus gnat in my lean-to - I guess it's warm and humid and they're really in their element. I'm suspicious that a lot of my seedlings are failing to grow on account of them; an awful lot seem to germinate and then just stay tiny for blimmin' ages! I'm not sure whether to chuck them and start again or just be more patient. How able are plants to recover, if the seedlings are damaged by fungus gnat larvae? Practically all my flower seedlings seem to be VERY slow to grow, once first leaves have appeared.

I don't want to use poison - I could consider natural controls but they may be expensive?

Anyone used flypaper against them and can say whether it helped?

[tonybloke]

the yellow fly traps for use in glasshouses etc work. just brush the plants regularly to disturb the gnats. also by watering from below, the compost in the pots will dry out at the top, and they prefer moist compost to lay eggs in and for their maggots to grow in.

[moonbells]

I had an absolute invasion last year - every time I went into my conservatory there were clouds of the things.

I gave up on the yellow stickies - they were catching hundreds a day but hardly making a dent - so I went to defenders and bought bio control.

About 3 weeks later there was nary a gnat to be seen. They're back this year (guess came indoors) but not finding a good environment. I found that putting plastic propagator covers tightly over the seed trays helped, with material or fleece taped over the vents so the flies couldn't get in. And I put a yellow trap inside each propagator!

moonbells

[hellohelenhere]

Right little blighters, aren't they? I bought flypaper online, the normal kind in a cardboard tube, that you pull out. I put a few of them on, and hanging from, my seed tray shelves - and having caught dozens, or possibly hundreds, there are hardly any live ones appearing now. I should have thought of it ages ago - I lost quite a lot of seedlings to them - but I'll know better in future.