Pepper plant flies

rlew · September 2023

How do you get rid of them please? I have my pepper plant un front bedroom and there's some on the soil in the pot. I don't know if they are fungus gnats. The pepper plant is fine.

Dovefromabove · September 2023

Its likely that the compost is too damp for peppers if fungus gnats are breeding in it. Allow the compost to get quite a bit drier between waterings.

Put a good layer of horticultural grit on top of the compost so that the gnats ovipositors are too short to reach through it to lay their eggs.

In the meantime yellow sticky traps will catch most of them.

https://plantura.garden/uk/pests/pest-control/yellow-sticky-traps#:~:text=Using%20yellow%20sticky%20insect%20traps%20properly%3A%201%20Generally,for%20example%2C%20last%20for%20at%20least%20six%20months.

Other suppliers are available.

rlew · September 2023

Dovefromabove said:

Its likely that the compost is too damp for peppers if fungus gnats are breeding in it. Allow the compost to get quite a bit drier between waterings.

Put a good layer of horticultural grit on top of the compost so that the gnats ovipositors are too short to reach through it to lay their eggs.

In the meantime yellow sticky traps will catch most of them.

https://plantura.garden/uk/pests/pest-control/yellow-sticky-traps#:~:text=Using%20yellow%20sticky%20insect%20traps%20properly%3A%201%20Generally,for%20example%2C%20last%20for%20at%20least%20six%20months.

Other suppliers are available.

I'll try them, don't want to be using hydrogen peroxide if I can use other methods 1st. Thankyou

Dovefromabove · September 2023

Peppers really don’t need constantly damp soil.

rlew · September 2023

The leaves on my plants tend to droop though unless watered well.
My front bedroom does get fairly warm though. I've moved the pepper plants into a cooler place now.

Dovefromabove · September 2023

Drooping leaves can be due to several things, underwatering, overwatering, even too much sun which causes the plant to lower its leaves from horizontal to more vertical to reduce the amount of direct sunlight they’re receiving.

wild edges · September 2023

Water from below so the top of the soil stays dry. Hoover up the adults for a few days and usually that sorts out a small outbreak pretty quickly.

Pepper plant flies

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