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Tiny little flying bugs in an indoor pot plant

tony1982

Hi team

I have a Rubber plant which was thriving. About a week ago we started to notice all these tiny little bugs flying around in the kitchen. Upon inspection the rubber plant is infested with them. Literally thousands of the buggers! I think they may have now infected my fiddle leaf fig too. I've had to move them outside

Pics below aren't great they don't stop moving so hard to get a pic.

I bought this in bunnings but it doesn't seem to help much

https://www.bunnings.com.au/yates-750ml-ready-to-use-pyrethrum-insecticide_p2961012

Any other suggestions?

Community managers note: Check out this helpful guide on How to get rid of flying bugs on indoor plants.

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Comments

MitchellMc

Hi @tony1982,

Those are fungus gnats and are commonly found in potting mixes which contain compost and bark. I would suggest swapping the mix the plants are potted in for Scotts Osmocote 10L Indoor Plants Premium Potting Mix which is specially designed to minimise gnats populations.

If you didn't want to switch the mixes then the next best thing would be to use Yates 4.5L Gnat Barrier. I've heard a lot of great feedback about this product and it seems to work quite well.

With both of these methods, you need to do it to all your indoor plants. It will not work effectively if you only do the pots that appear to be infested. There are likely eggs in all of the pots now.

Please let me know if you need further assistance or had questions.

Mitchell

tony1982

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/10708#Comment_10708

Hi Mitchell

Thanks for the response!

I think i will try the Gnat barrier first and see if that works. How long would you expect it to take to start making a difference?

Thanks again

Tony

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/67719#Comment_67719

Tony (@tony1982),

The product creates a barrier to stop the gnats from laying their eggs. Since there are most likely eggs in the soil now I would expect them to keep hatching and being a problem until this cycle ends. To effectively control them you really need to remove the potting mix and add the gnat barrier at the same time. You could try to keep spraying the pyrethrum as well but I don't believe it will do much for the un-hatched eggs.

Mitchell

tony1982

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/96700#Comment_96700

Great, thanks for the advice. I'll just go ahead and repot them all, seems like the best thing to do.

A job for tomorrow

Lumberhack

Hi @tony1982

How’s the fungus gnat situation now you’ve repotted all your plants? These guys are the BANE of my existence! They took over my balcony veggie garden and turned what should have been a pretty good yield into something that only my worm farm could enjoy 😞

I just wanted to say that the most effective treatment I’ve used is NEEM OIL Soil Drenches. Neem Oil is pretty expensive for a balcony full of plants, but a little goes a long way & it shouldn’t break the bank if it’s just some indoor plants. With fungus gnats, it’s the larvae that hurt the plant. When they hatch they feed on the roots of your plants and/or spread disease which is what ends up killing the plant. The adults themselves don’t cause too much damage but they’re super annoying and they keep laying eggs.

The soil drench (applied fortnightly and then as needed/if needed) suppresses the larvae’s appetites so they stop eating and die.

Spraying the plant itself with a mix of NEEM oil & water will take care of the flying adults so they stop breeding!

Other things you can do to:

- don’t over water your plants (if you poke your finger into the soil up to about 5cm and it feels damp, don’t water)

- ensure pots are well draining

- target water at soil level and avoid splashing too much water around

- water plants when they have adequate sunlight/air to for the top soil to dry off

I hope the little buggers have moved on!

JEKCROW

They are most likely "Gnats" they are little buggers, & they love our indoor plants. I use these sticky traps they get stuck on them & die. I brought them from Bunnings. Good luck..

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/16811#Comment_16811

That's a great suggestion, @JEKCROW. I can't find those same sticky traps you've used, but these The Buzz Mini Insect Indoor Pot Traps look very similar and trap gnats.

Many thanks for sharing, as I'm sure any of our members coming across this discussion will appreciate your input.

Mitchell

Jason

As this has been a popular discussion, we asked @Adam_W to put together this helpful guide - How to get rid of flying bugs on indoor plants

We trust you will find it very useful.

Jason

vickilee211

Afternoon.

We are experiencing an infestation of tiny, tiny black insects around and in the red and the council small food scrap bins in the kitchen.. All bins are cleaned and emptied regularly, disinfected and also sprayed with long lasting surface crawling/flying insect spray but they seem to be indestructible and only leaving for 30-60 minutes b4 they return.

They do like the fruit basket as well but haven't really noticed them on the indoor plants.

They look like tiny little jumping fleas, don't think they have wings, definitely no long legs, but hubby says they do fly!

None of the knat types in pictures resembles these little critters, so can anyone identify them and suggest how to get rid of them, please 🙏

We're on the NSW side of the QLD border, Northern Rivers area if that determines specific types only in this region

Thanks

Vicki

JacobZ

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/47897#Comment_47897

Hi @vickilee211,

Thank you for your question.

Unfortunately, I'd need to see a photo of them to have much hope of identifying them.

Your description sounds like they could be Collembola - springtails, but it would be impossible to say for certain without seeing them.

If you can upload some images, I would be happy to do some investigation for you.

Let me know if you need any assistance with this.

Jacob

vickilee211

20250128_160614~2.jpg

20250128_160147~2.jpg

These are the best pics I got of the varmints, but I do see they do have legs and wings but tiny like a flea?

Jason

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/48063#Comment_48063

Are they fruit flies @vickilee211?

Jason

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/48063#Comment_48063

Hi @vickilee211,

As @Jason mentioned, it sounds like a fruit fly, also known as a vinegar fly. They love fermenting fruits, including onions and potatoes and are attracted to sweet liquids such as fruit or vegetable juice and unwashed soda and beer cans with liquid inside them. I had a small infestation of them a few weeks back and inadvertently created a fly trap by leaving a beer bottle out. However, removing the adults will not resolve the issue, and eliminating the food source is key.

As long as your scrap bin is emptied regularly, it's not the source of the issue. I would suggest that at some stage, there might have been some fruit that had larvae in it, and they hatched, producing the flies. Now, the adults are after your scraps in the bin to lay their eggs in. Try popping a beer or soda bottle with a little in the bottom next to the bin. Every hour, check to see if there are flies inside. If there are, pop the cap on the bottle and shake it so they fall down into the liquid. Repeat this process until you've captured all the adults. I managed to get a dozen of them within a few hours this way.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

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