PC-safe insecticides

[Nicholas_Bostaph]

About two weeks ago we started noticing a bug or two flying around our kitchen sink.  We didn't think much of it until a few days had gone by and these things became a major pest.  Anytime you walk into the kitchen, bedroom, or one of the bathrooms you can see at least 10 or 20 on the walls/ceiling.  We did some research online and IDed them as fruit flies, though we haven't had fruit in our house for months.

I've setup cider vinegar traps and pull out the sweeper hose constantly, but the problem doesn't seem to be going away; they propogate too fast.  They really got on my nerves last night when we openned a bottle of wine we had just bought and, after being away from my glass for a few minutes, I returned to find three floating around and about 20 more on the rim.  We really need to do something.

So I'm thinking of spraying an insecticide throughout the house.  The problem is (besides the fact we have a cat), one of the four primary places they seem to hangout is my windowsill with  my CPs (and a bunch of Drosera seedlings).  I'm wandering if they've made a home in the moist soil.  So I need something safe for both our cat and the CPs.  I figured someone here would be able to suggest something both safe and effective.

Yeah, I know they make a good foodsource for my CPs, but my adult D Binata doesn't have any room left and the seedlings aren't ready to eat yet...and I can't deal with them flying around my head and in my food anymore.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

 

[Nicholas_Bostaph]

*Sigh*

That title should be "CP-safe insecticides". Could a mod change that for me? I don't have the ability to. Thanks.

 

[nepenthes_ak]

If they live in the soil I doubt its Fruit fly's more likely Gnats of some kind.

 

[vft guy in SJ]

I would expect most over the counter "bug bombs" would be effective against fruit flies. I would just put the plants either outside if you have a warm day, or in the garage.. someplace where they will not get directly sprayed on with the poison. Same thing with the cat. Before the invention of Advantage, I used to have to routinely bomb my house to eradicate the fleas the cat brought in. I never had any problems with the poison effecting the cat, or the fish (or the fleas for that matter now that I think of it). I didn't have cp's at that time, but I expect that as long as you dont spray the plants directly you should be fine.

Good luck
Steve

 

[indymental]

Sounds like you are suffering from fungus gnats or sciarid flies. They lay their larvae in your cp pots where it is always nice and damp and as the larvae mature into adults they in turn lay more eggs so it becomes a never ending circle. If you top water your cps that are indoors you will probably see little white maggots moving around in the peat, they seem to be more noticeable after watering. These are the larvae They don't really harm bigger plants but they do nibble at the roots so smaller plants can appear to be suffering sometimes especially vfts which only have a couple of roots. They make a good food source for sundews but indoors are a nuisance. I found that a soil drench insecticide cures the problem.

 

[Nicholas_Bostaph]

I appreciate the responses. I probably should have been more clear. The most dense concentrations of these bugs are mostly away from the CPs, and the ones that are near the CPs are not all in the pots. I don't usually see many in the pots themselves and just thought they might be using it to lay eggs. If I move the pots the bugs scatter. We have pretty positively identified these as fruit flies; they are not fleas or gnats. I only asked for something CP safe as I will definitely need to spray near the plants; not that the plant soil is their single primary home.

Steve, could you let me know which insecticides you've used and found to work well? I know there can be a rather large variance in effectiveness between brands and would rather not go the trial and error route if I can help it since I'll be hitting pretty much the whole house.

Thanks.