Fungus gnats

[Stone Burner]

OK, lets settle this once and for all, are fungus gnats harmful to plants? There is alot of controversy over this subject if the larvae eat the plant or if they are harmless . So lets settle this once and for all .

[joseph]

Yes they are harmful to plants such as first year venus fly traps. I lost two of mine before I killed the infestation. The larvae eat the roots. I caught them in the roots of my judith hindle that died also.

Isotex drenching and sundews will kill them.

joe

[Alvin Meister]

They are harmful to small plants, yes. In the wild there is usually a sundew nearby to catch them.

[dodecatheon]

They are harmful to utrics.

But it all depends on how severe the infestation is. I have been using those yellow sticky traps to keep them under control. I have some Bti (a strain of the biological insecticide Bt that is designed to control fungus gnats), but I am waiting till I've got my thrips/aphid infestation under control before I try it out.