infection... again...

[Ridetsu]

oye - as if aphids wasn't enough to make things hard - i got a couple other problems now.
For one thing, a green slimy mold is growing - now i read about it, and it is an algae that grows in the moist soil conditions, but it bothers me none the less. What i have read is that you can scrape it off and just replace the soil - is this a good idea? I wouldn't want to carve out any of the root system..
secondly, i took notice of what appeared to be webbing coating over my flowering VFT's soil. At first, i was excited that a smart spider found a home! but upon reading the pest section of "The Savage garden", i have found out that it is called a 'fungus gnat', and may be fairly harmless unless the infestation is bad. Well, any infestation is nto a welcome one, so i'd like to remove them.

I have used Ortho's systemic insect killer - about a week and a half ago actually, and am going to apply another misting here in a few days to complete a 2-week cycle. Should that work to kill the gnat worms, or should i look at doing more?

 

[Clint]

You are always going to have fungus gnats. Leave them alone and learn to live with them. Otherwise repot, but it will come back.

The algae is harmless and is actually an indicator that you're media/water isn't pure enough. You can scrape it off and replace the media.

 

[Ridetsu]

i used to water them with bottled water - but it wasn't distilled water.

Hmm.. maybe i should rinse them out with the distilled water i've bought just to make sure they are clean...

cursed gnats...

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Check the lable on the bottled water. Sometimes stuff is added to improve the flavor of the water as pure water can be flat and tasteless if your used to drinking tap water. Other than that, be sure it's purified by either distillation or reverse osmosis. If fungus gnats get to be a PITA, then place a sundew next to the plant to catch the gnats. Pings will also work.

 

[Ridetsu]

i'v stopped using the bottled water after i discovered that the pH level in it was well over 8.0. I'v recently switched to distilled water with a 6ppm rating - which is VERY good. its 2.5 gallons, and costs around 3 dollars x.x;
i need an RO filter..

 

[ilbasso]

do you have any cape sundews? They'll wreak some havoc on those gnats

 

[Not a Number]

I saw Costco was selling an RO filter with tank for ~$164.00 US. I didn't take a look at the specs, brand etc.

Sticky traps are best to control fungus gnats. Sundews, Pings or even the commercial sticky trap strips you can buy. Or make your own - paint something yellow and coat it with something sticky like Vasoline and hang it near your plants.

As for the slime, you're just scraping off the surface layer - probably an 1/8th of an inch at most. It should not disturb the roots.