Fungus Gnat Information
Fungus gnats are small pests that only live up to four weeks. They do not cause any direct harm to humans and do not carry any diseases that can be spread to humans. But they do transmit plant disease from one plant to another and the larvae can destroy the root of healthy plants. Their adult forms are also considered unpleasant to the visual appearance of a landscape. A combination of preventive and biological elimination techniques are available, as are chemical removal agents. Does this Spark an idea?
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Description
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Fungus gnats grow to 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, or 2 1/2 millimeters. Their colors include gray and black. The gnats fly using wings that are clear or gray and contain no pattern marks except for occasional distinct vein markings. Both their legs and antennae are long and slender, with their antennae generally longer than their heads. Fungus gnats are sometimes described as looking like miniature version of mosquitoes. The larvae stages are longer, reaching up to 5 1/2 millimeters, and are clear or white in color.
Life Cycle
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Adult gnats lay 100 to 150 eggs on the surface of moist soil. Fungus gnats particularly enjoy wet soil that is rich in organic matter. Gnats will hatch into larvae within four to six days. Gnats remain as larvae for two weeks, during which they will eat a variety of organic matter, including fungi, rotting materials and plant roots. After two weeks, the larvae enter the pupate stage and will leave that stage within three to four days as adults. Adults live for one week.
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Damage
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Fungus gnats do not cause any direct damage to humans. But both the larvae stages and adult fungus gnats can cause severe plant damage. Larvae can destroy plants by eating away at the root. Adult fungus gnats cause damage by spreading varieties of plant diseases and fungal root infections from infected plants to healthy ones.
Prevention
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Since fungus gnats thrive in moist soil, not allowing the soil to become too moist and avoiding over-watering plants is the best preventative measure. Another tip is to carefully inspect your plants before taking them home, looking for gnats or larvae among the stems of the plant. If you see any, do not buy the plant. Employing good gardening sanitation, by removing debris and dying material, is also an effective deterrent.
Detection
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Placing yellow sticky notes into the pot will attract the insects and cause them to stick to the adhesive surface of the notes. Another method involves slicing a potato and leaving it on the soil surface for up to four hours. The potato method will alert you to the presence of any fungus gnat larvae. The potato method is more of a monitoring attempt than a removal effort, as it is used to determine the larvae's presence.
Removal
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Non-chemical efforts to remove fungus gnats include adding nematodes and predatory mites. Both of these are available on the Internet and both feed upon the fungus gnat. These treatments are most effective if the fungus gnat population is young or low. For adults or large populations, chemical insecticides may be necessary. Insecticides come in fog and fumigant form.
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