On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 21:05:52 -0400, "Eddie G"
wrote:

~Hi,
~
~I am growing basil indoors and I have fungus gnats on the leaves. Last time
~I had them I had a pesticide that is non-toxic, but it killed the plants.
~How can I get rid of them without hurting the basil and not alter the taste
~of the herb, either.
~

The best way is those yellow sticky cards. The sciarid flies (fungus
gnats) really do go for them, and since I've hung them up in my
greenhouse I haven't had a major problem. I used to have a lot of
difficulty with them and the wormlike grubs eating small seedlings,
but now it's not so bad. Also if you keep the surface of the compost
on the dry side, they won't tend to breed in it.
You can get tiny yellow cards about 4x3" which are ideal for
attaching to a piece of stiff wire and sticking in the infested pots.

The other complementary method is to get rid of the reservoir of
sciarid grub-infested pots around your basil. Provado (the water-on
form) will kill the grubs for up to a month in non-edible plants,
which is pretty much long enough to break the cycle. If you're organic
only, the yellow cards will do it but over a longer timescale.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

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