Houseplants and Tiny Insects
 

Hello,
I have houseplants and i love them but have recently found tiny tiny little insects in the soil of one or two of them.

They are really really small, crawling around, usually just under the surface, and seem to be slightly silver and reflective so you can see them quite easily in black soil, but they are indeed tiny.

I am now getting really worried as my favourite plant, a big plant with glorious large leaves and glittery silvery speckles, has recently and very quickly had its leaves kind of beginning to rot whilst still attached)
Please help as i'm scared of what will happen and have such little knowledge in this area

NT

Houseplants and Tiny Insects
 

nimatehranchi wrote:

I have houseplants and i love them but have recently found tiny tiny
little insects in the soil of one or two of them.

They are really really small, crawling around, usually just under the
surface, and seem to be slightly silver and reflective so you can see
them quite easily in black soil, but they are indeed tiny.

Could be scarid fly (fungus gnat)?? The adults are small black fliwes
which prefer to crawl/run quickly when disturbed..

The larvae are tiny whitish maggots which live in the compost ususally
near the roots and leaf base.

What sort of compost.. Is the compost damp and what conditions (eg is
the room sunny, heated, hot or cold, drafty or stuffy etc?) are the
plants growing in?

At a 'guess' it sounds like you could be overwatering a bit and this is
encouraging pests to thrive.

//
Jim


I am now getting really worried as my favourite plant, a big plant with
glorious large leaves and glittery silvery speckles, has recently and
very quickly had its leaves kind of beginning to rot whilst still
attached)
Please help as i'm scared of what will happen and have such little
knowledge in this area

Well, it's quite an airy room, and they are all by the window which is usually wide open at the moment so they are getting light and breeze, but hmm, not sure if these fungus gnats are the ones 'cos you say they are black but these things are a little silvery and don't look big enough to even have wings. They are probably smaller than those red tiny spider mites you get on stone walls if that makes sense.

But perhaps you are right about overwatering - shall I let it go horribly dry for a while, I just don't know if I could do that!!!!
Or perhaps I should use a pesticide, even though I am dead against it usually.

Thanks for your help

Nima :O(