"Martin & Anna Sykes" wrote in message
...
Any ideas about small black flies that have gone on some plants on the
kitchen window (thought they were 'bar' flies but then they are now all
over
the room I moved them to)? There seems to me loads of them.

Iv'e had the same. Don't know what they are, but their larvae seem to eat
the roots of the plants. They killed a couple of my seedlings. I sprayed
with a general purpose systemic insecticide which seems to have finished
them off. A more eco-friendly method is to just squash them as soon as you
seen them, They seem to be quite slow and easy to catch.



Thanks both for the spraying idea, maybe they are hiding under the plants so
I am not getting them all, they seem to like it there.

"Amber" wrote in message
...

"Martin & Anna Sykes" wrote in message
...
Any ideas about small black flies that have gone on some plants on the
kitchen window (thought they were 'bar' flies but then they are now all
over
the room I moved them to)? There seems to me loads of them.

They may be Sciarid fly (fungus gnat), maggots feed on roots, if so a soil
drench may be needed.


--
Art

Garden Web http://www.gardenweb.com
My Garden Web exchange page http://www.gardenweb.com/members/exch/art1952

"Carol Russell" wrote in
:

"Amber" wrote in message
...

"Martin & Anna Sykes" wrote in message
...
Any ideas about small black flies that have gone on some plants on
the kitchen window (thought they were 'bar' flies but then they
are now all
over
the room I moved them to)? There seems to me loads of them.

They may be Sciarid fly (fungus gnat), maggots feed on roots, if so a
soil drench may be needed.

I think that's what these are.

Giving the compost a mulch of fine gravel over the top works for me. They
only live in the top few millimeters of soil, and if they can't get to
that, they can't breed.

Victoria

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.207...
"Carol Russell" wrote in
:

"Amber" wrote in message
...

"Martin & Anna Sykes" wrote in message
...
Any ideas about small black flies that have gone on some plants on
the kitchen window (thought they were 'bar' flies but then they
are now all
over
the room I moved them to)? There seems to me loads of them.

They may be Sciarid fly (fungus gnat), maggots feed on roots, if so a
soil drench may be needed.

I think that's what these are.

Giving the compost a mulch of fine gravel over the top works for me. They
only live in the top few millimeters of soil, and if they can't get to
that, they can't breed.


Last night I gritted the plants as suguested, including one that seems to
have picked up a few flies from being near to the originally infected
plants. This second plant I had in a tub of water to water it and this am
the water is a fly graveyard. I have now moved all the infected plants into
the bath with water as these seem to travel far and with only one room to
over Winter plants I can do without these spreading. I am presuming that
with the mint I need to try and get as much grit all under the plant esp in
the bit thats all spready?

The plant that was not part of the oringinal infectiona few days before one
of the bist growing out of the soil just fell off like the roots had rotted,
I presumed I had over watered it. I actually need to find out what kinda
plant is is cos its a present and I don't want to kill it!

"Amber" wrote in
:

Giving the compost a mulch of fine gravel over the top works for me.
They only live in the top few millimeters of soil, and if they can't
get to that, they can't breed.


Last night I gritted the plants as suguested, including one that seems
to have picked up a few flies from being near to the originally
infected plants. This second plant I had in a tub of water to water it
and this am the water is a fly graveyard. I have now moved all the
infected plants into the bath with water as these seem to travel far
and with only one room to over Winter plants I can do without these
spreading. I am presuming that with the mint I need to try and get as
much grit all under the plant esp in the bit thats all spready?


The idea is to cover all the compost - or at least, as much as you can.
Keeping the plants a bit drier than usual is also a good idea, and in
winter is often a good thing to do anyway.

Victoria

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.206...
"Amber" wrote in
:

Giving the compost a mulch of fine gravel over the top works for me.
They only live in the top few millimeters of soil, and if they can't
get to that, they can't breed.


Last night I gritted the plants as suguested, including one that seems
to have picked up a few flies from being near to the originally
infected plants. This second plant I had in a tub of water to water it
and this am the water is a fly graveyard. I have now moved all the
infected plants into the bath with water as these seem to travel far
and with only one room to over Winter plants I can do without these
spreading. I am presuming that with the mint I need to try and get as
much grit all under the plant esp in the bit thats all spready?


The idea is to cover all the compost - or at least, as much as you can.
Keeping the plants a bit drier than usual is also a good idea, and in
winter is often a good thing to do anyway.



OK! The grit seems to have done the trick not many about now.