Rank: Newbie
Joined: 5/8/2009
Posts: 1
Location: Los Angeles
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Hello,
I've noticed that recently there are little black flies that seem to be attacking the trunk of my 2 year old money tree.
Does anyone have advice on how to get rid of them without hurting the tree??
Thank you!
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 6/3/2009
Posts: 1
Location: Bay Area CA
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The little black flies are known as fungus gnats, the larvae of which live on decaying root matter. Most often these are introduced when a new plant is brought in and are the result of over watering. Let the plant soil dry out as much as possible without harming it. The fly's life cycle is about 8 days, so if the plant can stand about 2 weeks of drying, the cycle should be broken. In addition, fly paper-like material can be used to catch the adults, thus limiting the numbers available for reproduction.
After the infestation is quelled, systemic granules can be added to the soil and watered in very well.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 5/29/2009
Posts: 21
Location: los angeles
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I just wanted to add that you can buy white fly traps and lay them across the soil to catch the very annoying adults. I've used a product called "knock out gnats" from the organic gardening site "Gardens Alive" with some success. I've also heard adding a few drops of plain old dishsoap to the water will help get rid of them. (dilute with at least a gallon of water). I agree you need to let the plant dry out first. The good news is that they are not actually attacking the plant, they are mainly interesting in the fungus in the soil. They can however spread to your other plants very quickly so put whitefly traps across ALL of you plant pots to prevent them from being colonized.
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