A few months ago some of my houseplant spider plants had babies and I potted the baby cuttings in some new compost I had bought in a local garden centre. The soil did not look particularly nutritious, but I know there have been bans in recent years in using peat, so I just guessed this was what I had to now deal with. A few weeks later, I noticed tiny little flies ducking and diving all over the house. I also noticed that whenever I watered the spider plant babies, the flies seemed to appear in abundance. I can only assume the fly larvae had been buried in the new compost when I bought it.
I decided to buy some fly-catchers and stick them in the pots I was suspicious of. I then gave the pots a good watering and waited. I then discovered the most horrific sight. There were loads of fly bodies stuck to the catchers. Over the months, the number has increased and occasionally when I am sitting still - such as watching TV or eating, a rogue fly will flutter past me. They are so tiny, you don't really see them coming until they zoom past close to you, and too fast to catch in my hands. Below is the result of a couple of months since I bought the fly-catchers. Those of a sensitive nature may wish to look away now.
19 comments:
I have had so many plant and bulb issues with peat free compost that I now buy Clover which I can get in my local plant centre. It has 20% peat in it. It retains moisture unlike the peat free compost, and the plants do far better in it. Other composts are available. I am sorry if many gardeners won’t agree with my actions but I have heard so many other people complain about peat free so I know I am not alone. Christine
Oh yuck! I'm afraid the whole lot, plants and all, would have been consigned to our garden compost heap if that happened here!!
Yuck! I'd be throwing them out as well...
I've been using the sticky fly catchers, too. It will soon be time to put the houseplants outside for their summer holidays. That might rid them of their unwelcome guests.
I shall definitely not that composting soil again.
I'm donating them soon to a local charity plant sale - hopefully the flies will be gone by then.
Won't be long.
They're off to a plant sale at a local charity. I shan't be sorry to see them go.
I hope it’s ok to go back to your Chapter 2 of the alcoholism post where your neighbour handed you an AA brochure. Wondering if you took umbrage at this, and how this affected your relationship with said neighbour. I’m not judging at all, just curious. Marie, Melbourne, Australia
I've had surprises popping up in plant pots, but of a different nature: In one of my orchid pots lives a tiny fern, and I had a pretty orange flower (similar to calendula) appearing among potted hellebores on my windowsill. Unfortunately, one day I found the hellebores covered in aphids; quite disgusting and since I am not a keen gardener in the first place and didn't want to buy a repellant for just the one pot, I waited for a few weeks to see whether they'd disappear just as quickly as they had appeared. When this wasn't the case, I ended up throwing out the entire contents of the pot, plants, soil and all.
Chapter 3 coming next week!
I may end up doing the same. I hoped catching them would be the end of it, but they seem to be multiplying!
I have a pot of mint and noticed, when I actually needed some for a meal, that the mint was absolutely decimated. I found about 8 big green caterpillars in there which I very happily squashed. Marie, Melbourne, Australia
I had a similar problem some years ago, and bought the sticky yellow things.......after a while the flies disappeared and haven't had a problem since.I think they are called fruit flies.
The sticky things are definitely catching them, but some clever ones manage to avoid them and still fly around. I'm donating the plants soon, so hope to be rid of the problem. I just hope they don't become someone else's problem.
I couldn't stand it any more. They seemed to be multiplying, so I've thrown soil, pots and plants on the compost heap. Fingers crossed the flies will have nothing to feed or reproduce on now.
Marie - it's not nice sharing our produce with insects, is it?
To control the flies you need spiders. That is why they are called spider plants. The clue is in the name Addy. Doh! May I suggest "steatoda nobilis"? Order them by the dozen via Amazon. Two dozen should be sufficient.
Eeeek. I think I'd prefer the flies
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