I've started growing some vegetables and herbs in my raised bed planter, and after adding compost soil, I'm now dealing with a massive invasion of fungus gnats! I'm stressing a bit—can I salvage the soil I have, or do I need to replant everything with fresh soil? Any tips or tricks to handle this situation would be really helpful!
3 Answers
If you let the top part of the soil dry out a little and maybe reduce your mulch, that could help a lot. They thrive in damp conditions! Just like mentioned, sticky traps and mosquito dunks are effective. Consider trying a neem oil drench as well to help manage the issue.
Honestly, fungus gnats aren’t all that bad—they mostly just munch on decaying plant matter. If your plants are healthy, they shouldn’t cause any harm. However, indoors they can be quite the nuisance. I suggest using mosquito dunks in water to tackle their larvae and setting up some sticky traps to catch the adults flying around.
You might want to consider using diatomaceous earth on the top of your soil. It works best if you get a blower to dust the plants after it rains instead of just mixing it into the soil since that doesn’t have much effect. Just be careful with your watering schedule, too—keeping the soil a bit drier can help reduce their numbers.