How to get rid of sciarids, photo of fungus gnat

The fungus gnat of the Sciaridae family is a soil insect that is found everywhere. Despite this, they belong to the least studied group of dipteran representatives. The family has almost thirty genera, including more than 1,700 species studied and described by scientists. Sciarids, living in the tropical regions of the Earth, and there are approximately twenty thousand species of them, will be described in the near future. The fauna of Europe is not so rich in representatives of this family. About 600 species live here. All fungus gnats have their own distinctive characteristics, but they are practically invisible to the uninitiated person. Most often within Russia, representatives of the genera Sciara, Lycoriella and Bradysia are found. It is impossible to get rid of flower pests once and for all. They will appear again if conditions favorable for their existence are created. The sciarids in the photos presented on the website confirm that they are very similar to each other. The differences of each type can only be seen with high magnification.

Fungus gnat

Biological characteristics of the fungus gnat

The sciarid fly is a small mosquito whose body length ranges from 1.5 to 4 mm. In young individuals it reaches two millimeters. The color of the outer cover of adult insects is black, while that of young insects is light gray. The fungus gnat has a well-developed front translucent pair of wings, thanks to which they can fly well. The hind wings have lost their original purpose. They have transformed into club-shaped halteres, so during flight the insect makes a characteristic squeaking sound. The sciarid's mouthparts perform a sucking function.

Adult sciarids do not harm plants because they do not feed. Under favorable conditions, insects reproduce very quickly. The female fungus gnat lays eggs on the surface of well-moistened soil or in clods of soil between the roots of indoor plants. One clutch can contain up to three hundred eggs. After a few days, worm-shaped, legless fungus gnat larvae emerge from them. Their body length can range from two to ten millimeters. It is translucent, with a clearly visible intestine and a characteristic black head. It can be used to distinguish representatives of flower pests from annelids. Sciarid larvae have gnawing mouthparts. They usually develop on rotting plant debris present in the soil. However, being in the flower pots of indoor plants, they may lack food substrates. Midge larvae feed on delicate food systems and underground shoots of flowers, causing irreparable damage to plantings. After some time, pupation occurs and the young fly emerges. Leftover shells decompose in the ground. Please note that they do not tolerate dry soil. Sciarid larvae removed from a moist substrate die within a short period of time.

Fungus gnat larvae

Control measures

The fight against sciarids, podurs, and soil mites is Sisyphean work. They will always appear, again and again, and the harm from them is insignificant. You need to pay attention to sciarids only when they become a real problem (when there are hundreds of flies, and the soil is literally moving with worms). Mass reproduction of these animals indicates poor agricultural technology, which needs to be corrected. A good result is obtained by adding ligocene (crushed coconut peel) to the soil composition. Water as the substrate dries. Avoid using soil with a large amount of undecomposed components (leaf dust and plant debris).

Before you start fighting, make sure that the flies flying in your apartment are sciarids, and not Drosophila (fruit flies) that flew to you due to the smell of stale jam, compote or overripe fruit.

If you still have to reduce the number of sciarids, you can use systemic insecticides (spray the soil with a solution). A good result is obtained by adding citromon or askofen to the water for irrigation (half a tablet per 3-4 liters of water). The drug Regent effectively destroys fungus gnat larvae. If you got Regent 80%, then 1 g of powder per 10 liters of irrigation water, if Regent 25, then 3 ml of the drug is diluted in one liter of water (30 ml/10 l).

When preparing the soil for sowing Gesneriaceae seeds, the soil should be well steamed. Seedlings are grown in hermetically sealed containers. It is desirable that even the drainage holes of such containers are inaccessible to flies.

The danger of fungus gnats for humans and indoor plants

It should immediately be noted that sciarid midges do not bite humans and do not drink their blood. This is confirmed by research by American scientists. They, unlike midges, do not swarm near the face and do not get into the eyes. However, sciarids are carriers of dangerous fungal diseases that are harmful not only to plants, but also to people. Severe respiratory diseases can develop in humans after contact with infected plants and inhalation of mold spores, which are carried by sciarid flies.

As for plants, the favorite food of indoor plant pests in the ground are the roots of poinsettia, Saintpaulia, anthurium, hibiscus, orchids and other houseplants. In pots where sciarid larvae have appeared en masse, flowers stop developing normally, they lose their attractive appearance, become lethargic and lose their ability to bloom. All this indicates that care must be taken to eliminate dangerous pests from indoor flowers as quickly as possible.

Preventing the appearance of flies

Before planting, the soil is disinfected - heated in the oven or microwave, exposed to frost, treated with steam, or spilled with potassium permanganate.

Any container for flowers must have drainage, and there must be holes in the bottom to drain excess liquid. Watering in the cool season is optimized: the soil should be dry on top, but moist at a depth of 1 cm. It is better to water not from above, but from the pan. You need to water with water that has stood for 24 hours, not forgetting to loosen the top layer of soil afterwards. Loosening is a necessary operation when caring for indoor plants. This is the only way to provide the roots with oxygen, eliminating the process of decay. To dry the soil in a pot, pour a little sand on top, after calcining it.

An interesting way of prevention is to grow onions next to indoor flowers. Having “settled” on the windowsill, it will not only protect the owners from colds, but will repel many pests from their green pets: midges, spider mites, scale insects, thrips and other “invaders”.

Reasons for the appearance of fungus gnats in an apartment

Fungus gnat in the house
To get rid of gnats in indoor plants, it is necessary to establish the reason for their appearance in the room. The most common factors for the existence of fungus gnats in an apartment are:

increased humidity in the apartment and improper care of house plants;
purchasing a flower infected with sciarid larvae or adults from a specialized store;
sciarid can enter the apartment through ventilation ducts, an open window or door;
a warm and humid environment is an ideal condition for insect life. Having settled in such a room, they lay eggs in the flower substrate and continue to exist.

Having established how the sciarid flower flies ended up in the apartment, it is necessary to begin comprehensive measures to destroy the pests.

What does an insect look like?

Sciarides are a family of insects. This includes the fungus gnat or, in other words, the sciara fly. The insect represents the order Diptera.

The mosquito is small in size - up to 4 mm. The body is narrow and oblong in shape. The flying insect is black and gray in color. A characteristic feature is that the color becomes darker as they grow older. The fungus gnat has a round head with long antennae. The insect also has colorless fore wings. Despite this, they are endowed with the ability to fly.

The insect has small transparent wings

Preparatory activities

Before taking effective action to combat the pest of indoor plants, it is necessary to establish their number, their place of mass habitat, and only then decide how to get rid of sciarids and which method to choose. Initially you need to do the following:

inspect the premises for the presence of food waste and establish ways of penetration of sciarids into the apartment;
install protective nets on hoods and ventilation ducts;
check the soil in flower pots for the presence of larvae and, if necessary, replace it with fresh substrate;
conduct an audit of the root system of plants in order to detect rotten areas;
reduce indoor air humidity through additional air ventilation.

After carrying out this set of measures, you can choose effective methods of combating the fungus gnat.

Preventive measures

In general, prevention of the appearance of sciarid flies is as follows:

Before transplanting/planting indoor plants, make sure the soil is clean - it should not contain plant residues;
It is advisable to treat the new substrate with a solution of potassium permanganate, and then sprinkle it with charcoal;
Before use, new pots are thoroughly washed with hot water and disinfected with the same solution of potassium permanganate;
good drainage should be ensured using expanded clay, gravel, coarse sand or ceramic fragments;
use organic fertilizers – manure and compost – moderately;
do not water the flowers with water from the aquarium, especially if there is a green organic coating on its walls;
do not add coffee grounds and tea leaves along with small tea leaves into flower trays;
remove excess water from the pan after each watering;
the next watering should be done only after the top layer of soil has dried;
Remove dead parts of plants from the pot in a timely manner.

People's recommendations

Having discovered that fungus gnats have appeared in a flower pot with your favorite violets, you need to reduce watering. If the degree of infection of a plant with sciarids is high, then it will be necessary to combat flies in flower pots using more radical means. It is necessary to transplant the flower into new soil and remove part of the rotten root system.

Important!
If the roots of the plant are not damaged, then it is enough to change the top layer of flower soil. It is advisable to remove sciarids using affordable and safe midge repellents:

Folk remedies for fungus gnat
Spray the contaminated soil and the above-ground part of the plant with an infusion prepared from dry tobacco. It should be processed five times at weekly intervals.
A soap solution prepared from thirty grams of shavings dissolved in a liter of water. Spraying is carried out by analogy with the previous method.
Organization of upper drainage. Pour a layer of fine gravel, coarse sand or expanded clay onto the soil surface. After watering, the drainage will always be dry and will not allow sciarids to reproduce.
A light pink solution of potassium permanganate will disinfect the soil in the pot.
As natural repellents, you can use citrus peels, garlic cloves, anise oil, which is used to lubricate flower pots, or chopped dill sprinkled on the top layer of soil.
Sticky midge traps placed near flower pots.
All these remedies will help get rid of fungus gnats. You can use the original unconventional method. To do this, flower growers recommend having Nepenthes in your home, an insectivorous plant that will reduce the number of harmful insects.

General information

Every violet lover is familiar with these insects. Everyone knows the little flies that hover over potted plants. Sometimes there are almost none, sometimes there are hundreds. Who are they, these eternal companions of the gardener?

Photo 1. Female sciarid.

Soil mosquitoes of the family Sciaridae are distributed everywhere, but at the same time, they remain the least studied group in the order of dipterous insects (Diptera). Sciarids (Sciaridae) are living fossils; they are one of the most ancient groups of dipterous insects. Due to their small size and hidden larval phase, representatives of sciarids have not attracted the attention of researchers for a long time. Currently, this family has about thirty genera, uniting more than 1,700 species described by science. According to the most conservative estimates of experts, another 20,000 species will be described in the near future, mainly from tropical regions of the Earth. The fauna of Europe is less rich in sciarids - there are just over 600 species.

Most often we encounter representatives of the genera Sciara, Lycoriella and Bradysia. Externally, without a microscope, trying to distinguish them is almost useless. Some are a little less, others are a little more. Some are blacker, others are just a little lighter. Sciarids enter the volumes with plants either with the soil, or adult females, entering the room from the street, lay eggs in the moist soil. It is almost impossible to get rid of fungus gnats once and for all. If conditions exist for their feeding and reproduction, they will come to you again as soon as the chemicals expire.

Overmoistening of the substrate and a high content of quickly decomposing organic matter in it are the main conditions under which sciarids feel most comfortable and begin to multiply quickly.

What stages of development does it go through?

Eggs are laid in moist soil. After 5–6 days, the larvae hatch. They have no legs and look like worms. If you look at the photo of sciarids, you will notice that the larvae are colorless (transparent), and the digestive system and black head are also visible. It is the dark color that distinguishes mosquito larvae from others. They can reach a size of up to 10 mm.

At this stage of development, insects cannot tolerate dry soil. If a person takes them out into the air, there is a high probability of the caterpillars dying.

After 7–14 days, the larvae pupate. The transition from pupa to adult occurs in 5 days. The life expectancy of adults does not exceed 7 days. But, despite such a short period, the number of eggs in a female can reach 300 pieces.

How to fight

The fight against such insects must be comprehensive. That is, it is necessary to destroy mosquitoes at all stages of development. There are various methods for controlling sciarids, they are listed in the table.

Name	Description
Special aerosols	The most popular are Raptor, Raid, Dichlorvos. It is better to place food, clothing and other items in a drawer before spraying. Furniture can be wrapped in film. The disadvantage of this method is that you need to leave the room for a while. You should also remember that such aerosols are harmful to pets, so they also need to be isolated for a while
Treatment of window sills, shelves and other places with plants	This method is used as a preventive measure against surviving insects. After spraying, wash the area thoroughly with soap and water.
Application of insecticides	They use Actellik, Aktaru, Fitoverm, Karbofos. Before use, chemicals should be diluted with water according to the instructions. Next, mix everything thoroughly. The resulting solution is poured into the soil. Course of use – 2 times. The interval between applications should be at least 7 days. For the best effect, it is not recommended to water the plant for 1 - 2 days after use.
Fighting sciarid larvae	Bazudin, Thunder will do. The top layer is replaced with a new one containing granules. When watering, the product dissolves and pests are destroyed.
Duct tape	Can be bought for flies. If this is not possible, you can use tape
Anti-cockroach products	For example, Mashenka’s pencil. It is applied to the top of the pot. Another use is to crumble a pencil and sprinkle it into the soil.
Egg fight	You can use Citropak in tablet form. To prepare, you need to dilute the drug in 5 liters of water. Pour the resulting solution into the soil. After the initial treatment, the result will be noticeable. For better results, the procedure can be repeated 1-2 more times.

At what temperature do sciarids die?

Sciarid flies (fungus gnat)
Sciara fly, order Diptera -
family Sciaridae (sciarids) a small black-gray mosquito about 1.5 mm long with a narrow body and a rounded head. The insect has only a front pair of transparent wings; the hind wings are transformed into club-shaped halteres. Mouthparts are sucking. They fly well and, in suitable conditions, easily reproduce in large numbers.
Adults do not harm plants, but lay small eggs on the surface of moist soil. Larvae later appear from the eggs - translucent, legless worms with a black “head” measuring 8-10 mm. The mouthparts are gnawing. Typically, the larvae develop in the soil on rotting plant tissue. However, indoor culture often lacks food substrates, as a result of which tender young roots and underground shoots of plants can be gnawed, which poses the main danger.
What is important to know about fungus gnats in order to successfully fight them?
There is no need to panic if large numbers of flying flies suddenly appear at home. First, you should try to figure out who they are and where they came from, and depending on the result obtained, choose a method of getting rid of them.
Do not confuse them with the fruit fly Drosophila! First, look at the flying specimens and make sure that they are sciarids. Mosquitoes, compared to Drosophila, are graceful and slender. The head and chest are larger than the body, the abdomen is thin, approximately 0.5 mm. Drosophila is a fly, albeit a small one. The abdomen has the proportions of a fly, thicker, without a sharp difference between it and the chest. It appears more often on spoiled fruits, hence the name.
Now, after digging up the soil a little, see if there are sciarid larvae there. If not, then everything is great: it is enough to destroy only the flying mosquitoes, which is not so difficult.
Reasons for appearance
As a rule, flies come to the grower with soil contaminated with their larvae, from which, under favorable conditions, adult flying insects hatch.
It is important to check the quality and carry out preventative treatment of the soil in which you plant the plant, but the presence of flying flies may not be related to your actions.
Often flies are a signal of an unfavorable environmental situation in the house. They did not necessarily come from the pot of a plant standing on the window. Like most insects, midges fly to the light, that is, to the window, next to which they enjoy sitting and flying, but they could have flown in from the outside.
These insects love a warm and humid atmosphere, so they live with great pleasure in damp basements of residential buildings and can visit through hoods, pipes and ventilation shafts, especially in the toilet. Having flown into a gardener’s apartment, they may well take root, laying eggs on the surface of the soil of a recently watered plant and infecting it with their larvae.
Sciarids can also covet food waste (spoiled fruits, vegetables) in the trash can, and linger in the winter vegetable reserves (potatoes, onions). If you are “lucky”, they can find a home in a completely unexpected place, if your apple has rolled somewhere and remained unnoticed, for example, an apple (or its core, which is even worse). Here, treating your flowers with chemicals will not help; you must find and, if possible, eliminate the source.
External signs of sciarid damage
Small black flying insects appear in the room, fluttering from disturbed flower pots. However, the presence of flying individuals does not mean that there are larvae in the soil that harm the plant (larvae are an already advanced version of the problem).
The larvae are usually immediately visible if you dig a little into the soil. The soil itself is characteristically crumbly and, when dry, has a consistency similar to sand. The infected plant looks bad and stops growing.
Prevention
If the sciarids find favorable living conditions in the apartment, there will be no end to them. Therefore, you will have to find out the “tastes” of these insects and try to take preventive measures against their appearance and reproduction:
The main rule is to not allow the soil in the pots to become waterlogged.
If you constantly flood your plants, then adjust the watering: waterlogging the soil in pots creates conditions for the active reproduction of sciarids. Never water a plant again unless the top soil in its pot is dry! If you accidentally water the plant too much, drain the excess water from the pan and thoroughly dry the earthen ball before the next watering.
When insects appear, it is important to prevent their further reproduction and spread.
Adult flying individuals lay eggs on the moist surface of the soil, from which a large number of larvae live in the soil. If the soil surface is dry, the masonry will die, so keeping the top layer of soil dry is an excellent preventive measure against sciarids. Dry the top layer of soil regularly (1-2 cm in medium-sized pots, up to 3-4 cm in larger ones).
You can also use top drainage: cover the surface of the soil in the pot with a layer of fine expanded clay, gravel or coarse sand. After watering, such a layer quickly becomes dry and deprives insects of the opportunity to lay eggs.
Sciarids, like all insects, reproduce easily and very quickly - when the first flying individuals appear, take urgent measures to remove them.
Promptly remove dead parts of plants (withered leaves, flowers, underground parts) remaining in the pot. Monitor the state of the supply of vegetables and fruits in the apartment and your food waste, promptly remove and throw away everything that could become “home and food” for sciarids.
Use sterilized substrates for your plants.
It is good if the soil contains components that are “unpalatable” for flies: coarse fibrous peat, pine needles, bark, coal, coconut fiber. However, it must be remembered that the composition of the soil should first of all be selected in accordance with the needs of the plants, and not the flies.
If you are not sure about the cleanliness of the soil, spill it with water and freeze it for at least a few days (in the summer - in the refrigerator, in the winter - outside or on the balcony). It is safer to leave the soil prepared for future use on the balcony for the winter, and use it for replanting in the spring. Long-term freezing is a good remedy for many soil pests.
Do not use easily decomposing organic substances as fertilizers (tea leaves, coffee, fish bones, tree leaves, “meat” water, milk, kefir) - with further rotting in the pot, excellent conditions are created for the active growth and reproduction of sciarid larvae.
Do not allow water to stagnate in the pot, otherwise the roots will rot.
If, after all, the roots have rotted, then take measures: remove the plant from the pot, thoroughly rinse the roots in running water, trim off all rotten and damaged parts with a clean knife, dry plants with large or fleshy roots and treat with crushed charcoal or sulfur powder. Then replant the plant in slightly moist, fresh soil and water as little as possible for some time after replanting. It is better not to water a plant with fleshy roots at all: damaged by sciarid larvae, weakened roots are defenseless against rot pathogens.
In the spring, before sowing seeds, it is advisable to carry out a full range of preventive measures to prevent the appearance of fungus gnats in your home. Sciarid larvae greatly harm hatched seeds and young seedlings.
Ways to fight
A set of measures aimed at destroying all forms of fungus gnat
It is not necessary to perform all the suggested actions - determine the extent of damage to your collection and select what is necessary.
Important: approach the problem carefully and carefully. If you fight only larvae or only flying mosquitoes, there will be no benefit. When starting the “battle”, try not to deprive anyone of your attention, and then you are guaranteed success.
* Determine where and how they could get to you and check all possible places where mosquitoes “reside”. Carefully remove all organic debris and dead parts from the plants.
* If your mosquitoes are coming to you from the basement of your house through hoods, pipes and ventilation shafts, you are very unlucky. It is almost impossible to eliminate dampness in the basement, so mosquitoes, unfortunately, will become your regular guests.
* Install a very fine mesh on the ventilation grilles, through the holes of which mosquitoes will not be able to get into the apartment.
* Check the soil in the pot - if it is heavily infested with larvae, change it to a fresh, breathable soil mixture suitable for the composition of this plant.
* Check the root system of the plant: if there are signs of root rot, take action
* Gather all the plants in one room. It should be well ventilated, and it is better to have a high-quality hood.
* Treat the premises with one of the means against flying insects in the form of an aerosol, for example, “Raptor”, “Raid”, “Neo-dichlorvos”. Make sure that there is no food, utensils, personal items, etc. in the treatment area. Cover the aquarium, remove the cage with birds or small animals.
* Also spray the racks and window sills on which the plants stand to avoid “revenge” from surviving specimens in the future. Don’t forget to thoroughly clean all surfaces with soapy water and rinse several times with clean water.
* Any available insecticide is suitable for chemicals: Agravertin, Aktara, Inta-vir, Fitoverm, Aktellik, Kinmiks, Karbofos. Dilute the working solution according to the instructions and thoroughly water the soil in the pot twice with an interval of 7 days. After treating the soil with a pest control drug, you should not water the plants for at least 3-5 days, so as not to weaken the effect of the drug by reducing its concentration and being washed out of the soil coma.
* For larvae in the ground, soil insecticides are used, for example, Bazudin, Grom-2, Pochin. In pots infested with sciarid larvae, remove the top layer of soil (about 3 cm) and replace it with the following mixture: new breathable soil and several Bazudina granules. Or simply scatter the granules over the surface of the earthen clod and carefully mix them with the top layer. When watering, the drug will dissolve and penetrate into deeper layers, killing the larvae living there. However, it is convenient to use such products if there are few infected plants, otherwise it will take a very long time to lay out and mix the drug in each pot.
* Leave everything for a while, preferably overnight. Close the door tightly and leave the room. In the morning you can move the plants to their places.
* In the room where you carried out the treatment, open the windows or turn on the hood for a long time. Collect the “bodies” of the flying representatives of this pest that fell in the unequal struggle, and clean the premises.
You can get rid of flying insects in several ways:
*Collect with a vacuum cleaner.
* Treat the room with a drug against flying insects in aerosol form (“Raid”, “Neo-dichlorvos”, etc.).
* Use a special sticky fly trap tape hanging near the plants. Advice - stock up on sticky fly traps in the summer: in winter there are no traps in stores!
* Use “scotch tape” as a last resort: place small strips with the adhesive side up next to or on the pots.
* Close the windows and turn on one or more fumigators for a long time (depending on the size of the room and the number of plants), placing them as close as possible to the cluster of plants. You can use different plates, “Raid”, “Fumitox”, etc.), the main thing is to change them quite often, about once every 1.5 - 2 hours.
* An unconventional way: plant nepenthes, an insectivorous plant that can now be found in flower shops. It is supposed to “eat” all the midges. In principle, “there is” - it will be there, but not all of them, but only those who want to get into his jug. In addition, Nepenthes itself is not so easy to keep indoors.
* Sprinkle crushed Mashenka chalk (for cockroaches) or draw stripes on the top of the pots.
* Cover the plants with fresh citrus peels, pieces of garlic, branches of incense, sprinkle with dill, and coat the pots with anise oil. All of the above must be updated frequently. This method is effective if a couple of insects accidentally flew into your area and have not yet had time to get used to it, but, unfortunately, this moment is very difficult to detect.
Folk remedies for flying insects:
* Infusion of tobacco or shag – 40 g. dry tobacco infused in 1 liter. water for two days, then filter and add another 2 liters. Water. Spraying must be done 4-5 times every 5-7 days.
* Soap solution – 20-40 g of soap shavings are dissolved in 1 liter. water. Spraying must be done 4-5 times every 5-7 days.
To destroy (prevent) egg laying by insects, it is recommended:
* Replace the top layer of soil in the pot (about 3 cm) with looser, dry, sterilized soil.
* Dry the top layer of soil (1-2 cm in medium-sized pots, up to 3-4 cm in larger ones). However, keep in mind: not every plant can easily tolerate drought! And sciarid larvae can “sleep” in dry soil for quite a long time, so they will actually disappear for some time. This method is good to use for preventive purposes.
* Use top drainage: cover the surface of the soil in the pot with a layer of fine expanded clay, gravel or coarse sand up to 2 cm thick. Such a layer quickly becomes dry after watering and also deprives insects of the opportunity to lay eggs, while the root system of the plant will not suffer from drying out. You can also cover the soil with a circle of paper cut exactly to the size of the pot.
* A good effect can be achieved if you spill the soil in pots several times with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate.
…………
mod ol@
16