Sometimes flower growers are faced with such a problem as flies flying around the house. Their number can be very large. But don't immediately panic. First you need to figure out what kind of insects. It could be fungus gnats. How to get rid of them, and why they appear at all, let's try to figure it out in this article.
Mushroom gnats, or sciarids, appear in warm, humid places. It can be ventilation and sewer paths, basements, bathrooms, closets. Their favorite place is in pots with houseplants. This is where mosquitoes make their nests. Within a few days, eggs will appear in them, and a little later - larvae. You have to deal with them very quickly. Moreover, it is necessary to get rid of pests at different stages of development at the same time.
What is an insect
The mushroom mosquito, the photo of which is shown in the figure below, is called the sciara fly in a different way. Belongs to the Diptera order, the Sciarid family. The mosquito is a small insect with a narrow oblong body 1.5-4 mm in size. Coloring is black-gray. Moreover, the color of the body is darker as"maturing" of the individual. The head is rounded with long antennae. The mouthparts are sucking. Wings are only front, they are transparent. But they fly well. The hind pair of wings are modified into club-shaped h alteres. Due to this, during the flight, you can hear a characteristic sound.
Adults do not harm plants. They don't bite or suck blood. Do not climb into the eyes. But they can be carriers of various fungal diseases that are harmful to both plants and people.
Life expectancy is about a week. But during this time, the insect manages to lay up to 300 eggs. The female lays her eggs on the surface of moist soil or in the soil between the roots. A few days later, larvae emerge from the eggs. They have no legs and resemble worms.
Mushroom mosquito larvae are transparent, with a clearly visible intestine and a black “head”. It is the “head” that is the distinguishing feature by which sciarids are distinguished from other types of larvae. The length of the larva reaches 8-10 mm. Their mouth apparatus is gnawing. They feed on plant remains that decompose in the soil. In flower pots, in conditions of food shortage, they eat the roots of the plant and young shoots that are in the soil. By doing this, they bring irreparable harm to plants. A few days later, pupation occurs and the appearance of a young midge. The remaining shells decompose in the ground. The larvae do not like dry land. If they are taken out of moist soil into the air, they quickly die.
Sciarids are often confused with Drosophila. If the former have a “slim” body, then the latter- thicker. The mosquito has a head and chest larger than the rest of the body, the abdomen is thin. And Drosophila has no differences between the breast and the abdomen.
Causes of insects in the house
Before you get down to the question of how to deal with the mushroom mosquito, you should figure out why he settled in the house.
The most common causes of fly sighting are:
Increased indoor humidity
Wrong flower care
Purchasing an already charged plant
Sciarids (mushroom gnats) love damp and warm places. They can fly through a window into the light, penetrate from basements through ventilation, be in the soil for a flowerpot, garbage or vegetables left for storage (potatoes, carrots for the winter, and so on). Having entered the house, the mosquito can take root if it likes the conditions.
Favorite habitats
When at least one midge appears, you need to check all available flower pots. They are the most favorite habitats of insects. First of all, it is worth checking plants with moist and well-fertilized soil. If there are a lot of mosquitoes, they can also lay eggs in dry ground.
You can check the flower for the presence of sciarids by simply shaking the flowerpot. If there are midges, they will take off in a small flock.
In addition, the mushroom mosquito can be located in a damp room (bathroom, basement, closet, and so on).
Signs of a fly
The mushroom mosquito that appeared in the house will definitely “show” itself. On hispresence will be indicated by several signs.
Firstly, black insects will start flying around the house. And their location will be mostly flower pots.
Secondly, in the soil of the flower pots there will be eggs or larvae of the mushroom mosquito. How to get rid of them is the most important question. And the answer to it depends on the stage of the problem.
A plant that has been attacked by insects will start to get sick. It weakens, withers, sheds leaves. If you do not get rid of pests in time, the flower may simply die. And given the rapid development and reproduction of the mushroom mosquito, it is necessary to start fighting it immediately when a problem appears.
Preparing for insect control
Before starting the fight, it is necessary to determine where and at what stage the mushroom mosquito is located. Control methods for each stage may differ. Therefore, first you need to do some preparatory work that will help achieve the maximum effect in the fight against insects:
First, you need to determine how sciarids enter the house and eliminate them
Cover windows with mosquito nets
Install protective meshes on ventilation ducts
Reduce indoor humidity (additional ventilation can be installed)
Check potting soil and replace if necessary
Check the roots of plants, remove rotten and damaged areas
After completing these activities, you can proceed to directpest control.
General wrestling rules
The fight against the mushroom mosquito will bring maximum effect if it is aimed at the destruction of all forms of insects. These methods include:
Processing the entire room with special aerosols for insect control ("Dichlorvos", "Raptor", "Raid" and others). In this case, it is necessary to remove all food, personal hygiene items and the like. Pets (birds, fish, puppies, etc.) also need to be isolated for a while
Treat window sills, shelves and other places where plants stand. This will help prevent the development of surviving specimens. Treated areas will need to be washed thoroughly with soap and water afterwards
Use insecticides. Among them, the most popular are Aktellik, Aktara, Fitoverm, Karbofos and others. The chemical agent is diluted with water according to the instructions. The resulting solution is shed the soil in pots twice with an interval of a week. So that the effectiveness of the treatment does not decrease, it is recommended not to water the plant for the first days after treatment
Bazudin, Grom and so on will help in the fight against larvae. When using them, it is necessary to replace the top layer of soil with a mixture of a new substrate with preparation granules. When watering the plant, the product will dissolve and destroy pests
Treated plants should be left for several hours (preferably overnight). Later they can be moved to their places. The room must be ventilated and all the dead must be removed.insects.
It is necessary to start pest control when the first individuals appear. If the process is allowed to take its course and the moment is missed, in a few days it will be necessary to fight not only with a flying midge. More eggs and larvae will appear, which will also have to be disposed of.
Chemical agents to combat flying insects
Flying mushroom mosquitoes in flowers can be removed in the following ways:
Chemical aerosols discussed above
Hang sticky tape for flies (it can be replaced with tape)
Use a remedy for cockroaches (like a pencil "Mashenka"). It is applied to the top of the pot. The second option is to crumble the pencil and sprinkle around
How to deal with mushroom mosquitoes folk remedies
Among the folk ways to deal with mosquitoes, they most often use:
Using a vacuum cleaner you can collect flying individuals sitting on flowers
Only insects that have flown into the room will leave if citrus peels, dill, garlic, anise oil are spread around the pot
Buy a plant that eats insects. For example, Nepenthes. The disadvantage of this option is the complexity of caring for such plants
Treat the plant with soapy water (30 g of soap is taken for 1 liter of water). Processing is carried out 5 times with an interval of a week
Tobacco solution can also be used in mosquito control. To do this, 40 g of dry tobacco is infused in 1 liter of water for two days. After the time has elapsed, the solutionstrain and dilute with another 2 liters of water. Use the solution 5 times with an interval of 7 days
The use of ash is based on the appearance of an alkaline environment that mosquitoes cannot tolerate. The ashes are scattered over the surface of the pot. Under the influence of water (during watering the plant), the ash forms an alkaline environment
Fighting fly eggs
To combat the eggs that the mushroom mosquito lays, the soil can be shed several times with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
An effective remedy is the Citropack tablet. Its fourth part is diluted in 5 liters of water. The resulting solution is watered into the soil. Already one treatment will bring tangible results. But the process can be repeated a few more times to consolidate the success.
Drying the soil in a pot can also bring positive results. But in this case, it is very important that the plant itself does not die. His need for water must be taken into account.
Getting rid of larvae
The greatest difficulties can arise during getting rid of the larvae that the fungus mosquito has laid (photo below). This is due to the fact that the larvae are resistant to most pesticides.
To combat the larvae, you can use soil insecticides ("Thunder-2", "Bazudin" and so on). Their granules are placed in the topsoil.
Another sure way is to keep the topsoil in the pot dry. The larvae do not tolerate dry soil.
Prevention measures
Combat the emergingflower pests is much more difficult than to prevent their development. Therefore, it is recommended to pay special attention to preventive measures. They are associated primarily with the elimination of conditions favorable for the habitat of mosquitoes. More precisely, we can distinguish the following measures necessary to prevent the occurrence of pests:
Don't water plants too much to prevent flooding
Water in trays of pots should not stagnate
Use only high quality soil when planting
Do not leave "food" for the fly on plants: dry or damaged leaves, rotten roots, dry inflorescences
Grow onions next to flowers, which repels many pests
Conclusion
Mushroom mosquito is a soil pest of plants. It appears in damp warm places. Adults that are able to fly do not harm either plants or people. But they are able to lay eggs. One nest can contain up to 300 eggs. They hatch into larvae. They are the ones that pose a threat to plants. The larvae damage the root system of plants. Because of this, the flower may die.
Before fighting a mushroom mosquito, it is necessary to determine its number and stage of development. There are universal methods that allow you to immediately get rid of flying insects, their eggs and larvae. Some methods allow you to deal with insects that are in a specific stage of development. For processing to be as efficient as possible, you need to get rid of all forms at once.flower pests.
An important thing in the fight against mosquitoes is the elimination of the causes that led to the appearance of sciarids in the room. These activities can be attributed to preventive measures that will not allow the mushroom mosquito to reappear in the future.
