How to get rid of midges in indoor flowers

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Simple and proven ways to deal with all types of flower midges.

What midges live in indoor flowers

Different insects can grow in pots with plants. If you understand what kind of pest you are facing, the fight will be more effective.

Black midges

These are sciarids, which are also called mushroom mosquitoes. They are very small in size, literally a few millimeters. The body is elongated, gray-black, the wings are transparent.

Adult insects are not dangerous at all. Plants are threatened by eggs that sciarids lay in moist soil.

The hatched larvae are approximately 3-5 mm long. They have a black head and a white body. They feed on organic matter rotting in the ground, but they can also gnaw thin young plant roots.

White midges

In another way, they are called whiteflies or aleurodes. Adults are approximately 2-3 mm long. Outwardly, they resemble moths. They have two pairs of milky-white wings covered with a flour-like coating.

Insects lay light and well-defined eggs on the underside of the leaves. With special pleasure - for juicy. These are, for example, in fuchsia, primroses, pelargonium, poinsettia, hibiscus, abutilones.

The hatched larvae, like the adult whiteflies, suck the juices from the stems and leaves. The damaged areas are deformed, twisted, sticky dew appears on them. If you do not take action, the plant will die.

Fruit flies

These are fruit flies 2-3 mm long. Outwardly, they resemble ordinary flies, only very miniature.

Drosophila is not dangerous for a plant. They rather annoy people, as they quickly multiply and fly around the apartment.

How to get rid of black midges with improvised means

Start fighting black midges as soon as possible. Moreover, both with adults and with larvae.

Take a close look at the soil in the pot. If there are many larvae in it, do not risk it and just transplant the plant into new soil.

If there are few larvae, treat the soil in one of the following ways.

Potassium permanganate

Instead of regular water, water the plant 1-2 times with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate.

Matches

Take a few matches and insert them with their heads into the ground near the edge of the pot, away from the flower itself.

After the second watering, the matches can be removed: all the sulfur has been washed off from them. If the larvae survive, repeat the procedure.

Repulsive fragrances

Place a slice of orange peel or a clove of garlic on the ground in a pot. Just remember to replace the fragrance after a couple of days to keep it from rotting.

How to get rid of white midges with improvised means

Inspect the plant before starting treatment. Immediately remove leaves that are heavily infested and almost completely occupied by insects and their larvae.

If there are not very many insects, eggs and larvae, they can be destroyed in the following ways:

Garlic infusion

Chop 2-3 cloves of garlic with a grater or knife. Pour in a liter of room temperature water. Insist for a day in a dark place, and then strain and spray the plant.

It will be enough 3-4 times with an interval of 5-7 days.

Tobacco infusion

Take tobacco from 20 strong cigarettes. Fill it with hot water and leave it in a dark place for 5 days. Strain and spray the plants at least 3 times at intervals of 2-3 days.

Soap solution

Grate tar or laundry soap without additives on a fine grater and fill with water in a ratio of 1: 6.

Every day, gently spray or wipe the leaves and stems of the plants that the whitefly has settled on. Repeat the procedure until the insects disappear.

Cold quarantine

Leave plants that can withstand temperatures down to 10 ° C (for example, fuchsias and geraniums) in the cool season on the balcony for a week. This will help get rid of the adults.

How to get rid of fruit flies with improvised means

Traps

Get a plastic cup, deep bowl, or jar. At the bottom, place slices of any ripe fruit or pour apple cider vinegar, compote, or sweet wine. Add a couple drops of liquid dish soap.

Cover the top with cling film and make holes in it with a large needle or toothpick.

Place the trap next to the pot where the fruit flies have settled.

Pungent odors

Light an aroma lamp with lemon and lime, patchouli and ylang ylang oils next to the plants.

And if you're not afraid of the garlic scent, put one clove in a pot.

How to get rid of midges using special tools

You can buy them at hardware stores or indoor flower shops.

Sticky traps

Take a fly tape or glue insect trap and place it next to the affected plant. She will help get rid of flying individuals. This method is good if there are few insects.

Aerosols

Aerosols from flying insects will help to destroy adults that have just appeared on plants. When spraying them, pay special attention to the shelves, shelves, and window sills on which the potted plants stand.

After processing, carry out a wet cleaning.

Mosquito fumigators

Plug the device into a power outlet every day, which is located next to pest-infested plants. This will scare off flying midges.

Systemic insecticides

Treat the plant with an insecticide with thiamethoxam or imidacloprid. Strictly according to the manufacturer's instructions. This will help in the fight against white and black midges, but will not save you from fruit flies.

Remember: insects can develop immunity to a certain drug. So it is better to alternate insecticides.

Why midges appear in flowers

To avoid the reappearance of insects, try to figure out where they came from.

Improper watering

Constantly waterlogged soil creates ideal conditions for insects. Drosophila can even settle in a swampy base.

Stale air

The pests feel best and reproduce actively in rarely ventilated rooms without ventilation systems.

Uncultivated land

You can bring in midges together with the soil. Moreover, both in store and recruited in the country or in the forest.

External factors

Midges may well fly into an open window or window, get into an apartment with bouquets or potted flowers.

Fungus mosquitoes often enter rooms through hoods and ventilation shafts from warm and damp basements.

Spoiled vegetables and fruits

Wastes of vegetables or fruits that were not thrown out in time also become housing for fruit flies and black midges. And already from them midges move to flowers.

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What to do so that there are no midges in flowers

1. Water the plants moderately. Check each time if the ground is dry enough. Remove excess water from the sump.
2. The soil, especially the natural one, must be calcined in the oven for at least 30-40 minutes or steamed in a water bath.
3. When planting, make a drainage layer so that the water does not stagnate in the pot.
4. Spray and bathe the plants.
5. Remove dried and dead leaves and flowers.
6. Inspect your plants regularly.
7. Keep new flowers separate for two to three weeks.
8. Do not keep cleaning for a long time, do not let vegetables and fruits rot.
9. Ventilate the room with the plants regularly.

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