So what do you do? Try this recipe:
- Baking Soda: 1 Tablespoon
- Water: 1 Quart
Mix well, allowing the baking soda to fully dissolve in the water. Pour the mixture over the top of the soil, making sure to get good, even coverage. Remember!! This is a mixture ratio. Not all plants will need an entire quart of water and some may actually need more. The goal is to simply get just enough of the solution into the soil so that the baking soda can react with the mold, mildew and fungus. The baking soda will eliminate the food source, which will then eliminate the larva. Does this mixture kill the gnats? Not directly. Again, you are eliminating their food source, which will starve them out and stop them from becoming adults. Does this mixture have any impact on the adult gnats? No. But the life span of an adult gnat is only a few days, so within a relatively short period of time, you will not see any more gnats in the environment.
It is important to note that if you do use this method, you will need to treat ALL of the plants in the environ with this solution. Gnats fly, so if you do not treat all of the plants, the odds of a re-infestation or a continuance of the same issue will likely take place. Also, this is a REACTIVE protocol. Do not start watering your plants with this mixture every time you water your plants. You may eventually kill the plant. After you get rid of the issue, try to pull back on watering your plant(s) with as much water as you had been. Most plants are resilient, so if you were watering once a day, switch to once every few days or twice a week. If you were watering twice per week, switch to once per week or maybe even once every two weeks.
Of course, the other option is to simply get rid of the live plant(s) and start using fake ones!
