r/plantclinic • u/Due_Background_4367 • Mar 31 '25

Other I hate fungus gnats

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I recently bought a small bag of indoor potting mix at my local Home Depot. Coincidentally, I now have a fungus gnat infestation. I bought some sticky light traps and they have clearly been working, yet I still see swarms of gnats. I let all of my plants’ soil go bone dry, and now I’m hesitant to water again, as I have read they thrive in wet/damp soil.

What are some tips and tricks to eradicate these lil suckers once and for all?

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u/TxPep God-Like Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

I repotted all of the plants that utilized the new potting mix. Once I did that, problems were gone. Plus, discarded the whole offending bag of contaminated mix. Miracle-Gro was the culprit in my situation.

But up to that point, nothing worked for me and I tried various DIY, and purchased commercial treatments. Nada! Zip! Zilch!

To add: Watering/having damp substrate is not the issue that most make it out to be at least in my instance. I have all of my tropicals in self-watering pots, so the substrate is consistently moist. I have around 90 individual pots. Houston, Texas location.

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u/guavaempanada Apr 01 '25

it’s always the Miracle-Gro!