How to prevent midges proliferation on indoor plants?

Question

I live at about 45° in the North hemisphere, and during winter I use to put my plants indoor. After some time, I start to notice a proliferation of midges, apparently from the soil. Is there a way to prevent this proliferation (possibly without the use of chemicals)?

Thanks!

Answer 1

There are fungus gnats which live on organic matter in soils that are moist for long periods. They do not bite but are an annoyance as they seem to want to fly into your face.

These controls should all be tried at once:

• yellow sticky traps attract the adults and are disposed of when full
• keep the soil dry by watering so that the the top of the soil dries out thoroughly between watering makes conditions less attractive
• a mixture of 5 ml dish soap to one liter water. Pour into the plant and let it drain. Wait a minute for the solution to coat the insect larvae in the soil and then rinse with water to wash the soap out. Weak plants will not like this.

There are other more exotic and expensive solutions such as nematodes, Bacillus thuringiensis and exotic oils but I recommend starting with simple things like sticky traps.