Me vs. the flies/gnats, who will win this winter?

The influx of plants coming outdoors in has attracted other visitors that dampen the cheeriness of my indoor jungle world:

 fruit flies/fungus gnats!

I'd like to believe that I am Zen enough to handle these annoying little winged ones, but after finding 3 flies in your tea a person is bound to get somewhat annoyed, so it's time to go fly trapping.

Many of these flies I surmise are actually fungus gnats  rather than fruit flies because I always have this problem in the fall/winter when the plants come in and they are harder for me to control compared to the fruit flies that make their home in my compost pail.  As the links show, you can distinguish the two readily by their squished abdomens (unless you have pretty good eyesight when they're buzzing around or can catch them when one's actually settled down).  The gnats have a darker slightly pointed end abdomen and the fruit flies' are lighter and rounded.

The issue with the fungus gnat is that it is somewhat difficult to control because they lay their eggs in the soil that is damp and unless you keep only desert plants they seem to be quite happy in general houseplant conditions.  So I find elimination difficult and for me, the best I can do is simply control them.

Though the flying adult gnats are a pain, it's really the larvae that are the biggest issue as they feed on plant roots and can weaken them though generally won't kill a plant outright, who wants buggy weakened plants?

If you see the gnats hanging around and want to see if any of your plants have larvae, you can water the plant very well until you get a little pooling on top.  If you see tiny swimming whitish-clear things floating about, you've probably got gnat larvae and will need to treat and prevent.

Some general methods to keep the fungus gnats from taking over:


(1)  Allow soil to dry out between watering.  I hate having to water each individual plant at different times, but as they all have different needs in terms of watering and are of different sizes/pot boundedness (terrible I know, saving up for more pots!), it's important to water them only as needed.  This will also keep down the general issue of overwatering/root rot most people have.

(2)  Prevent the adult gnats from laying their eggs in general by covering the soil layer will small pebbles (my method), or sand (someone swears by their plants on this).  Others say that a sprinkling of diatomaceous earth   is a good preventative as the larvae will be injured and die from the sharp material, but as it is expensive and people and pets can potentially be harmed breathing it in I don't use it.  The pebbles and sand will make it very difficult for the adults to find openings to the soil to lay their eggs as well make it difficult for the larvae to eggs easily as adults.  I've heard that the sand can potentially injure and kill soil emerging adults too like diatomaceous earth.

(3)   Neem oil/water drenches seem to make a bit of a difference in killing the larvae/eggs.  The only issue is making sure you can cover the entire area well to get to all the crevices eggs or larvae might be hiding.

(4)  Avoid soil mixes with woody bits or wood mulches in your household plants (hard to do and even I am unable to do this entirely).  These mixes/mulches can harbor the gnat eggs from the start.  As many of my plants were outside much of the year, they probably picked it up there and despite my prior treatments before bringing the plants indoors, you can imagine gnats probably breed faster than bunnies even with only a few around.

(5)   You can trap the larvae like slugs with potato pieces and discard the pieces as they become infested with larvae.  It's not a complete cure but it makes a dent in the adult fly populations.

(6)  As with many bugs, the colors yellow and red are attractive and if you use vaseline/petroleum jelly, smear a good amount of the greasy stuff on something red or yellow you aren't a huge fan and wait for flies to get stuck on it.  Then wipe/rinse and repeat! I don't use vaseline and the like, so maybe honey might do?

(7)  You can also build a trap using a small mouth container (beer bottles or cans usually for me) filled with part way some sort of sweet liquid such as beer or red wine (the red color and sugar is helpful), juice, sugar/yeast or a combination of those and and make a paper funnel on top to attract and capture the flies/gnats.

(Tunnel of Death for the gnats/flies!)

(Kirkland beer, pretty good, gnat/flies approve too)

A shallow dish of the stuff works too but I don't know if these gnats are Houdinis and easily escape from those or fall in and drown easily, though I've been very successful capturing flies/gnats this way too:

Just a note to check up on these containers every so often because they are a great place for mold to grow (very beautiful looking blue-green mold I'd like to add) and to make sure that it's not in a location a pet can get to.  My dog found a can of it one day after it became a home to mold too and she had a puke-fest for a day thereafter.  Joy.


Helpful links:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/House-Plants-721/Fungus-gnats-plant-flies.htm
http://www.scapest.com/flies.html
 http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg1116482032419.html
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03jul21b.cfm
 http://www.umass.edu/umext/floriculture/fact_sheets/pest_management/fungnat.html
 http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/Florida/Pest%20Press/Arizona/March%20April%20Indoor%20Plant%20Pests.pdf

Crafty gardening: Pots

Fall replanting/transplanting reminds me that I am in constant need of pots.

I am a bit of a snob about my pots too, as I hate the readily available plastic type. I hate: its texture, flimsiness, non-breatheability, essentially cheapness in quality.

Granted, they are great in a pinch and I horde the ones that I get from the store/nursery so I can do starts, propagate and etc because I am so cheap (aka poor, ok, not too poor, just cheap).

Give me terracotta, lovely glazed pottery, or metal (yeah, yeah, overheat/gets cold) pots, but plastic makes me cringe.

In my search for proper plant-ware, I hound stores like TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, thrift and antique stores for interesting pieces and find some awesome deals, like this plain white pot for a buck:


Which brings me to my obsession for color (I do like the minimalism of the white pot, but I get bored easily). Having just learned of glass paints I wanted to get some garden crafty on.

Also being utterly pretentious I wanted to paint a design on this pot too that I would find humorous, so here's the Space Traveler commonly known as The Little Prince:

(Little Prince on his little planet)

(The Lamplighter and King)

(The Business Man and the sun behind the Lamplighter's planet)

(The most famous Little Prince quote translated: "One cannot see well but with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes")

When I came up with the idea I realized that this would be best for a friend of mine who enjoys The Little Prince as well. When I was done I sort of wanted to keep it, but I knew that she would probably gain more enjoyment from it than me.

I think it's obvious she should plant a miniature rose in it, but it's her pot, her choice.

Luckily I have 3 more pots that I can brainstorm on.

But back to being cheap, in need of pots and glass paint!

My cheapness has gone to the next level and recently, I had a mini-flip out about buying yet another simple ceramic piece I wanted to paint for a buck, and thought to myself, what can I use as a pot, that I can paint cool stuff permanently on, like a glazed item?

The idea of something metal led to the idea of TIN CANS, as I already use large tomato sauce cans as planters already and glass jars and beer bottles.

Though I find the aesthetics of plain tin cans and glass jars/bottles to be fine on their own, it's nice to spice things up a bit!

Here's the result:
A gold colored design glass paint beer bottle might make a nifty vase?

Large baked on glass paint tin can to be a pot. Maybe I'll work with the lines/grooves more another time?

I would like to note, like plastic shrinkies, I think the large tin can has a lining and may off-gas (I could be paranoid about a smell coming from the oven, but I like to always add caution when necessary). So, while it was fun to make, I may just stick with regular tins or paint that doesn't need to be baked on, even though this makes them super-able to weather the outdoors!

Either way, fun experiment and may the garden crafty be with you, especially during the doldrums of winter!

Gentlemen (and women)! Please prepare to activate your compost!

Baby it's starting to get cold outside and you want, nay you NEED to keep the heat on in your compost pile, so why not do it the easy natural way? 

Pee in your compost.

Ok, that was a little blunt, but really, not to get all "Dodgeball" the movie on you (j/k), but human urine is really a great method to get your compost hot and bothered and eventually broken down.  The urea in urine is chock full of nitrogen and trace minerals (little did you know your were a little fertilizing machine!) and heats up compost like nothing else.  In case you were worried about sanitation, do not fret.

OK, there is the issue of cold buns, and while I could talk about men having it easy and methods akin to the doctor's office, I'll get off the topic of bodily fluids/functions and mention the other natural methods because purchasing something labeled: Compost activator? Phhbbbtt.  Don't buy those.

Before I continue on to what a person can use as compost activators, let me explain what it is (other than the obvious in its name).

Compost activators are heavy boosts of nitrogen added to a compost pile to get it to heat up and break down faster and thus giving your your pirates booty of black gold quicker, because hey, am I not American?  I loves me the instant gratification ;)

So yes, cheap easy activators (other than urine):


Alfafa?  I've spoke of it before, and here I'll say it again.  It's awesome! And will heat up your compost too, so chuck some pellets in there.


Dry dog/cat food is also considered a good compost activator.  Just watch fido/fifi in your garden for a while.


Coffee grounds will jolt things right up, especially if you are a daily drinker or are a Starbucks stalker.


Beer, though this seems like a crying shame to waste a brew on, it's less of an issue if you are poor and have some of the more flavorless type.


Ammonia is a killer of slugs too (and our nasal passages), but did you know that it also is a byproduct of urine?  Oh the connections!

Really, there are so many easy, accessible ones there you'd be surprised!  This post may seem like a reiteration of me spouting on and on about amendments and such, but this is a great time to get things in the ground/compost bin/pile so that the freezing/thawing of the upcoming seasons will allow for organic matter to decompose and release nutrients more fully.

For the most part, many of you who compost already most likely are consistently keeping your bins hots without trying by inadvertent addition of these elements above, but for those who are trying to figure out why things aren't heating up or breaking down accordingly try the above materials and always remember that you need a good mix of browns and green and sometimes, you may need to water your pile.  Don't forget, your in luck, you have an easy source right in you! ;)

Thank Google! (and I am sorry Rodale if this is your bane) but here is an excellent link with more amendment info:
The Rodale book of composting - Google Books