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fungus gnats in Orchids

fungus gnats in Orchids
Posted by Georgia N. from MD on 2007-03-30 01:20:00

I received a gift of orchids recently and within a couple of weeks I noticed that there were small flying insects in and out of the sphagnum moss they live it. Is there any way to get rid of these awful gnats? I believe the type of orchid I have is a yellow starburst butterfly orchid. Beautiful plant and am desperate to save it!!
Any help is more than welcome!
Thank you,
Georgia
  • Reply to this message >>

    fungus gnats
    Posted by hugh boyd (hugh.boyd1@ntlworld.com) from scotland on 2007-04-01 06:27:00

    All good news! Fungus gnats are unlikely to damage your orchid.
    That said nobody wants them in the house, so simply fill up a bucket with a solution of washing up liquid (just a squirt, the same as you would use on your dishes).
    Plunge the pot into the bucket for a few seconds and leave to drain.
    Repeat when you see the next generation of adult flies.
    Hugh
    • Reply to this message >>

      fungus gnats in Orchids
      Posted by Georgia from Md/7 on 2007-04-01 09:15:00

      Hugh,
      Thank you so much for the advice. I will do this process tomorrow. My only concern is that the flowers of my orchid are falling off and I'm wondering if it has to do with the gnats? I'm a new orchid owner so what else could I be doing wrong? I'll let you know how the 'plunging' goes!
      Thanks again,
      Georgia
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