Tips for gardeners: how to get rid of midges in flower pots

Plants, just like people, can suffer and get sick, they are harassed by all kinds of diseases and pests. If you are tired of eternal problems with flowers - rot, small insects, unpleasant odor and their unhealthy appearance, then it's time to think about how to get rid of midges in flower pots.

Causes of the appearance of insects

Usually, having noticed that our “green friends” were hit by midges, we begin to think about fighting the parasite. But it is equally important to find out the causes of this phenomenon. Sciarides most often settle on flowers. These are small insects of a whitish hue, their life cycle is associated with the laying of larvae in the ground (in winter). Those, in turn, negatively affect the roots of plants. And improper watering, when the soil is excessively moist, and the heat of the apartment are ideal components for the rapid growth and development of larvae. It turns out that we need to think not about how to get rid of midges in flower pots, but how to destroy their harmful larvae. By the way, they can get to you with soil from the store, from the street (if the plant was exposed to open air) or through the ventilation system.

Puppies in violets. How to get rid?

Scyaride can be seen most often in pots with senpolia. But this does not mean that they selectively affect a plant of only one species. Unfortunately, practice shows that the problem of how to get rid of midges in flower pots has to be thought out by breeders of fuchsias, begonias, and balsamines. Most often, their "victims" are plants with soft leaves and young shoots.

There is a whole range of activities on how to get rid of flower midges. As already mentioned, moisture and a high air temperature are necessary for the removal of larvae, which means that the regime of watering the plant should be changed, and excessive soil moisture should be avoided. On warm, sunny days, place flowers in a cool, darkened place. If you have already noticed midges at home, make a weak solution of potassium permanganate and treat them with the upper layers of the earth in pots. Also, regular spraying of plants with an alkaline solution is considered an effective tool, for this a simple laundry soap is best suited. Separate 20 grams from a piece, grind it on a grater and dilute in 1 liter of warm water. If these funds turned out to be ineffective, and again you are faced with the problem of how to get rid of midges in flower pots, you will have to resort to chemicals.

Infection prevention measures

1. Avoid overflow of water into the soil, and drain excess water from pallets.
2. Do not be too lazy to process the purchased soil. Larvae die if the earth is properly warmed up (for example, boiling water) or frozen.
3. Monitor the condition of the flower, remove wilted buds or leaves in time.
4. Use drainage to keep the topsoil dry in pots.
5. From time to time, spray the flowers with a soap solution or a special anti-siarid drug.
6. Separate infected plants from healthy ones so that the midge does not spread to healthy shoots.
7. If you suspect that the larvae are already present, stick a sulfur head into the ground in a match pot. They will not like the smell of garlic, citrus peels.