You’re walking on a beach. Maybe a lightly wooded trail. Perhaps even down your sidewalk to visit a friend. Not paying a heck of a lot of attention, suddenly you run into a cloud of bugs. Little insects. Gnats.

Having an infestation? The longer you wait to deal with the problem the worse things will become. Fact: A female gnat lays around 300 eggs at a time and can hang around about 4-months.

Living High in Humidity? Welcome to The Fungus Gnat

These guys will not hit you in the face on your daily jog through life. Unlike your basic gnat, the fungus ones snuggle close to the ground. Since Alabama has some pretty high humidity counts, it’s a perfect breeding ground for these tiny pests.

Fungus gnats give you a tip of the hat by breeding in overwatered lawns and organic plant leftovers. The eggs hatch into larvae. And the babies snack on plant roots to keep them growing. One day you notice that the old pansies just ain’t what they used to be. Blame the fungus gnats. As the greenery becomes infested with fungus gnat larvae they becoming stunted. Not only that, the gnat larvae carry plant pathogens which leads those fine specimens of yard beauty (or, if they’ve invaded your house, the flowers on the sill) extremely vulnerable to a bunch of different plant diseases.

If you can see the larvae of a fungus gnat, you need to get an award for having X-ray vision. They are primarily transparent and wear black, micro-miniature construction hats. No legs. Grab your magnifying glass. Regular 20/20 vision is no match for the size of the plant killer.

What’s on the Menu?

The legless babies start by munching-down on the root hairs. Soon their appetite evolves to the root itself. The dark-winged fungus gnat make meals from the underbellies of carnations, alfalfa, corn, cukes, clover, nasturtiums, Easter lilies, lettuce, geraniums, peppers, poinsettias, wheat, potatoes and soybeans. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of the list (and they’d eat that too). Fungus gnats, when famished, will devour virtually any organic matter.

Off the Bugs!

You probably would go well by contacting us at Vulcan Termite and Pest Control. They will infect your office, home, commercial and apartment plants. Think you can simply spritz some insecticide on a nest and they’ll immediately roll-over and play dead. Nice try. Generally won’t do squat.

The best stuff is to fight fire with natural fire. That doesn’t mean burn down your property. What we’re getting at are using certain parasites to control and kill the diminutive buggers. Another tip is to take a close look at your houseplants for winged adults.

Our final tip we mentioned above: Don’t drown your plants with water. That’s their favorite place to hatch. Depending on the amount of sunlight, gauge how much H2O you’re spilling on the dirt.

Ring us up at Vulcan Termite and Pest Control to schedule a pest control inspection. You’d be shocked to discover just how much we know about pests that bug you, your plants or your mouth when you stumble across a colony of gnats.

Actually, probably the best way from getting gnats in your mouth is quite simple. It’s a biker’s trick. Shut your yap.

Original Source: https://www.vulcantermite.com/garden-pest-control/gnats-in-my-mouth-extermination-a-primer-on-the-fungus-gnat

Image Source: examiner.com