Ah! Gnats in my strawberry soil!

[rodriguezpoultry]

OK. I've had some success with my strawberry plant. I've got two questions.

1. This plant is an indoor/outdoor plant. It goes outside when it's warm but comes in at night. On one of these ventures, gnats have decided to take up residence in the soil.

Why are they in the soil? How do I get rid of them? I'm not against using pesticides...

2. When do I know the red strawberry is ready to pull off of the plant?

 

[dickiebird]

Some people have solutions the use to get rid of the gnats, I don't think they are a real bad thing. I've read somewhere that they polinate plants that are raised inside. I can't verify this but I don't see them as a problem.
Can't answer your question about picking strawberries but I will stay tuned as I'm interested in the answer. My greenhouse strawberries are just turning red so hopefully I will be picking soon also.

THANX RICH

 

[vfem]

I get those little gnat things on some house plants sometimes too. Once I leave the plants outside for a couple of days (and I would think a strawberry plant would survive that just fine) the gnats are gone, all hatch that need hatching and they move on somewhere else!

 

[wifezilla]

Sounds like Fungus Gnats. Sometimes cinnamon sprinkled on the soil kills the fungus which gets rid of the gnats. Also clove tea is supposed to help. That fungus can also cause dampening off, so I tend to try and get rid of it.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I changed out the soil to try and get rid of whatever else was in there. Found out that there's a worm in the soil! (how's that happen???)

Anyway, will the cinnamon hurt the worm?

 

[wifezilla]

I doubt it, but I never sprinkled cinnamon on a worm before

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

There was quite a bit of "mold" and even a mushroom growing down below the strawberry plant, so I'm glad I went through and completely cleaned out the pot. Still confused as to how the worm lived through the packaging procedure of the compost...but works for me!

Some of my tomato plants have the mold/fungus on top of the soil. Should I just let them dry out or should I completely change them out?

 

[Greenthumb18]

There was quite a bit of "mold" and even a mushroom growing down below the strawberry plant, so I'm glad I went through and completely cleaned out the pot. Still confused as to how the worm lived through the packaging procedure of the compost...but works for me!

Some of my tomato plants have the mold/fungus on top of the soil. Should I just let them dry out or should I completely change them out?

Yes, i would let it dry out a little before watering again, too much watering usually causes the mold or fungus.

 

[patandchickens]

If you have fungus gnats in a container plant, it is too wet. Either from overwatering, or from under-drainage (or being allowed to sit in a dish of water too long), or from overly water-retentive soil.

It would be good to try to fix that before it starts to actually harm the plant. (The fungus gnats *themselves* are not generally a meaningful problem, aside from their nuisance value, but they are a Warning )

Good luck, have fun,

Pat