Pests - soil midges on indoor flowers and seedlings

Soil midges, or they are also called mosquitoes, are pests that love moist soil and lay eggs in it. Therefore, if you have soil mosquitoes, then you are overflowing your plants. The larvae of soil midges are white worms crawling in the upper soil layer. They can be brought in with new soil if it is poorly disinfected. Midges harm your favorite houseplants, but they are especially dangerous for seedlings.

Ways to combat soil midges

Consider ways to combat these pests.

Reducing watering

Insects appear and live only in moist soil. Reduce the amount of water for irrigation if your indoor flower is infested with pests. Water the plant only when the topsoil is dry. The larvae of soil midges cannot survive in dry soil and die within a few hours.

Soil mulching

Pests lay eggs only in the topsoil, so the plant must be mulched. You can use moss, sand, any material that dries quickly as mulch.

If you use river sand, then microwave it to disinfect it.

Mulch you need to cover the entire surface of the soil with a layer of more than 1 cm. In dry mulch, the larvae will not survive, and soil mosquitoes will not lay new eggs in the soil.

The use of chemicals

If midges appear in cassettes with seedlings, then you should not overdry the soil so as not to harm the plants. Therefore, you need to use duct tape to catch soil mosquitoes by hanging it next to seedlings or indoor flowers. For indoor plants you can also use Mukhoyar spray. It is necessary to spray it over the surface of the soil and immediately cover the pot with cellophane. The spray will kill the soil mosquitoes.

Tobacco infusion

You can fight mosquitoes with tobacco infusion. We prepare it at the rate of two tablespoons of tobacco per liter of water. The tobacco must be poured over with hot water and left overnight. After the infusion has cooled down, you need to put the pot with the infected plant in a large container and pour the tobacco solution so that the liquid completely covers the soil. The plant should stand in a tobacco infusion for several hours until all pests and their larvae die.

Sulfur and sulfur-containing preparations

A good way to kill soil mosquitoes is to add sulfur to the soil. Insect larvae quickly die from it. You can use ordinary matches, sticking them with sulfur heads into the ground. You can also use sulfur-containing preparations. Such means include "Tiovit Jet". It is a sulfur-based fungicide and insecticide. After applying the agent to the soil, it will need to be slightly loosened.

Fumigator

If there are many infected plants, it is better to use a fumigator and mosquito plates. The pests will die in a few hours, and your indoor flowers will be safe.