About 2 months ago I added a new plant to my living room. I love lots of greenery indoors and believe the plants help absorb some of the output from all the electricity we generate. Plus, they make me happy. The last plant (or the soil I used to re-pot it) however, brought more than I bargained for, as it apparently contained a growing gnat infestation, which quickly spread to my other plants and led to lots of frustrating days, sitting at the desk, swatting gnats.
Aside from being very annoying, the gnats live in the plant soil and will eat the roots of houseplants, thereby killing them. So you need to eliminate not just the gnats flying around, but also the larva living in the soil, feasting on the roots of your plants. If you’re like me, you’d like to do so while avoiding the use of harmful chemicals.
So when my friend Jessie, the organic gardener, told me about Beneficial Nematodes I could really not believe this would work. I ordered them immediately, and they arrived within a couple days.
The nematodes are living creatures, and you keep them in the fridge until you are ready to “activate” and use them. Jessie told me it would probably take a week or two to see results, but within 24 hours I saw a radically reduced number of gnats flying around. Within 48 hours there were only a few stray fliers and my infested plant was already starting to perk back up.
It’s now been just over a week since I applied the nematodes (I went ahead and used them on all the indoor plants, since I couldn’t tell how far the gnats might have spread) and I haven’t seen a gnat in days. The great thing is this solution is all natural, completely safe for people and pets, and won’t harm the plants!
Apparently this solution is great for many other pests (I read of one lady who used them to eliminate a flea infestation), but I only used it for gnats. In case it isn’t clear, I highly recommend this as an all-natural solution to a common problem! Keep in mind there are other places in your home for a gnat infestation to hide. Check this article for other common hide-outs to be sure you’ve identified the source before you set about applying a solution.
Good luck!