THEY’RE probably driving you mad, now that the weather has warmed up.
And while house flies are the bane of many lives in the summer, there’s another insect that’s also causing problems.
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Namely the tiny black flies that you find buzzing around or on your house plants – the amount of which increases dramatically when the sun’s out.
Entomologist Darragh Ennis took to TikTok to share his advice for getting rid of the pesky bugs – called fungus gnats – as he admitted they even annoy him.
They’re also “really hard to get rid of”, even with chemicals, particularly when they take hold of your house plants.
But an invisible method of keeping them at bay works a treat, Darragh explained, and they’re called nematodes.
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While you’ve “probably never heard of them”, they’re “little microscopic worms that live in the soil” and are “probably the most common animal on the planet”, but are invisible to the naked eye.
They get rid of the flies by crawling inside of them and killing them from the inside out.
It might be “gruesome” but it’s an entirely natural way of killing the bugs.
You can even order the nematodes on the Internet, and they come in a small packet.
Once they’re arrived, put them in a watering can, add water and pour onto your house plants.
“The best bit about this is that it crawls through the soil and hunts through the larvae and everything so they’re gone,” Darragh concluded.
And people were quick to praise Darragh for sharing the top tip, with one writing: “HERO!”
“They’re driving me crazy. Thanks Darragh!” another added.
“Agree. Me and my son in law are nematode fans for the sake of our houseplants,” a third commented.
“Fun fact: nematodes are so incredibly common that it is believed that they account for about 80% of all the individual animals on planet earth,” someone else said.
“As a pest controller they are a nightmare to deal with,” another wrote.
“Modern offices have so many planters and the gnats turn up in the soil.
Common garden pests
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
Aphids are extremely common and can impact plant growth. They have tiny soft pear-shaped bodies, and are usually green or black. You may spot them clustered on the stem of soft shoots – look under leaves in particular – or may find a sticky substance on your plants that gives away aphids have been there sucking at the sap.
Whitefly
These small white-winged insects are related to aphids, at just 1 or 2 mm in length, and look very much like white moths as adults. They can be found on the underside of leaves, preferring younger, fresher leaves. They fly in clusters when you disturb them. Their lifecycle is only three weeks long, which means an infestation can occur very rapidly.
Slugs
An unmissable, squashy-looking body plus small sensory tentacles on its head. Slugs move along on one muscular foot. They range in scale from surprisingly small to terrifyingly large; limax cinereoniger species can grow comfortably beyond 20 cm in length.
Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
Cabbage moth caterpillars happily make their way into the heart of the vegetables, The caterpillars are distinguished in shades of yellow or browny green with no hair.
Mealy Bug
Mealybugs are tiny oval-shaped insects that have a white, powdery wax coating. There are several different species, many of which have what looks like legs coming from their sides and back end. In their earliest stage of life, it’s entirely possible to mistake them for fungus and not recognise them as insects at all.
“We always recommend nematodes and a fumigation to knock down the numbers.”
“I got nematodes online for my monstera who has grown to 5ft!” someone else said.
“I was not letting her die! They worked a dream!! I highly recommend them.”
“We have nematodes in our water treatment process,” another commented, calling them “gorgeous wee b**gers”.
And they’re a great option if you’ve got pets too.
“I have cats so won’t use chemicals,” another person commented.
“I’ve been using nematodes for years and they 100% work first time every time for fungus gnats.”
