bugs in housplant soil

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SW_gardener (Zone 6a) Aug 19, 2008

What can I use on the soil of my houseplants when I bring them in from outside to get rid of pests?? Also a few of the plants that stayed in for the summer have some bugs as well, fungus knats and some sort of tan coloured mite(?) that lives in the soil. What can I do to get rid of these? Is there any sort of household remedy I can use? Please help, I love my houseplants but not the bugs! :)

Thanks,
Steven

This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 9:58 PM

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Aug 19, 2008

I never have trouble with fungus gnats unless I've been watering a bit too much, so I'd probably check your watering and if you back off you'll probably find they'll go away. You can also use yellow sticky traps to catch the adults and water with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis, same stuff that's in mosquito dunks) to get the larvae in the soil. But to prevent them from coming back I'd watch the watering. For the tan colored thing do you have a picture? Mites are generally very tiny and hard to see and would be on the leaves not in the soil so I don't think that's what you have, but I am having trouble thinking of anything that fits that description.

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SW_gardener (Zone 6a) Aug 19, 2008

Thanks Ecrane, I'll cut back on the watering and hopefully that'll help.
As for the tan coloured things, they're very small, but I did some googling and I think they might be springtails....not sure though. Do you think some insecticidal soap would work to get rid of whatever they are?

Thanks again,
Steven :)

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Aug 19, 2008

Insecticidal soap generally only works on soft-bodied insects, so if they're soft bodied it should work but if they've got a harder shell or coating then it won't have as much effect.

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SW_gardener (Zone 6a) Aug 20, 2008

They're pretty tiny and don't look like they have a shell so I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot and see what happens.

Thanks,
Steven

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