Fighting scary mosquitoes in potting soil - 10 home remedies

• matches
• quartz sand
• nylon stocking
• From the kitchen shelf
• oven
• water
• nematodes
• predatory mites

Swarm countless black insects over the potting soil, there is an urgent need for action. This appearance indicates that there are black-eared mosquitoes that have settled down in the substrate to raise their brood. The tiny larvae make their way over the delicate plant roots and cause considerable damage. Read here how to fight sciarid mosquitoes in potting soil. These 10 home remedies prepare the pests.

If black clouds of tiny insects rise above the flowerpot, the potting soil is populated by countless sciarid mosquitoes. The 2-4 mm small two-winged wings themselves are not a threat to your plants. The real danger comes from the larvae, which nibble at the roots and extract valuable nutrients from the substrate. Now your immediate intervention is required, so that your lovingly cultivated potted plant does not perish on the shameful bustle of the brood. The following selection of 10 proven home remedies explains how you can effectively combat blackthorn mosquitoes in potting soil. This is how you effectively combat the pests without chemicals.

matches

No sooner have you spotted the first mourning mosquitoes than an explosive propagation already takes place in the substrate. In order to immediately impose unity on this process, an immediately effective home remedy has proven itself. Thats how it works:

• Put matches in the potting soil upside down
• The sulfur emitted by the detonators kills the larvae
• replace the matches every 2 days

This home remedy not only destroys the voracious larvae. In the same turn, the females are stopped by another oviposition.

Tip: Place yellow stickers in the immediate vicinity of the plant as a check. If these are still littered with black-headed mosquitoes, matches alone are not enough to solve the problem.

quartz sand

In the damp, musty environment of potting soil, the tiny twiflowers feel so good that they set up their kindergarten here. In order to drive away the pests, they should be uncomfortable in this place. Since the potting soil must not dry out, use the following strategy:

• pot the infected plant
• shake off the potting soil and briefly sprinkle the root ball with water
• Wash out the container thoroughly with alcohol or high-percentage alcohol
• Plant the plant in fresh, disinfected substrate so that one third of the pot height remains free
• Spread a 1 cm layer of quartz sand on the potting soil
• give the remaining substrate over it

With the quartz sand, the larvae now hit an impenetrable barrier so that the beasts can no longer reach the roots. To keep this layer dry, pour the plant from below. Thanks to this measure, the flower pot for the sciarid mosquitoes as a breeding place is completely uninteresting.

nylon stocking

Resourceful hobby gardeners have devised the following tricky method to keep the stubborn mosquitoes of your plants at a distance. Nylon stockings play the main role. This is how it works:

• Wrap a nylon stocking around the contaminated pot from below
• Close the silky fabric around the root of the plant as tightly as possible
• Use a soft binding material so that the plant tissue is not damaged

The continuing cycle of proliferation is effectively interrupted in this way. The adult insects no longer reach the potting soil, the hatched maggots no longer come out and die. Of course, the disadvantage of this method should not go unmentioned: For the clever move to work, the silk stocking must not be removed over a period of 5-6 weeks. During this phase, the ornamental plant presents itself in a little decorative appearance.

From the kitchen shelf

In the early stages of infestation, hobby gardeners prefer to resort to traditional home remedies in order to get rid of the grubs without using their chemical club.

• Add 20 drops of tea tree oil to every liter of water
• Alternatively, add 20 drops of lavender oil to the water
• sprinkle the potting soil with a thin layer of cinnamon
• Alternatively, sift the substrate with baking soda or soda

In addition, put some cloves of garlic in the potting soil. This method works more effectively - you crush garlic and distribute it on the potting soil.

Tip: Integrate carnivores in the design of your windowsill. The sticky leaves of large-flowered butterwort (Pinguicula grandiflora) or common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) make a valuable contribution to at least reduce the infestation pressure.

oven

It is not uncommon for you to get the sciarid plague into your home by purchasing new potting soil. Although the label on the packaging promises otherwise, substrates are often already contaminated with the eggs and larvae of the pests. As an effective control method of the first hour, you work the oven in a sterilizer. Here's how to do it:

• Pour the potting soil into a fireproof tray
• slightly moisten the substrate with the hand sprayer
• put on a lid loosely
• disinfect in the oven at 150-180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes

Faster in the microwave at 700 watts within 5 minutes. After the potting soil has cooled, it can be used immediately. In the same process, Saaterde can be cleaned of cunning pests for the cultivation of new plants before the mischief takes its course.

water

Mourning mosquitoes in potting soil will definitely cause you no headaches when you switch the plant from substrate to hydroponics. As long as it is a young room, balcony or conservatory plant, there are good prospects for a successful course. This quick guide shows how it works:

• pot the infected plant to wash off the substrate completely under running water
• Cut off all loosening root beards with a disinfected pair of scissors, as they are now superfluous
• Cut out horizontal roots as well
• Place the plant in the center of the culture pot and fill with clay mineral

After attaching the water level indicator, place the culture pot in the waterproof planter. In the first few weeks, the plant develops its fleshy water roots. In this phase, the mineral substrate should only be moist, with no apparent water level. Thanks to this measure, sufficient oxygen reaches the roots for vital growth. Only at the end of this development do you fill the water to the normal level for hydroponic plants.

nematodes

If an infestation with black-eared mosquitoes only catches your eye at an advanced stage, conventional home remedies go nowhere. Get now Schützenhilfe from the microcosm of the animal world. There is talk of nematodes, microscopically small roundworms, invisible to the naked eye. The little ones are crazy about the breeding of mosquitoes. Specifically the type of SF nematode Steinernema feltiae has distinguished itself in the natural control of pests. The tiny animals invade the mosquito larvae and kill them by releasing a lethal bacterium. How to apply nematodes:

• Mix the nematode worms delivered in clay mineral with water as instructed
• pour on the infected substrate
• From a temperature of 12 degrees Celsius, the nematodes are active
• Avoid using under direct sunlight

Then you take care of your plant as you are used to. Watering or fertilizing does not affect the nematodes during their activity. Only the administration of lime should be avoided during this phase.

The SF nematodes Steinernema feltiae are available in specialist shops and online shops. For application on potting soil, you can get along with the smallest package size comfortably. This contains 6 million nematodes in clay mineral powder and costs from 9.95 euros plus shipping.

predatory mites

If you are faced with a hard-bitten mosquito mob, put the nematode reinforcement aside in the form of predatory mites. For the species Hypoaspis miles, the pests rank at the top of the prey scheme. Although the little robbers must first go through some stages of development, they go then all the more eager to hunt. For the application in closed rooms, like the living room, the greenhouse or the conservatory, the predatory mites are best suited.

• Do not store predatory mites in peat-vermiculite mixture for more than 1 to 3 days
• Ideally deploy on the evening of delivery
• moisten a paper towel to spread the animals on it
• from this base spread the mites with the granules on the substrate
• In no case incorporate the beneficial insects into the potting soil
• Check the control result with yellow boards

Leave the kitchen paper in the flower pot until the next day. So the remaining mites have the opportunity to migrate to the plant. Please note that an optimal temperature of 18 -25 degrees Celsius is ensured. As with nematodes, it is also true that a normal care protocol has no negative impact on predatory mites. Rather, a slightly moist potting soil is even desirable.

A pack of predatory mites beats at 14.50 euros, plus shipping costs.

Tip: The retailer holds a low-priced power package against blackthorn mosquitoes, consisting of nematodes, predatory mites and yellow sheets. One packaging unit is available for 26.75 euros, plus shipping costs.

Tips for quick readers:

• Put matches in the substrate upside down
• Insert a layer of quartz sand in the substrate
• Wrap the nylon stocking around the pot to the root neck
• Add tea tree oil or lavender oil to the irrigation water (20 drops / l)
• Sprinkle cinnamon on the potting soil
• Sift substrate with baking powder
• Sterilize planting and sowing soil in the oven
• Plant change to hydro-culture
• Dissolve nematodes Steinernema feltiae in water and apply
• Predatory mites Hypoaspis miles for the strengthening of nematodes