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Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:16 am
by Nick
It appears that I have some type of larvae growing in one of my pots. They are very small (about 4mm or so) and white/clear. Is this something I should be worried about? I would post pictures, but I don't have my camera cord at the moment.

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:19 am
by Adam
It should be fine. Most likely it's something that eats dead matter in the ground. If you start to see deformed traps or other problems in a couple of weeks, then you may want to spray with orthonex to kill the bugs.

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:24 am
by Nick
Thanks for the quick reply! I was hoping that I wouldn't have to repot since my potting materials are about 20 feet away from my camera cord... roughly 450 miles from where I am sitting.

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 4:52 am
by Matt
Do they look like this?:
Image
If so, those are fungus gnats. They aren't a problem at all for full grown plants. I've read that they can eat the roots off of seedlings, but I've not witnessed this.

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 6:12 am
by Steve_D
Yeah, as Matt said, that sounds like fungus gnats. They don't seem to do much or any damage to plants, and if you have a drosera (sundew) you can place its growing container near where the fungus gnat larvae are. Drosera really feast on adult fungus gnats. :-) Baby Venus Flytraps like them too. :D

But don't worry too much about them. Although I have them in the greenhouse occasionally, I have never noticed any adverse affect from them. Whatever damage they might do is not even observable (at least not to me).

Steve

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:32 pm
by Nick
Matt, those look exactly like what I have in my pot.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 1:24 am
by kevinqwe
have you ever stepped on one bare footed? feels really good.

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:15 am
by Adam
Wow.. you have VERY sensitive feet...

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:21 am
by lemonlily
Matt wrote:Do they look like this?:
Image
If so, those are fungus gnats. They aren't a problem at all for full grown plants. I've read that they can eat the roots off of seedlings, but I've not witnessed this.

Eww eww eww eww! :shock:

Re: Larvae growth in one pot

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:22 am
by lemonlily
kevinqwe wrote:have you ever stepped on one bare footed? feels really good.
What does it actually feel like? Hah... Step on it and feed a plant... :lol: