little flies

[Me]

Hi, been reading posts here the last few days, and have a question which hopefully someone can help answer :) I have these little flies inside - was told by a local greenthumb they were from overwatering my plants - they said to let the dirt dry out completely and when the plants start to wilt to water and always let them dry out completely between waterings. I've been doing that all summer, and still have flies, my poor droopy plants are starting to look very sad....I've always had indoor plants but never had a fly problem like this :) any other ideas on how to get rid of these buggers?

[Shell91]

Are they like gnats? If they are they could be living in any fruit you might have sitting out or even potatoes. You may have to spray your plants with either a god bug spray or insecticideal soap

Shell

[Valkyrie]

They are probably those little fungus gnats that like that wet soil in your plant pots. I was told long ago by an orchid guru to sprinkle cinnamon on the surface of the soil and they disappear. I don't know if it kills them or drives them away but it works for me when I occasionally get an infestation of these critters.

Val

[SAS567]

Thanks for the cinnamon info, Val. Sue in Mi. (Zone 5)

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) was told too that maybe sterilizing the dirt by baking it would kill all the :) flies and eggs if any....anyone hear of doing that? I would think it would :) cook out the nutrients from the dirt. :) :) If you are willing to go to that extent, just buy new, pest free soil to repot the plant in.

[Sue]

Ants huh? We have the large red ants that have made their home in our garden. They don't seem to be hurting the plants, but what worries me is that they may sting someone if they are in the garden weeding or what not. I read your post about the cinnamon, and I am definately going to try this. Hopefully this will work for the ants I have.

Sue..