by Susan Klatz Beal

Created on: December 06, 2008

Some houseplants are notorious for attracting tiny gnats. These annoying flying insects are really nothing more than the common fruit fly or fungus gnat. When a houseplant has very moist soil, these insects are drawn to the moisture. They will often lay eggs on the plant leaves or on the soil, giving the soil the appearance of having a layer of fungus or mold growing on it.

Getting rid of these annoying creatures isn't a difficult process, but it does require persistence on the part of the plant grower. First of all, most houseplants will do better if the soil is allowed to dry out before you water them again. Sometimes the very top part of the soil will look dry, but if you stick your finger down into the soil, you will be able to determine whether or not the soil is completely dry throughout, or if it is merely dry at the top, but moist below the top layer of soil.

I discovered a unique way to get rid of this nuisance of a plant problem by accident. I was reading somewhere that the only full proof way to get rid of fungus gnats or fruit flies, was to prevent them from laying eggs on the top surface of your soil. The method I read about sounded really far fetched, but I was so desperate that I was willing to try anything.

I took a few common white potatoes that I had on hand and cut them into large hunks that were roughly an inch or inch and a half in thickness and in height. I placed the potato pieces on the surface of the soil with the skin side down towards the soil. I covered the top surface of the soil as completely as I could, only leaving the stem or trunk of the plant exposed. I left the potatoes there and watched them as day after day, I'd see a white substance developing on the exposed part of the potatoes. Every day, that substance would increase. I had to wonder whether or not the potatoes were getting moldy, but I continued to leave them there. I also saw a bit of this substance on the leaves. The more this white stuff accumulated on the potatoes, the more I began to see and understand what was happening.

The fungus gnats were laying their eggs on the potatoes rather than on the soil. That white stuff I was seeing on the potatoes was their eggs, and there were literally millions of them all over the surface of each potato chunk that I placed there. I left the potato chunks on the surface of the soil until they were completely covered with white stuff. Then I removed them and threw them away. I repeated this process again, and continued to do it for

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