116-12 Quick Kill Mosquito Bits, 8-Ounce

I've learned much more about fungus gnats (sciarid flies) than I ever wanted to. Where do they come from? In my case, they were flitting in through an open window. But they can hitch a ride on anything that has soil. I've even spotted them around potted live herbs sold at my supermarket.The adults are teeny little suckers, but they can swoop in and drop a load of gnat eggs in a second--producing over 200 eggs in their short 2-week adult lifespan. If any of those eggs end up in your houseplant soil, you have a houseplant infested with gnat larvae (like minuscule maggots). They wriggle around in the soil, ravenously eating anything they can: fungus obviously--as their name implies--but also the delicate root tips of your poor plant! When the larvae are well-fed and ready, they pupate into adults, and the Circle of Life starts all over again, much to your horror.I wasted time trying a long series of mild and ineffective home remedies. Cinnamon? These bugs just yawned at the stuff. Neem oil? It made my sitting room smell like burnt tires, but the gnats weren't bothered a bit. Drying out the soil? This may be the worst thing you can do; as soon as the fungus dries up, those hungry larvae move on to the next available food source: the juicy, tender plant roots.Don't waste time on any of that. Sticky tape and cinnamon are not going to help you in a war situation. This product is more like a biological warfare agent on the gnat battlefield. No, literally, it is a bag of dried plant bits soaked in bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies), which is lethal to the gnat larvae. Read the directions on the bag; they are very clear and easy to follow. You soak the dried plant bits in warm water to release and revive the bacteria; then, pour the resulting bacteria broth into the soil. The bacteria infects the larvae, and they die. This breaks the life cycle, so fewer adults will emerge from the soil after about a week. Don't let up, though; the adults still flying around are not affected by the bacteria, so they will still be busy dropping fresh batches of eggs. Hold your nerve and treat the soil again every week for about three or four weeks. By then, all the adults will have all died off (from old age), and any eggs left will have hatched, and any larvae will have become infected. It's not an instant solution by any means, but it is the only thing that actually works. I plan to keep treating my plants once a month or so from now on--the bacteria is harmless to the plants (and anything else that is not a gnat larvae), and you never know when one of those gnats might sneak in from outside or on a newly-bought plant friend.

I was plagued with fungus gnats for the great war of 2019/21. They were everywhere in the house, buzzing around my head at night and in the day. At a glance, it didn't seem a big issue, but clearly, I underestimated the problem. I have a lot of house plants and thought I isolated the problem to a peace lily and aloe vera plant. In my naivety, I thought I could eradicate the problem by putting the plant in the cold, so out went the peace lily in the frost. The peace lily did not survive, but fungus gnats have natural antifreeze, so they carried on regardless.I read that Diatomaceous Earth would solve the issue, as the larvae like moist soil. I convinced myself this worked, but the odd gnat would still do a flyby. I then moved onto sticky yellow fly paper on all the plants, and it was then I became aware of the extent of the problem. The papers became covered in hundreds of gnats. Far more than I ever could have imagined. This reduced the issue, but the papers were still accruing more bodies daily.It was then I came across mosquito bites. It had been a long 18 months and I wasn't hopeful. I filled a watering can at the base with the pellets, and added water as directed. It gives off a foul sewer smell, but this smell doesn't travel, but is evident when you pour. After a couple of months of weekly watering, I noticed the reduction in gnats on the yellow paper, and this year I have yet to see a gnat. I declared the war over this summer. I have removed all the sticky yellow paper from the plant pots and have lived a gnat free existence since. The plants have thrived, I assume because the larvae are no longer eating the roots.I can heartily recommend this. I just wish someone had told me sooner, as I lost some good plants along the way.

I have a serious fungus gnat problem (we live near quite a damp park and I have 50 tropical plants). I’ve been using these mosquito bits consistently for a few weeks now and they do help to reduce fungus gnats. However, they don’t do it 100% - they’re best used as part of a hybrid method approach - with yellow sticky traps and a spray. The size of the pack is ok, maybe slightly small for the price, but not daylight robbery by any means.That said, I have repurchased these a few times as I find them better than other solutions. They are easy to use (soak in water for 30 minutes to an hour and then drain them out - do NOT leave them sitting in water for ages as they will start to smell pretty bad).

I bought this because i heard it was great for fungus gnats and I previously tried everything with no luck. I have 8 plants and 7 had a gnat problemThere are a two methods to use:1- place a layer on top of the soil and water so it can penetrate the soil2- soak in water and use that water to water the soil.I used option 1 and noticed it slowly started to create mould, looking this up showed me it was normal. I left it for just under 2 weeks. There were still a few gnats though.After it was fully mouldy seen in the first pic, I used gloves to remove all the mould and a bit of top layer soil. Then I covered it with some stones that I purchased from the range. Since then i haven’t seen a single gnat around any of my plants

First point: instructions are not the best. Measurements are US. As far as i figure for UK, 4 US tablespoons equals 60ml… and one US gallon is 3.8LThere is no guidance on how much mixed solution to apply. I soaked my pots, which is ironic as this is the last thing you need for FN!!Soooo… second packet later, many repottings,(PS- sterilise your compost first - i microwave mine on high !! And wash old compost off roots then soak bare roots in super strong mosquito bits solution before repotting) about the eighth week of ‘soaking’ the pots with solution and loads of sticky traps i might be winning. Either way i’m not applying any more or the plants will die if root rot. I think it helps, but i needed to use other measures too and keep reapplying!!!Will try nematodes next if the problem resurges