Are you anxious about the detrimental insects in the indoor garden? You are struggling in finding how to kill Fungus Gnats with Hydrogen Peroxide? Utilizing Hydrogen Peroxide solutions in farming is not as complicated as you thought.
There are several ways to transform that pasteurized ingredient into a strong component to kill Gnat populations. In this article, gardening101.net will give detailed instructions on how to use Hydrogen Peroxide for your farming schedule.
How Fungus Gnat Damage Plants?
Fungus Gnats are small insects that harm the soil and destroy the trees. These insects are very similar to the Flies Fruit; however, there are some differences between them.
Fruit fly usually stays on the fruit surface, but Fungus Gnat Larvae hides inside the plant roots and the potting soil. Fungus Gnat’s body is 1/8 inch in length, and they have six long legs. Their wings are grey and virtually invisible.
Normally, adult Fungus Gnats do not harm trees; it is the larvae that steal the organic materials of plants. Organic matter is their favorite food; they will eat all the mulch and compost in the soil. As a result, the tree has no food to raise itself.
How To Kill Fungus Gnats With Hydrogen Peroxide?
Before exploring how to treat Fungus Gnats with Hydrogen Peroxide, we must know about this compound.
What Is Hydrogen Peroxide?
Hydrogen Peroxide is a chemical substance that consists of two oxygen and two hydrogen elements. This solution is used mainly in pasteurization for injuries like cuts or burns. Besides, it is beneficial in eliminating fungus gnat infestations. Farmers usually employ it to purify the soil before planting new trees. So will peroxide kill Fungus Gnats? It’s a 100% YES.
Nowadays, this chemical is available in every pharmacy at a reasonable price. There is a notion that this liquid should be sealed in an opaque container to prevent the impact of external factors like the sun or moisture.
How To Kill Fungus Gnats On Houseplants With Hydrogen Peroxide?
How to get rid of gnats in houseplants with peroxide? Houseplant Gnats prevention is very simple as the process doesn’t require complicated tools.
Step 1: You circle out the growing medium the houseplant pests have infected. After the place was determined, you leave the soil dry 24h, which means that you could not water or compost the trees.
Step 2: You pour the oxidant mixture with the water in the ratio of 1:4. Remember that you should not add too much-sanitized chemicals to the compound as they can overreact in the soil.
Step 3: You water the infected plants with the mixture as normal. It would help to target the place where the insects are hiding and laying the eggs.
After getting into the dust, the composite will bubble a little bit. Don’t worry! It is just a normal chemical reaction. After a few minutes, the oxidant will transform into water, and the bubbling will stop.
How To Kill Flying Fungus Gnats With Hydrogen Peroxide Spray?
After imposing treatment on the house plants, you may see many adult Fungus Gnats flying around them. This is when the insects try to reinvade the ground and lay eggs. How to permanently get rid of fungus gnats? To tackle this problem, there is a technique called spraying.
Step 1: Pour the chemicals component with clean water with a proportion of 1:4. Then you put the mixture onto a spray bottle. This process may cost a lot of liquid, so you should find a big container.
Step 2: Before using, you should shake the bottle carefully to ensure that the chemical has dissolved in the water. You spray onto the leaves and the stems because these are the vulnerable parts of the trees.
Step 3: Place a paper sheet or a sticky trap on the soil to collect the insects’ carcasses under the house plants.
It would help if you repeated this progress regularly until the adult Fungus Gnats disappeared completely.
How To Use Hydrogen Peroxide To Kill Fungus Gnats In Heavily Damaged Plants?
In case your indoor garden is heavily damaged by the gnats, you should take a stronger treatment:
Step 1: When the larvae destroy the roots of the trees, you should abandon watering and composting right away. You bring the potted plants to the outside to implement the hydrogen peroxide soil drench.
Step 2: Pour one portion of the oxidant with four gallon of water in a big tank.
Step 3: Sink the pot onto the tank, make sure that the liquid level is higher than half of the pot’s height. You wait for ten minutes until the dust runs down from the pot’s holes.
Step 4: You repeat this process one more time. This method eliminates the larvae, and the carcasses accumulated in inches of soil are discarded.
Besides, the sinking method also removes the excess saturated salt in the pot plant that results from over composting.
What Are Other Ways To Kill Fungus Gnats
Besides this oxidant, there are also some other tricks to kill the pests:
Sand: Gnats usually lay eggs on moist soil. When you spread some dry sand on the soil surface, they will move to other places.
Vinegar: This method is very effective for many insects. You fill in half of the bottle with apple cider vinegar, then drop some dishwashing liquid. The pests will fly in and sink in the liquid.
Sticky traps: You place a glued sheet on the ground, and the insects will stick into the sheet when approaching the outdoor plants.
FAQs
Is Hydrogen Peroxide Natural Or Artificial?
This oxidant is made from chemical reactions in factories. It can be a useful substance in pest elimination if you use it moderately. However, when you overuse it, the ingredient can become a strong degreaser and erode your land.
In addition, this oxidant can be made through a natural reaction, but the process only produces a small volume of substance.
Is Hydrogen Peroxide Harmful To Plants?
Since the liquid is mixed with a large amount of water, its concentration is safe for the entire plant. You should choose the brand certified by the United States EPA and have detailed instructions on the packaging.
However, it would be best to utilize it properly because every chemical substance can be destructive when used uncontrollably.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are three ways on how to kill Fungus Gnats with Hydrogen Peroxide. Each level of the problem requires a different amount of oxidant; you should supervise the plant material carefully to give out the optimal solution.
Peroxide is either an economical or effective chemical in killing indoor plant pests. We hope these solutions can help you with those annoyed insects and protect your plant growth.