they seeem to be a combo, gnats and aphids.
I wonder if saran wrapping the pots would work? suffocate them bastards?
Try watering and feeding from the bottom. Put the pots in trays or something that can hold at least 1/2" of water, set them in there for an hour, maybe more, and the soil should wick it up just fine.Put sand on them last night, gnat population has dropped big time so far. The only thing I am worried about is the sand hardening and causing problems when watering. Think I'm going to do as another poster mentioned and make holes in the top of the soil when watering.
Thanks for everyones help and advice.
The Captain
How does something as porous as sand keep soil from breathing?
Yes. Adding it to a soil mix makes it dry out much more easily/quickly. Sandy soils are well known for their inability to retain water. Porous. Look up some methods for lightening heavy soils, adding sand is one of them.sand, porous?
I respectfully disagree. Yo can grow in nothing but sand if you can keep the plant fed and watered. Sand, unless it somehow becomes a concretion, has never once presented the problems you're alluding to for me, and is known to add porosity to heavy soils.Too much sand sitting on top can smother the surface roots and retain too much moisture. Don't overwater and allow soil to dry between waterings. Overwatering promotes gnat reproduction. Re-using the sand is a bad idea unless you sterilize it between applications.
If it is gnats, either a poison like pyrethum or Gnatrol, or a dish of vinegar with a bit of dishsoap added. The gnats like the vinegar and the dishsoap prevents the gnats from escape. They can't climb out of the dish since surface tension is lowered. (too slippery) They drown. Those yellow strip poisons work well too.
Water from the bottom? As long as it's not an every day thing. Bad idea over the long haul.
If it is gnats...