As plant home insects infiltrate your home in the potting soil that is purchased at many home centers throughout the country, a home owner should give careful consideration to the type of chemicals that can be applied to remove these insects from the soil without hurting the plant.
With plant home insects they can live for an indefinite amount of time in the potting soil or any house plant soil that you purchase. One of the most common plant home insects is the fungus gnat and they have a large breeding ground to multiply in. These fungus gnats thrive in a moist environment, and enter the home and live in the deep recesses of the top soil in the beginning growth stages.
As the adult fungus gnat lays their eggs, they will present themselves in the form of maggots that are tiny and white in color. These baby fungus gnats will consume all of the organic matter that is in the soil, and will eventually choose to feed on the plant root systems. At this point, these plant home insects can be seen on the top surface of the topsoil with the naked eye.
These plant home insects will be seen wriggling on the top of the potting soil every time you water the plant. Some people confuse this type of maggot with the larvae that is laid by the yard flies that are continual pests when outdoors and have the frame of mind to think that these fungus gnats are simply harmless.
If these home plant insects are not aggressively treated with chemicals before damage to the root system can occur, a severe financial loss can occur dependent on the variety of the plant that is infected with these plant home insects.
A chemical treatment using a malathion drench can be used to control these plant home insects, but it will not eradicate them. As with any chemical use, care should be taken to ensure that no damage is done to the gardener through skin exposure or absorption, and eye protection should always be used while mixing the malathion chemical.
This fungus gnat infestation could have been avoided if the gardener had simply purchased a potting soil that had been processed through heat treatments to remove any type of micro organism or home insect from the soil before it was suitable for sale. There are quite a large number of these specially processed potting soils on the market today.