I have a plant in the kitchen of my apartment that has been doing fairly well after repotting, but has recently started to develop brown patches on some of the leaves. Last night I noticed small (1/8") dark grey insects flying around the plant and crawling out of the soil. Initial research indicates these are probably fungus gnats, which are supposed to do very bad things to the roots of your plants.
Additional research indicates that if they are fungus gnats, I can either use pesticides or nematodes[0]. I'm generally against the use of pesticides[1] because in the long run use of pesticides tends to create pesticide resistant pests[2] (same reason I'm against the over-prescription of antibiotics[3]).
According to a website I found
Entomopathogenic nematodes, or EPNs, are very small worm-like organisms that make their living killing insects. The nematodes do not act alone to kill insects, rather they merely serve as a delivery service for the actual organism that kills the insect, a bacteria!
Here's how the process works: The "infective juvenile" stage locates a host insect, usually an immature form (larva or pupa) in or on the soil, then it enters the insect through the mouth, anus, or breathing tube. Once inside the insect, the nematode releases the bacteria from its gut, and the bacteria starts growing, ultimately killing the insect. While this is going on, the nematode is feeding on the bacteria and what was once the insect.
Does that make executive managers a subspecies of nematode that feed on other things?
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[0] Technically, I could also bake the soil at 180F for 3 hours, but I don't want to risk repotting the plant again, and 180F for 3 hours might do bad things to the plant.
[1] To clarify: I'm in favor of genetically modified plants and the use of friendly insect species because I think they do a better job with less environmental impact than pesticides. The only time I ever considered joining Greenpeace involved an extremely attractive girl with red hair.
[2] This goes double for a home setting with someone likely to do a very half-assed job of pesticide application.
[3] If there is a hell, I hope there's a nice corner of it where doctors who needlessly prescribed antibiotics are slowly eaten by antibiotic resistant staph.
Posted by matt at July 17, 2003 12:19 PMYou're probably watering it too much.. gnats and brown leaves would indicate rotting roots.
Posted by: kasia at July 17, 2003 07:48 PMHm... that could be the problem.
I'll try stretching out the watering cycle a bit.