dry out soil to prevent a fungus gnats

Question

I recently purchased an improved Meyer lemon tree online and have been growing it in a pot in my apartment. I’ve only watered the tree once and I must have over watered it, as it seems to be infested with fungus gnats. I have purchased yellow sticky pads and have played them on the edge of the pot. It seems to be picking up a good number of gnats but a lot are still in the soil. What is a good way to dry out the soil and prevent the fungus gnat problem from getting worse? Should I add more dry soil on the top?

Answer 1

Let the top two inches of the soil dry out before you water it again. Does your pot have drainage holes on the bottom? If not, it should. You can also try laying chunks of raw potatoes on the soil, they also attract gnats like the yellow sticky pads. Just be sure to discard gnat infested potatoes every few days.

If all the above measures fail, I would recommend that you re-pot the plant in gnat free soil.

For more information on eradicating soil gnats, please visit the link below:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/insects/fungus-gnats.htm