Annoying flies most often appear on maids around the middle of winter. They fly around, apparently nothing is happening, but it is obviously not good for the plants. “Yellow adhesive tapes work for them, but proper prevention is even better,” says Jana Bucharová in the podcast.
You can find the podcast advice in the audio version here:
One day nothing and the next they fly out of the flowerpots by the dozens. but now is not the season for them at all, and besides, what would they be doing in the maids’ room? After all, nothing rots there and you don’t add fruit to their soil either! “They are not grape flies, but sad flies, a different kind,” says Jana Bucharová, an expert in the magazine Receptář on garden topics, in the podcast. “And the flies themselves don’t even do any harm. Their larvae, which hatch in the substrate, can make the plants a lot of trouble, so it’s time to get rid of them quickly.”
Corrosive larvae
Why is it so bad for maids? Weevils occur naturally in nature and their larvae feed on dead roots in the soil, they actually act as cleaners. But they multiply easily in a flower pot, and since there are a lot of them in a small space, they also start to grow healthy roots. “It doesn’t kill the plant immediately if you intervene in time, it often manages to do it. But it weakens it,” explains the expert. “Because all her root hairs disappear and she starts to dry easily.” Which is a paradox, because if anything is to blame for the overabundance of blue eyes, it’s usually water.
Less moisture
Flies are most often brought home with a new substrate, but sometimes they appear almost out of nowhere. “Prevention is to let the substrate go through a high temperature, easily in the oven, or on the contrary, by freezing. Outside or in the freezer,” says Jana Bucharová.
But it works even better if you comply with what and don’t water them too much in winter. “Eggs and larvae of ladybugs can only develop successfully in a moist environment. And if you don’t water the plants too much, they won’t have a chance to reproduce,” warns the expert. In addition, the vast majority of maids will only appreciate it in winter. So you actually kill two birds with one stone. Or the whole flock.
