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Warning: My local plant swap in Austin had a major fungus gnat outbreak
I brought home a new fern and within a week my three sealed terrariums were INFESTED. I had to quarantine everything and do a full substrate change. Has anyone else had pests jump from a houseplant to a closed system?
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the_piper2mo ago
Ugh, that's the worst. I had fungus gnats get into my closed jar from a new pothos. The trick is to let the top layer of your terrarium soil dry out completely (which is tricky, I know) and then put a thin layer of sand or fine aquarium gravel on top. It stops the adults from laying more eggs.
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My friend had that happen with a mossarium she bought. The gnats got into her other closed containers and she ended up having to start over with completely sterile soil. It was a huge mess.
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dylanwilliams1mo ago
wait, you guys think the sand trick actually works long term? i always figured itd just trap moisture against the soil and make things worse but i guess if youre already letting it dry out that changes things. @the_piper your method makes way more sense now that i think about it. i used to just nuke everything with hydrogen peroxide but that killed off the good stuff too. gonna try the sand layer next time i repot something, appreciate the tip.
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