what are these flies in my house........

[mum5]

and how do I get rid of them?

They look a little like fruit flies, size wise, but are not.

I think they came in w/ the potting soild that I used to re pot a couple of plants.

When I water the plants, they fly out. they seem to like the damp, as now they are upstairs in my bathroom. Yuk!

On a couple of plants I have some white powdery stuff on the leaves, and also tiny furry white bugs that sqish very easily.

I have used a neem oil spray mix that I got at our local farm, it seemed to help a little.

Any solutions? Thanks

[plantnerd]

The "fruit flies" are called fungus gnats.  They like moist, warm soil.  Dry the plants out hard between waterings a few times and the larva will all die (they need constant moisture to survive).  The furry white guys are probably mealy bugs.  I would just go over the plant by hand and squish em, then apply a horticultural oil a few times 2 weeks apart to kill any new babies.  Make sure you get the stems and undersides of the leaves well, that's where they like to chill.

Oh, and don't buy plants/soil from there again, they have buggy issues.  Not neccesarily their fault, but it sucks at home to deal with.

[HappyMommy2]

I had those nasty things, and put 1/4 - 1/2  inch of sand on top of the soil in the plants.  The guy at home depot said they can't lay their eggs in sand (only soil). Worked perfectly.  It took a couple weeks, but they have been gone ever since. 

(oh - and I had a nightlite in the same room as the plants, and that is where all the adults went to die, for some reason.  Not sure if that is connected or not!!)

[mum5]

thanks o both posters. I have been really drying out the soil, and also spraying w/ the Neem oil bug killer, but it was not working as fast as I thought, but I do believe that the little buggers have disappeared!!