CINNAMON from your kitchen cupboard will be the killer !! I hate using chemicals so I chose this option . I guess I was over watering and the result for that WAS fungus gnats . ICK !!! Somewhere in one of these fungus gnats forums, Peggy suggested cinnamon . All though she had never tried it , I did . I already knew cinnamon is a natural fungicide and very good for humans but not for plants . It was available and ready to use . When I eye-balled these little buggers I was watering my plants . They come to the surface for air due to the water . I had no idea what they were or how they got in the soil . I hopped on-line and found out right away . I handled the problem by sprinkling quit a bit of cinnamon on the surface of the soil , then used the handle of a spoon to mix it into the soil . Also I sprayed a paper towel with water, then sprinkled cinnamon on the towel and wiped the rims and inside edges of each planter. ( Use a separate towel for each pot ). I love an experiment so I was on my way . I then had to wait for all of my 10 plants to dry out quit well . Some took a few days longer due to the size of the planter . In all about 3-weeks . I sprinkled cinnamon again on the surface ,not too much this time , then watered only half the amount that I had been watering . My plants are very happy now , they are loving every minute of it !!! Also they all have new growth . Thanks to this forum , Peggy and a little research , the buggers are GONE !!!!!!

Agree that it's mealybug, and killing the adults with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol can keep adult populations in check. There's a problem with that method, though. The adults need to be mechanically removed with the Q-tip, and that method has no impact on the pests present that are in the crawler or instar larval stage. Eggs hatch about every 10 days at about 75*, with the interval increasing inversely with temperature. You could try horticultural oil labeled 'Summer', 'Perfect', or 'All-Season' mixed with insecticidal soap, both at recommended rates, neem oil and alcohol at 2 week intervals (ask for recipe if you want it), or spray with Bayer 3-in-1 insect/mite/fungal control. This systemic product is listed as safe for use on houseplants, but the spraying needs to be done outdoors. I'm really sorry you lost so many plants to this pest, especially since it's not that difficult to control once you figure out what it responds to. Good luck! Al

Actually Karyn, I read on those, they eat fungus in the soil and occasionally the roots. Because the fungus grows on the roots, which would indicate A PROBLEM why I lost a couple. Grrrrrrrrr. . . . Of course, that article could be wrong. In either case, I used that smell-o-stink-bomb nasty whatever and I don't have a problem with gnats now. Hardly any. And they're more interested in a couple little traps full of water under the pots. (I know, those aren't honeycombed with holes.) But whatever dripped into them, no gnats there either. Found a brug in a cup with roots growing into one. Yelled at it "oh fine, just great. I'm not supposed to over water you and you grow in to this 1" little piece of stagnant WATER?!?!?!? What is the MATTER with you!?!?!"

It's not that tricky, so I wouldn't worry about it, and it sounds like you're doing a fine job so far all by yourself. http://thegreengreengrassofhome.blogspot.com/ My recent photos actually do show a little drought stress from a month without rain. That's since reversed beautifully and I'll take the next photos shortly to document that (not to mention that the rains have pushed the gardens into incredible growth). I mostly use soybean meal (7-1-2, roughly) to feed the lawn. The flower gardens are half Milorganite, half soybean meal, plus a Miracle Gro chaser at half rate weekly as they're extremely tightly planted and I'm extremely demanding. I've tried CGM, but it's expensive up here--even considering that I'd only need half as much, roughly. Really, for bluegrass, just feed it (organically) around May 1, August 1, September 1, and October 1. Then winterize it with a good synthetic when top growth stops (usually around Thanksgiving for me, but it varies a lot depending on the weather that year). That'll give it a nice storehouse of carbohydrates to survive the winter, and it may not even go brown depending on your exact location and climate (mine stays up about half the time, but I'm in the mountains of Pennsylvania). Water it an inch a week if nature doesn't supply it, all at once. Or, if you'd rather allow it to go dormant, supply 1/4" all at once every 2 weeks if nature isn't doing so. Dormancy periods of 2 months aren't a problem for KBG and you can extend it far longer if you have to with proper care. Mow as high as you can stand to increase competition against weeds. My top deck is 3" (I use a robot so the deck is lower than many lawnmowers), and that's just fine. Mom prefers hers about 3 1/2". Longer grasses are also not quite as thirsty, have longer roots, and do better in drought. Get A Soil Test from Logan or UMass. Most soils are imbalanced in one way or another.