I think I am having this problem too. I bought some strawberry plants at the farmer's market about a month ago. I've been watering them about once a week. One was a little brown around the edges of a leaf, then it started to look brown around the base of the plant. Then I noticed a couple little flies buzzing around yesterday - tiny, gnat-sized flies. I also noticed the little flowers that were on one of the plants have darkened and withered. Today there are two-three times as many flies. I want to get rid of them! I am such a novice ... I do not understand all the things you guys have said here - mosquito dunk? gnatrol? I was planning to repot these guys this weekend, but now I am afraid all is lost (although the leaves still look mostly decent, like the picture above). I don't even know where to start! Is Palmolive an acceptable dish soap to spray them with? How much would I put into how much water? I am a very capable person, but I have never successfully maintained a plant for longer than a few months and I am intimidated - but determined to figure it out! Thanks, ~KJ

I agree with Mike. Fungus gnats are attracted to peaty, organic mixes that hold a lot of moisture. The immediate solution is to use Bt, a safe, organic bacterial insecticide that kills their larva in your soil. You can use something like Gnatrol or even mosquito dunks soaked in water to drench the soil a couple times and they will be gone. You should know that they don't really cause serious problems for adult plants, but they are a sign that your soil is not the best. So, the long term solution is to repot your citrus into a container mix that doesn't provide the environment they love. Many people here, including me, like a bark-based soil. You could wait to do that until spring, but start allowing the soil to dry out more -- at least in the top couple inches -- between watering. Use a chemical fertilizer instead of organic amendments, since those attract fungus gnats too. Otherwise, it sounds like both of your plants are doing much better since you increased the light. I keep my key lime under lights 16 hours a day. More hours of light might help your plants. I wouldn't worry about the Meyer lemon producing flowers first. It's alive, if under stress, and will grow leaves soon if it's happy.

You've given an excellent description of your current conditions, thank you! The only thing that is lacking is the identity of the fly. Blue bottle flies are larger than a regular housefly and are usually metallic blueish/greenish. Do you think that this is what you've been seeing? The adults feed on animal dung, dead stuff, rotting garbage. Females lay their eggs on the same icky stuff where the larvae (maggots) can develop happily. Adult flies will also feed on pollen and nectar, which explains their interest in your flowering plants. I know for a fact that they are very intent on gaining access to the inside of our homes. How lovely a thought that is. considering where their feet have probably been. I don't think of blue bottles as being interested in moist soil or even standing water. However, a compost pile that is not properly tended to is a real possibility, as is any cat poop. The one summer we had problem with these flies was when a new neighbor did not clean up after his dogs. They both did their plentiful business along the fence dividing our two properties and the flies spent a great deal of time hanging out around our back patio. Especially when we were cooking out.

Ugh. Right before we left New Orleans we had a major infestation of fruit flies. I did everything you've done - scrubbed, bleached, removed, refrigerated, trapped (lather, rinse, repeat). Then, I went to make salad dressing. The fruit flies were in my cabinet where I stored my vinegars and a little bottle of soy sauce with the cap like you see in Chinese and sushi places. There must have been 100 dead fruit flies in that bottle of soy sauce. And they were inside the vinegar cabinet just sort of hanging out. That said, when I buy produce now, I shake it, examine it, etc. We only have one grocery store in town and if the onion area is swarming with fruit flies (it often is) I go home without *any* fruit, vegetables, or onions. I half think the reason there are so many fruit flies are all the d@mn fruit samples in the produce department. And the fact that it seems borderline dirty to me, anyway.