Probably not fruit flies but fungus gnats. The adults ,themselves. don't cause damage ( are only annoying) but their grubs can if there are enough of them. You can kill the grubs with the same bt that is used for mosquitos but may not be worth it for short time you have left inside. I kept their numbers down by letting the surface of the soil in the pots dry out completely between waterings, which also kills them.

JohnF

If you have real fruit flies indoors, it is easy to trap them. Take a jar or bottom half of a plastic water bottle and drop a chunk of fruit in it. Roll a cone from paper or card leaving a fly sized hole at the tip. Staple or tape the cone so it holds shape. Put the cone tip down into the jar/bottle. Tape to seal around the cone.

The idea is the flies fly down to the fruit, but can't find the hole again once inside as they tend to take off going straight up. When you've got a batch in the jar, dispose of the contents or dump them outside to disperse. But they will live/breed in the fruit if left too long.

This is an old trick; you may have seen old housefly traps that work the same way. Sorry if it was here already.

Place 1 tbsp of the old fashioned dishsoap/baby/horse shampo in a gaal of water. Use to water plants, Or get some gnatrol or diazinon soil granulas

I know exactly how you feel, I've dealt with fungus gnats several times. Many people will tell you that you can only control them, but never erradicate them-- I say not so. If you are content with just controlling them, get some of the yellow sticky traps that you skewer on bamboo skewers and stick into the soil, but plan on replacing them frequently.

If you want to erradicate them, I've been successful using the following method:

Let the soil dry out completely, and I mean until you can't stand it. Then wait another day.
Next, get a package of 'mosquito dunks'from you local hardware store and fill a tub or bucket or some vessel large enough to hold water and your potted pepper, and add the 'dunk' and dissolve it well.
Now soak your pepper in it for at least 20-minutes.
Repeat if needed.

Don't forget that these little buggers will have infested probably EVERY potted plant in your house, so be ready to deal with them too.

This product is designed to kill the larvae or maggot that represents the early life stage of these types of insects.

Good Luck!!!

There are several entries on GardenWeb regarding this topic, the Search function is your friend.

I also use the mosquito dunks and they do work.

john

Do you dump the whole pepper plant with the pot and all? Or do you just dump the plant upside down holding the entire plant in the solution, but not the soil in the pot?
I search around and I did not see that part.

I found this thread though. Maybe interesting for this topic?
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0902095927829.html?13

I break up the dunks in a watering can and the just give the plants a good thorough wtaering in their pots.The bt will stay in the soil.

JohnF

I had fungus knats till I started using Diamacious Earth on the soil of the pots. It kills the larve when they try to come out of the soil and stops the adults from breeding.

Ok :) Phew! I was really wondering if some seriously drastic measures needed to be taken. I was thinking of maybe keeping a couple of plants over winter, but I got a little concerned about dragging in some potentially high levels of nuinances into the house.
But maybe I should adjust that thought. I wanted to have some nice hot pepper greenery around the house but I was thinking of growing some ornamental peppers (from seeds that I blech and acid treat, virtually guaranteeing that no insects will survive) But it sounds like it is possible to treat the plants before bringing them inside dealing any bugs a deadly blow before they could become a problem? Or are these gnats something that can happen to the plants later inside anyway? (like fruit flies on old bananas). Maybe that is a tough question.

Yup--just like fruit flies on banannas. I overwinter plants and don't bother treating them. Trick is to let the top of the soil dry out between waterings.

KJ 57701

you do not put the green foliage into the water. You put only the root ball into the water.