Indoor Homemade Adult Fungus Gnat Sticky Paper Trap

In our quest to rid our home of the dreaded fungus gnat, we have tried pretty much everything out there. Today, I want to share a tip that I found on the internet, BUT with an added twist to improve effectiveness.

The adult, flying fungus gnat is the first sign of a fungus gnat infestation. They are tiny, black, and annoying as hell. While this is only the first part of a multi-step process, it is important to understand what you are attempting to accomplish. The adult fungus gnat does not directly affect your indoor plants. It is the larvae that they produce that eats the roots of your plants and causes your plants to starve to death due to lack of nutrition. By eliminating the adult fungus gnats, the goal is to break the fungus gnat life cycle.

Enough talk, how's it done? It's no secret that putting Vaseline petroleum jelly on yellow paper is discussed frequently as a replacement for the fly paper sticky traps. The yellow paper is a lure while the petroleum jelly acts as the boding agent. My experience has proved that the fungus gnats literally walk across this with relative ease. Why? One reason, one solution... Be sure to check out V2.0

What's the reason? It is currently winter time and the petroleum jelly is just too viscus to displace from the minute weight of the fungus gnat. The temperature is a biggie here. There reason it most likely works for others is that they are in a much warmer climate than that of the northeastern United States where I live. Since most plants come indoor during this time of year, fungus gnats tend to rear them selves during the winter time for many of us.

So what's the solution? Well, turning the heat up to 85 degrees is not solution, just in case you were guessing. The trick is to reduce the viscosity, but not through temperature. All you have to do is mix a less viscus oil, like mineral or vegetable oil, into the petroleum jelly. Mix in the liquid oil to the point that it still holds it's shape but almost starts to run when held perpendicular to the ground.

Fungus Gnat Trapped on Sticky Paper in Container

Fungus Gnat Closeup

 
Once this is done, smear it on some yellow sticky notes, or other yellow paper, and distribute them around your pots. What you have essentially made was a quick sand for fungus gnats... Only not sand... Quick jelly!

CHECK V2.0!

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