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Old 05-22-2013, 01:37 PM
 
173 posts, read 654,580 times
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So I planted strawberries, peas, tomatoes in containers on my deck. Now after it rained a few times, each pot has so many little flies crawling around, and nothing is really growing. Each pot has one hole at the bottom, I did not use any rocks beneath the soil, just potted directly.

How does one grow herbs (I want to plant more!) outside in containers? What to do about all that water that doesn't evaporate when the days are humid and wet? Can I still save the plants, or should I toss them? How can I prevent these flies from taking over???
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Old 05-22-2013, 03:53 PM
 
Location: Under the Redwoods
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What kind of flies? Regular pesky housefly types?
Could be your soil mix is not quite right with chicken or some other manure attracting flies- if they are houseflies.
I would check out a farm & feed store for insect spray that is resturaunt safe.
As far as water, as long as the containers have holes, everything should be OK there. It's ok for plants to get lots of water just as long as they are not swimming in it for weeks.
If you want to be more in control of the amount of water your plants get, you may want to consider a small portable/collapsible green house. Just be sure that the green house has plenty of ventilation since you live in a humid area.
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Old 05-22-2013, 04:27 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
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I have mint, rosemary, lavender, thyme, oregano, and tarragon in containers on my patio. All the pots have about 1" of gravel on the bottom, are planted in potting soil and do just fine. Some are in clay pots; others in plastic. It doesn't seem to make much difference other than the clay ones need more frequent watering.

If your soil is waterlogged, make sure they are getting enough sun to help dry them out. Most herbs like a rather sunny location anyway. Not sure what the flies are, but a spritz of food-safe insecticide would probably be in order, or a complete re-potting with some soil that has better drainage qualities.
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Old 05-22-2013, 07:02 PM
 
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Are tehy definitely flies? Or possibly aphids?
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Old 05-22-2013, 08:33 PM
 
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I can barely see these flies. Seems like these are flies similar to drain flies, and their tiny newborn. When I closely look at the soil, it's moving with tiny fast white crawling ones... When I move the soil, there are little grey flies in it. This is in one of those plastic rectangular containers from Home Depot.
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Old 05-22-2013, 09:01 PM
 
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You might have fungus gnats. They're real annoying and destructive pests. Their larvae devour plant roots in the soil. The adults don't do any harm except make more larvae, and the larvae love very moist soil. I battled them all winter in my basil in the kitchen window. My solution was flypaper. I got a few rolls of it at Home Depot and fashioned banners of the stuff by threading it through bamboo skewers that I stuck in the potting soil. rthat saved my basil. Those fly traps were covered in fungus gnats in just a few days.

You can also buy yellow sticky paper that is made to do the same thing -- with less mess. Handling flypaper isn't fun. And even if you don't have fungus gnats, these sticky things will take care of whatever you have.
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Old 05-22-2013, 09:30 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
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You needed to put something like stones in the bottom for drainage. There are also products you can buy that will absorb extra water, you mix it right in with the soil. I've never had flies on anything so I don't know about that. You could try to cover them up if you know it's going to rain--just a piece of plastic, anything.

If they are really water logged, the roots may start to rot and you may need to transplant them. If you do, you could do it right this time and include something for drainage.
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Old 05-22-2013, 10:08 PM
 
Location: Michigan
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Don't put rocks/stones/pebbles in the bottom of the pot, that makes drainage worse.

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Cha...20drainage.pdf

If you have drainage holes and the potting mix stays excessively waterlogged you need to use a better potting mix. What kind did you use? Please don't say you used those cheap 40lb bags of "potting soil" that are denser than lead.

Also, don't pot plants into pots that are too big which results in lots of potting mix with no roots to draw up moisture. Potting mix stays more moist at the bottom already. Pot plants up incrementally instead.
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Old 05-22-2013, 10:31 PM
 
173 posts, read 654,580 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EugeneOnegin View Post
Don't put rocks/stones/pebbles in the bottom of the pot, that makes drainage worse.

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Cha...20drainage.pdf

If you have drainage holes and the potting mix stays excessively waterlogged you need to use a better potting mix. What kind did you use? Please don't say you used those cheap 40lb bags of "potting soil" that are denser than lead.

Also, don't pot plants into pots that are too big which results in lots of potting mix with no roots to draw up moisture. Potting mix stays more moist at the bottom already. Pot plants up incrementally instead.
I used one of the "organic" varieties. The bag was so heavy, the soil was thick and very dark. I did not like it from the beginning. How do I make sure the soil is right? Should it be "fluffy"? Any brand I should look for? I want to eat these herbs, so the soil must be organic right?
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Old 05-22-2013, 10:46 PM
 
Location: Michigan
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You don't need organic potting mix. There are a lot of dumb things like wetting agents that can make something not ogranic. Inogranic doesn't mean it's harmful. There's hydrogen peroxide in rainwater and it's organic. Add hydrogen peroxide from a bottle and it's not organic.

Look for a potting mix that's light and fluffy. I prefer composted pine bark fine based potting mixes, though those aren't available in some regions. Pro-Mix potting mixes are peat-based, but they work well. I use Pro-Mix mixed with compost usually. A lot of people like Fafards, Happy Frog, and Ocean Forest. You could also mix your own.

Regular Miracle Gro isn't that bad really. I don't like all the time-released fertilizers in it, it burns sensitive plants like chile peppers really easily, but at least it drains well. Herbs are mostly pretty tolerant of less-than-ideal conditions. Organic Miracle Gro is terrible though.
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