I started a terrarium project a couple of months ago. Plants only. No critters. I made it out of a 10 gallon aquarium with a layer of gravel at the bottom. Spigham moss on top of that and garden soil on top of that.
It was going well for the first few weeks. The moisture seemed to be right and I was seeing good growth. Then, I noticed black spots on the stems of some of the plants and figured it was too much water. I opened the lid for a day to dry it out. That’s when the gnats showed up. I don’t know where they came (probably hiding in the plants) from but I started noticing them all over the house. There were always half a dozen or so in the terrarium. Needless to say, things went downhill from there and all of the plants died.
Can anyone point me in a better direction for the second attempt? Can I use any kind of pesticides to prevent another gnat attack?
Sounds like you had fungus gnats - a common problem with indoor plants. They thrive with excess moisture and rotting plants so if you are able to keep the moisture levels under control next time that will probably help.
No, you need to get something that eats the gnats. Then you will of course need something that eats what eats the gnats. After that it is pretty much down hill though.
I was hoping that was the case. I’m thinking about starting with just moss next time and try that before buying larger plants.
Hey, I already have the cats! Now, if I can just talk my wife into letting me bring a giant gnat and\or cat eating spider into the house. Yeah, that’s gonna work great!
