I have many Chamaedorea seedlings in community pots on the bench, slowly sprouting. Fungus gnats in my greenhouse usually do no more than crawl around until they land on a sticky bug trap. I also have 30 or so Chamaedorea tuerckheimii seedlings that I thought I would give extra care by potting up individually, and putting the pots into a plastic box, covered with another plastic box for extra humidity, and hopefully to keep any gnats out.

Well, they got in and have nibbled the emerging tips from my germinated seeds that were starting to sprout. The cleanly severed tips are lying on the soil next to each seed. About ten seedlings attacked so far, and I can't believe this has happened to the most expensive of my Chamaedorea seedlings! The broken tips are less than 2mm long, but I would like to know if they will continue to grow. I don't care about appearances in the early stages, but is this kind of attack terminal or will they carry on growing?

Hi John,

I hate when this happens. I use mix in plastic cups with plastic bags to germinate seeds and somehow the buggers find their way in. I do find however that fungus gnats generally go where fungus is welcome. Damp, dark areas. They also like organic material such as leaf litter or bark unfortunately. Best thing to do is let them dry out a little and possibly remove them from the constantly humid area. I haven't lost too many germinated seedlings to these guys but i have lost alot of seeds due to larvae chewing their way through. All the best.

A small moving fan does wonders at keeping the gnats away.

I have a fan for air circulation, but I tend to pot up as soon as seeds germinate, so I have a much larger surface area of damp soil than most growers with bigger palms. With no natural predators in the greenhouse, and lots of seedlings that need misting, it's almost inevitable. Occasionally, I mist the greenhouse with insecticide to knock them right back, but this is the only occurrence where I've seen them do any damage.

A vacuum cleaner with a hose works pretty well to suck up the flying adults. There are also bio products (i.e. Gnatrol, Knock Out Gnats) on the market to kill the larvae.

The adults have no chewing mouth parts, so they didn't do the damage. The larvae are usually below the soil surface feeding on fungus/organic debris, and sometimes on plant roots, which can kill seedlings. I wonder if the damage you are seeing could have been done by some other critter.

John, ever considered using other bugs to eat the fungus gnats?

http://www.naturescontrol.com/fungusgnatpredators.html

My experience is that fungus gnats are a symptom of a common condition, that the pot medium is kept too wet. I have the urge to water too frequently, especially with the more precious and rare seedlings. I do keep out the yellow sticky paper traps at all times, but when I allow the pots to stay a little more dry I seldom have any evidence of the gnats or their larvae. Generally, the medium can be drier without damage to the seedling palms, especially with ample humidity. Good luck!

John:

Fungus gnats eat fungus. And, only the larvae. Something else is snacking on your Potato Crisp Palmlings . . . . .

Thank you all. Tomorrow it's "party over" for the fungus gnats & co. Still interested to know if those seedlings will grow back though..

Thank you all. Tomorrow it's "party over" for the fungus gnats & co. Still interested to know if those seedlings will grow back though..

Wait and see.

You (and we!) have nothing to lose. Let us know, and show pictures!

I've committed HEINOUS atrocities and the palms still survive . . ..

John,

I had C. Tepejiliote seedlings lose all their leaves and grow back multiple times. Depends in your case though. I can tell you it is possible. C. Tepijilote is a faster growing species and their leaves died back due to a leaf fungus so its a slightly different scenario. Hope they'll continue to grow for you!

Good luck!

John,

I had C. Tepejiliote seedlings lose all their leaves and grow back multiple times. Depends in your case though. I can tell you it is possible. C. Tepijilote is a faster growing species and their leaves died back due to a leaf fungus so its a slightly different scenario. Hope they'll continue to grow for you!

Good luck!

Thanks, Michael. I hope I can post back with some encouraging news!

I thought they were baked but from what you say they are fried.