small flies - id please?

[buzzingtalk]

Might not be in the right section but it is 'wildlife' i guess...

I don't have a proper garden, just some concrete round the back of my kitchen in norwich where there are the bins, and my pot plants (chili, tomato, courgette, herbs, strawbs, ruhbarb). i recently moved my chilli plants indoors as they will finish off much better inside, and noticed loads of flies buzzing about in the kitchen where my plants are?

the flies are tiny, and seem a bit slow. they seem to sit on/amongst the plants or soil, and move when you move the plant - what are they? how can i get rid?

the plants sadly are quite near the kitchen bin and the main bins are outside the window the plants are near...there is no where else I can put them though. I bleached all of the bins outside and cleared up, am going to blitz the kitchen today but living with 5 guys means mess is inevitable! is it the bins/old food, or could it be plant based?

[WrexTheDragon]

I would check the compost the chillies are in to see if you can spot some little white maggots.
Reduce the watering. I would water with a weak solution of jayes fluid.
You find them common with peat based composts.

[SueA]

I think they're probably fungus gnats on the compost round your chilli plants. You get them on indoor plants, seedlings etc. especially if the compost is a bit too damp as they think it's 'fungus'. Try & keep your plants a bit on the dry side & hang up a bit of sticky fly paper near them & keep squashing any flies you see. They do lay eggs on the compost & you might find tiny clear/cream grubs in the compost as Wrex says which feed on the plant roots, you could try uprooting the plants & washing them off & replanting if they're a problem.

[Capsid]

Or they could be fruit flies.

[rustylady]

My suggestion (for what it's worth) is either fruit flies or fungus/compost gnats. Exactly how big are they? Compost gnats are quite small and tend to hover round the pots, Fruit flies are slightly bigger, but quite slow moving and are attracted to waste fruit/veg.

[buzzingtalk]

My suggestion (for what it's worth) is either fruit flies or fungus/compost gnats. Exactly how big are they? Compost gnats are quite small and tend to hover round the pots, Fruit flies are slightly bigger, but quite slow moving and are attracted to waste fruit/veg.

They are small - but could be fruit flies. They look like fruit fly colour..I'll have a look for gnats in the soil later, is there an organic way to get rid of them? They are on my aloe vera plant too which is in the kitchen. ive seen a few o them just hovering around in the kitchen

[Two_Sheds]

If you water the surface of the soil, you'll most likely get fungus gnats (even if you think you aren't overwatering).
It's really worth putting the pots into a saucer of water for a 20 min drink, rather than dowsing the soil

Fruit flies are attracted to rotting vegetation (and my wine)

[Nicos]

The other ways of telling if they are fruit flies is to leave out a small glass of fruit juice or the dregs of a glass of wine.

Also ( and you'll need a magnifying glass for this one!!).....

Virgin fruit flies have red eyes!!( yes- I would have expected it to be the other way round too!)
With a load of fruit flies, many of them would have red eyes.

[buzzingtalk]

The flies for the most part seem to have died down since I really cleaned the kitchen, so I'm guessing it was fruit flies. I live in a big house with 5 lads so there must have been some old food lying about somewhere to attract them. There are still one or two floating about, but they are probably trapped in.

I couldn't see any small maggots in the soil, I will keep an eye on the situation though! Thanks for your help guys!

I did, however, find 2 small mushroom growing in my scotch bonnet plant! And there are lots of mushroom that look (not a positive ID though) like magic mushrooms growing in my mint plant outside. Quite how this fungus found my small patch of container plants in a city centre with no grass for 50M is beyond me!

[Two_Sheds]

I did, however, find 2 small mushroom growing in my scotch bonnet plant! And there are lots of ...mushrooms growing in my mint plant outside.

you're definitely overwatering if you've got mushrooms

[buzzingtalk]

you're definitely overwatering if you've got mushrooms

Oops! Is there anything I can do, seeing as its not me watering but the bloody sky's endless crying of late! I have all of my plants in pots with lots of stones/pebbles in the bottom to help them drain properly, and it drains onto concrete so the water moves away.