#flies-houseplants

Fly cemetery and lilac

A few months ago some of my houseplant spider plants had babies and I potted the baby cuttings in some new compost I had bought in a local garden centre. The soil did not look particularly nutritious, but I know there have been bans in recent years in using peat, so I just guessed this was what I had to now deal with. A few weeks later, I noticed tiny little flies ducking and diving all over the house. I also noticed that whenever I watered the spider plant babies, the flies seemed to appear in abundance. I can only assume the fly larvae had been buried in the new compost when I bought it. I decided to buy some fly-catchers and stick them in the pots I was suspicious of. I then gave the pots a good watering and waited. I then discovered the most horrific sight. There were loads of fly bodies stuck to the catchers. Over the months, the number has increased and occasionally when I am sitting still - such as watching TV or eating, a rogue fly will flutter past me. They are so tiny, you do