Fly's on my hibiscus?

[blupit007]

Has anyone ever had your basic house fly "poo fly" on your hibiscus?  Today I counted 12 fly's on my Cindy's Heart.  They were mostly on the bloom, but they were also on the leaves.  Not only on CH, but on my others.  I noticed little holes in the flower as well.  There are also these little fly's along with the "poo fly's".

 I put together some bug spray and was going to spray them all off, but thought I would ask if they are actually doing some benefit (like eating something bad)?  Or are they really up to no good?

[Pachrian]

Lol, I have no idea, but I just have to laugh at the questions we all come up with. I bet Charlie and Cindy had no idea what they were getting themselves into when they started the forum. Poo flies? 

[blupit007]

Poo fly, don't bother me...

[Darkhorse]

YES!!!  For some reason my Creole Lady attracts a ton of poo flies.

[Charlie]

This was researched once at the Univ of Kentucky. Turns out the flies follow the smell of horse-poo until they are distracted by something more substantial like aging blooms that give off a unique smell themselves. So, watch where you step and remove old blooms from the hibiscus....

Also, the other flies are most likely shore flies or fungus gnats, commonly found around potted plants that are kept on the wet side. Details of control are at this web page: http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/care/gnats.htm

Although we did not know it when the above page was written, Safari is also an excellent control for fungus gnats.

Charlie

[Cindy]

Hmmm... It's not just horses.... I swear I've seen flies following Charlie around when he's all sweaty from the greenhouse! 

[blupit007]

I think it is defiantly not fungus gnats.  I think it is house fly's and shore fly's.  My horse does not live on my property, but I do have my two bunnies that are free to roam on the deck at all times.  They are clean and use a litter box (most of the time) so maybe that is what attracted them.  Today is the first day I have seen them, ever.  It has been a super dry summer, which is typical, until now, it has been raining all day yesterday and today, I moved everyone under the eve of the roof to protect from this windy rainy weather this morning, so hopefully they are drying out.  I don't see them so much now.  Should I go ahead and spray with the bug spray to be safe?  And the bloom on CH and the one on Saffron, should I clip them off?  They look a bit beat up from the elements so I wont miss them too much!

[Darkhorse]

LOL, ok, so I step on horse poo all the time.  Maybe the flies are following me?  Haha, no really, they congregate on and around my Creole Lady.  Now this being said, she has been blooming most of the summer so if aged blooms smell attractive to flies this is probably why.  Personally I can smell horse poo a lot more easily than aged flowers!!!

PS-  I thought the flies were thrips until I saw Uli's up-close thrip photo.

[Cindy]

We get a lot of flies here too because of the animals on our property (lots of them of all kinds!). We do have to spray for the flies sometimes, and it never hurts our hibiscus.

I think one thing they're attracted to is the fresh water supply in the ground around our hibiscus every day. Shore flies seem to love that, as does every kind of gnat. It's the worst in my outside potted plants, even though the water drains out of the outside ones.

[Doll]

Here is a great weapon against your poo flies. It is a green anole.
They are all over the Houston area and love to hang out on my hibiscus.
I know they eat flies because I watched one eat a fly.

[roadrunner]

Incredible photo Doll. Out here in AZ I have several geckos in and around the greenhouse.  Not sure what they're eating but I don't think it's my white fly population.

 

dave

[blupit007]

He's incredible!  I wish we had lizards in New England...

[Charlie]

That was a bit of a tease about the horse poo. No such study exists - just figured since our 2 horsewomen (is that the proper term?) had a similar problem maybe it was related.....

Hibiscus can and do rot while still on the plant. This is at its worst in winter greenhouses when it can become a big problem because the rot can transfer from the bloom to any stem it touches. In hot and dry weather the blooms tend to dry and fall but if you get one stuck to the plant and rotting normal houseflies will be attracted to it.

Shore flies feed on algae so if you see any green algae growing on the soil or pot that is why they are there. You can buy a special algaecide but spraying the algae with hydrogen peroxide several times will kill algae and won't hurt anything else. Fungus gnats seem to come around anytime potted plants are kept well watered. They like the wet surface of the soil as a place to lay their eggs.

Lots of these types of things come and go without you doing anything or understanding what happened. But, if they don't disappear soon let's see if we can figure something out.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

LOL!!  Oh Charlie you sure got me, gullible must be written on the ceiling...

Horsewomen is correct. 

[blupit007]

   Nice one Charlie!

I don't have them today... They have had a chance to dry out under the eve.  And I got rid of any older soggy blooms.  So maybe we are good!