I’m a gardener – my easy drug store trick will stop insects from breeding in your plants
HOUSE plants can be the perfect item to spruce up your kitchen, living room or bedroom, but sometimes they create a breeding ground for small bugs.
One TikToker has found the easiest trick to get rid of any unwanted pests and it only requires one ingredient.
New York City-based “plant parent” Kaitlin (@roominbloomnyc) recently shared on the video platform a simple hack on keeping your home bug-free.
All plant owners need is hydrogen peroxide.
Before doing anything, Kaitlin noted it is important to identify which plant has become the temporary home for one or several gnats.
Then, for the best results, wait until the plant is ready to be watered.
“All you’re going to need is water and a regular old drugstore hydrogen peroxide,” the TikToker said in the video.
Kailtin said she typically creates a mixture of one part hydrogen peroxide to five parts water, then waters the plant like she normally would.
“Not only will it kill the gnats in the soil, but their yucky eggs too,” she said.
In the comment section under the video, the self-proclaimed plant parent revealed that the trick works best when watering plants from the top of the pot.
“But also wouldn’t hurt if you tried it bottom watering,” she said.
Additionally, Kaitlin emphasized that waiting until “the last possible minute to water” the plant will increase the tricks’ chances of working.
This trick is best used on plants that are infested with gnats.
Plants with other pests like mealy bugs might need to be treated with other products like neem oil, Kaitlin revealed in a comment under the video.
If using the mixture doesn’t work with your plant, there may be a larger problem needing to be addressed.
Kaitlin suggested to one plant owner that repotting can also help get rid of a gnat infestation.
The New York-based content creator has been uploading plant and pottery videos to TikTok since January.
Since then, she has garnered over 460,400 followers and more than 14,600,000 likes on the platform.