Question
hi, i was flushing the roots of my nepenthes red dragon when
i noticed these tons of little bugs all over the water i
poured in. I was wondering if these would bring any harm to
my plant and if so how do i get rid of them without harming
the plant. it also appeared that the soil was not draining
like it usually would. I have the plant growing with some
other nepenthes and drosera in my west facing window where
they get about 6-10 hours of sun depending on clouds. i
water with distilled water from the store. The soil is the
Sarracenia Northwest Nepenthes soil mix. I live in
Pennsylvania Zone 6. Please help   Thanks

Answer
Hi Chris,

These little bugs are most likely fungus gnats and gnat larvae in the soil.  Since your soil isn't draining as well as it used to, and you've got bugs, time to change the soil.  You'll tackle both problems at once that way.

If the gnats come back, or you have them on other plants, you can spray with an insecticide.  They are fairly easy to eradicate.  A systemic such as imidacloprid works well along with Neem and Pyrethrins.  Just avoid insecticidal soaps.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com