Uninvited Gnats on my Greek Oregano

The nursery that grew my Greek Oregano gave me a wonderful full plant with lots of promising young shoots.  They also gave me scores of tiny gnats which I discovered the first time I watered my new plant.  These tiny insects fly up from the soil when watering and hover around the plant.  I am concerned not only for my Greek Oregano, but that these insects might spread to other plants in my balcony garden.  I did a little research on my uninvited guests and found a solution that seems to easy to be true.

My unwelcome garden pests appear to be soil or fungus gnats.  They live in moist plant soil and are attracted to moisture.  They often occur in plants that have been overwatered.  My gardening consultant advised me to stop watering and allow the top layer of the plants to dry out  completely.  As long as the leaves of the plants are not wilting this will not harm the plant.  The fungus gnats will be unable to survive in dry soil.  They have short life spans and should soon die off.

I was also warned to cover anything moist that might serve as a new home for these uninvited pests.  The gnats will often relocate to a houseplant or a cat litter box in an effort to sustain themselves.  If this solution works it will be an easy way to get rid of the fungus gnats.  Since most of my plants require little water and are drought tolerant, it should work fine.  One wrinkle in this well-laid plan is that the weather predicts thunderstorms and rain for the next few days.  It tends to rain in on my balcony, so it may take a few days longer to banish these water loving pests than predicted. 

Problem Pest:  Soil or Fungus Gnats
Solution:  Stop Watering.  Allow top layer of soil to dry out.  Gnats will die off quickly.