I've just discovered this strange hack that'll keep pests away from your plants — and it uses a popular cold medicine

I'm a houseplant lover and I use my mom's 'Thirsty Thursdays' routine to make sure they're always thriving. But, if there's one thing I find hard to contend with, it's fungus gnats.

Ultimately, I'm fed up with fungus gnats emerging from the soil in my houseplants, swarming around my home, and just being plain nuisances. Not only that, but they’re also ruining my plants, stunting their growth and causing them to wilt.

From sticky traps to bug zappers, I've tried all the tips and tricks from our guide on how to get rid of gnats inside your home. And while some of them have worked for me, I’m always on the hunt for quicker and easier solutions.

And fortunately, I'm in luck as I've just found a strange plant hack on TikTok that might be the answer to all my fungus gnat problems — and it uses a popular cold medicine I already have in my cabinet at home.

What is the VapoRub plant hack?

TikTok user @everydayhacks123 shares daily life hack videos to their almost 60k followers and this one, using popular cold medicine, VapoRub, caught my eye.

Using a simple cotton swab, it shows how you can dip it into a pot of VapoRub and smear it around your windows to deter bugs from coming in. In the description, they write: "It creates a smell they can't stand. It's the camper (camphor) and menthol."

And while there's no scientific evidence to back up whether fungus gnats, or any other pest like ants and mosquitoes, are deterred specifically by VapoRub, it is known that they dislike the smell.

Then, as I headed down the rabbithole, I read on Hometalk that you should also: "Apply Vicks VapoRub around the edges of plant pots or along garden borders to repel insects like ants, mosquitoes, and spiders." Given they're deterred by the smell, like fungus gnats, I thought I'd give it a try.

What happened when I tried it on my houseplants?

Considering I already have Vicks VapoRub in my cabinet, I thought it wouldn't hurt to try this hack, given it's easy and wouldn't cost me any extra cash – but I'm still waiting to see if it really works.

I wanted to make sure that I didn't get any VapoRub on my actual plant, so I carefully applied it with my fingertip around the edges of just a couple of my houseplants, but not all of them. What I can say is that I haven't noticed any fungus gnats since applying it, but I'm not sure if that is a coincidence.

What I do know is that while I quite liked the eucalyptus smell coming from my plant pots, it did remind me of being sick, which wasn't something I wanted to relive.

It's been a couple of weeks since my first application, and I did reapply the VapoRub after seven days, because I wasn't sure if it would continue to work.

Perhaps it's something I'll weave into my 'Thirsty Thursdays' routine, like a mini health check for my plants, but if I do happen to see fungus gnats again, I'll head back to the drawing board (or TikTok for more tips).

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