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Miracle Grow "Organic" Soil Loaded with NATS

G

Guest

The nearest hydro shop to me is 1 hour out, so I decided I would suck it up and try the new Miracle Grow Organic Choice potting soil mix. This is my first grow so I decided I would try this prior to sucking it up and traveling for a wider selection. I mixed the Miracle Grow with perilite and lime, and after 4 days, my veg room is LOADED with nats. Nats in the air, nats crawling all over the soil etc. The bag I had opened and a fresh bag I opened to check, are both loaded with flying nats as well. I had to remove my sproutlings, bleach the inside of my small veg room, and I am now killing the gnats as they run around on the soil 1 by 1. I also have mixed up these donut rings that can be found at home depot that apparently kill larvea and eggs. Has anyone else had this issue with this particular soil? What about other soils? Common? Any tips other than buy better quality soil(which I will be doing).?
 
Mr Celsius

Mr Celsius

I am patient with stupidity but not with those who
Veteran
It sort of makes sense, most of that soil is composed of poultry litter, so I would imagine that gnats would be around chickens.

A good way to deal with soil nats is to put a 2" layer of sand on top of your soil and around any drainage holes. They will not be able to penetrate threw the fine sand particles and so can't continue their life cycles in the soil.
 
G

Guest

The thing is I am dealing with seedlings, as such I'm not sure if that would be the best option for my situation? Anyway, I am just going to put the other bags I had bought outside and search for another option. I suppose I could freeze the bag with the potting soil in it for awhile. Any other way to "treat" this prior to planting etc. Thanks
 
stretchpup

stretchpup

Active member
It's not common but it happens, even in Fox Farm products. Jah knows how many miles those bags traveled before hitting my local shop, and who knows how long it sat there.

You don't need to bleach your room for gnats!

Mosquito Dunks are basically Bacillus Thuringiensis subspecies Israaelenses, "BTI", and is the same primary active ingredient in the bottled form of Gnatrol. I used/use both. I break up the dunks and sprinkle the power over the tops of my plants as well as breaking them up into my water mixes to bubble overnight. I now use the bottled stuff Gnatrol as I wanted to try something new as well as having a more accurate way of measuring how much product is needed.

I also break up dunks and include them into my peat mixes as the mix will sit outside for an entire flower cycle sometimes.

It does not allow the larvae to develop meanwhile the adults die off after their breeding cycle. So don't expect to kill everything in one shot, you won't. You'll prevent small ones from growing while the remaining adults die off. Stay consistent and regular with it!

I know how much can go into this hobby but I say scrap that junk and get a bale or bag of Promix or just Peat from a garden center and follow some of the recipes in this forum.
 
G

Guest

ive had it with fox farms ocean forest. in fact, i ruined quite a few very nice beans by using the 'fresh' bag of soil. once i realized what was up, i baked ALL of the soil to kill everything. dunks sound a lot easier, i just couldnt find them at the time.

gnats are disguisting little fockers, get rid of the ASAP!!!
 
Suby

Suby

**AWD** Aficianado
Veteran
Good posts by some good members,

I had them in my home made soil mix, they got to it in the garage.
They are more of a nuisance than anything as my friend MuddyWaters says.
They munch on root hairs so seedlings are the worst hit but mature plants recover quickly.

This is what I did, I put a slice of potato in each pot and trew it out after 4 days, this will eliminate most of the larvae, I also put out a bowl of vinegar for the flies to drown in, I put 1 inch of clean sand on the top after spraying the whole plant and topsoil with a dilution of neem oil, 1/2tsp for a litre of water.
In 10 days they where gone but I have a closet grow, I also used a shop vack to catch all of the flies every day until they where gone.

It has little to do with the MG but as mentiones poultry litter is a main component so maybe there is something there.
They are attracted by healthy organic soil that is moist, try to keep your plants on the dryer side by feeding from the bottom by flling the saucers, this will keep the topsoil where they breed too dry for them.
These methods where safe on my clones, they should be fine for seedlings, keep spraying them 1 a week with neem oil solution, it has rid me of them completely, I still see one now and then but they can't get established.

S
 
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J

JackTheGrower

I agree "They are more of a nuisance than anything"

The ones I get seasonally hatch out and look like the fizzz on the top of a glass of sprite as they hop about.
They stick to yellow stick traps laid out on the ground.

I keep yellow sticky traps around.





Added some pictures of nat-ish offspring in an organic soil stuck to yellow sticky traps
 
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E

ElDust

Member
That's exactly what happened to me, I used the exact soil for starting my grow, I grew 4 white rhinos from seed in it, and all was good for a little bit, then all of a sudden one day my grow room was infested with gnats all over, they ruined my crops and I learned never to use that shit again.
 
J

JackTheGrower

ElDust said:
That's exactly what happened to me, I used the exact soil for starting my grow, I grew 4 white rhinos from seed in it, and all was good for a little bit, then all of a sudden one day my grow room was infested with gnats all over, they ruined my crops and I learned never to use that shit again.
Click to expand...


Dude in flower I am never without yellow sticky traps.

I want nothing stuck to my bud.
 
bakelite

bakelite

Active member
I had a nasty gnat outbreak in my last grow. As Stretchpup and others have mentioned Mosquito dunks do work. I break of about 1/4 of a donut/tablet thing and soak it in 1/2 gal water for a few days. You can throw 1/2" or so of play sand on top of the dirt too. The combo works pretty well.
 
G

Guest

I am gnat free so are the girls. I freeze all soil and amendments.Gnats will and can hurt the grow.
 
spyvsspy

spyvsspy

Member
Same damn thing happened to me last year. I was a little low on cash so I bought the Miracle Grow organic- it looked like it had a bunch of the right goodies in it. Two weeks later I noticed a bunch of gnats in my room. Like you I went back to the bag which still had some soil in it- opened it up-- and hundreds of gnats came flying out (luckily I was outside) But that stuff is crap- my crop recovered but I was fighting the gnats the whole time :cuss:
 
P

prime8

Organic?

Organic?

If you read the bag of Organic Choice you will not see any certification. Also the chicken shit comes from Purdue chickens which are not organic. On the bag it is not labeled 100% organic it is labeled Natural Organic.They actually had to change the label from when they first introduced it.At least it has an organic wetting agent.I almost bought some in an act of desperation but opted out.Cheers!
 
G

Guest

Quote - The ones I get seasonally hatch out and look like the fizzz on the top of a glass of sprite as they hop about.

Damn fine description Jack.
 
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