How often do you flood coco???

[islander420]

Been running this coco for a bit and I like the results, but I hate those fungus gnats. Had great results with Gognats, but I'm not too comfy keeping it in my rez as it looks all waxy....but it smells good

Currently flooding twice for 15 mins / day, but was wondering if anyone is only flooding once a day with 8" coco pots to help cut down on the gnats.

I've got several moms in 8" coco pots that I only hand water once a day and can actually get by with once every 2 days and they look great. I put a layer of sand on top to stop the gnats from laying eggs and it seems to have done the trick for the meantime.

It's like an ongoing war just trying to stop these gnats from breeding and multiplying..... :-0


Any input would be helpful....thanks

 

[getsome5o]

I would say get yourself a moister meter they are like 10 bucks at home depot or lowes and let the plants tell you when to water. Some strains use more or less water than others. Hope that helps.

 

[dunkybones]

Gnats... Coco isn't soil, but you can water it like soil, when it loses 50% of it's weight, hit it again. This will keep things drier and keep the gnats in check. I battled gnats for almost a year before I knocked them out. Though they never go completely away, but now I deal with 3 a month. Here is what worked for me.

- Drying things out like described above.

- GoGnats. I had poor results with this product at first, but once I paid attention to the instructions, surprise, it worked. Every five to seven days I would mix up a bucket at whatever strength was recommended, and hand water each pot with a good flood/soak/flush, so the medium was saturated. I know I said to keep the medium drier, but you have to flexible. I didn't interrupt the feed cycle whatsoever.

- Dr. Doom Pyrethrin foggers. Kills adults dead. And it's organic-ish?! Once again, I followed the directions. At lights off I'd shut down all the fans and everything, pop the fogger off like a grenade and run out of the room. If I was around I'd pop back in at lights on and plug in the ac, fans, vents, etc. If I couldn't be around for lights on, I'd just run in in the dark, having left all plugs and switches within easy reach, plug it all back in in seconds, and be done. I know you're not supposed to interrupt the dark cycle, so I was as unobtrusive as possible. The plants never noticed.

- The most important part was dedication, I did this for a month straight, even if the gnats 'appeared' gone. You gotta kick 'em while they're down.

A few gnats still flutter around, but sticky traps and good hand-eye coordination keeps their numbers down to a negligible minimum.

Good luck. Gnats suck.

 

[dunkybones]

Oh, and sand never worked for me, because it washed down into the coco.

 

[getsome5o]

Put a layer of perlite on top. should help.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Here is a tip. Put small plants in an incubator/greenhouse - one of those Nortene etc. deals. Then spray with spruzit or a similar pyrethrine based insecticide.

You never knew how many adult gnats you had until they show up dead. The adults don't eat, but at least they're not laying more eggs to generate the larvae that do.

 

[stickylungs]

Yo, for sure cut down the feeding to once a day. You can set flood to manual and turn on when needed. trick being that you want the top 1/2 inch of the coco to dry out, and then flood. early stages only require flooding every couple of days, once it gets moving is when the daily flood should start.

Gnats, we use a sick combo that still works great. Gnatrol in the feed in like week 2 bloom, also top layer w/ diatamacious(sp?) earth, and then run a sulphur burn for 10 min twice in week 2.

 

[the lonely shoe]

can i just ask which coco you are using? ,as i used to get gnats more when using canna
saying that though since i've moved and built a new space(so its all clean) ,i've had to use plagron coco as its more local
and since having a new area and changing coco i've had no gnats at all

so it might be worth giving the G/R a good wipe down and clean

oh ..and i'm in 6.5ltr pots and water by hand usually every other day by flooding the tray and letting them feed from the bottom
and then feed from the top once or twice a week

 

[guest]

If your flooding like I read above you should be able to put a couple of mosquito dunks in your rez and depending on how bad your infestation is, it could take one to two weeks to clear up. As for how often I flood, I flood 4 times every 3 hours in a 12/12. The more O2 I can get to the root zone the better for the plant.

 

[love the smell]

I'm trying a layer of hyrdoton on top but the gnats still seem to be hanging around. I've been watering every day though, so maybe I'll try to dry out the medium.

 

[hazy]

Get some sm90.

Spray the surface, use a little in your nutes. They'll be gone forever after a few times.

I have not had them for a year. I quit spraying for them a year ago too.

 

[3dDream]

Mosquito dunks + spinosad works really nice. I just read that spinosad can be used systemically. I am trying to figure out the dose; Right now I am only using 5ml per gallon. The dunks can really lower the ph and I think spinosad is more effective. I use Monterey Garden Insect Spray.

I use valves that flood when they dry up. They can flood a couple times a day and I still can get gnats. Spray the leaves and do a few feedings with the spinosad in the rez and they will disappear.

 

[islander420]

Thanks for all the input. Seem to have gotten the gnats under control with the GoGnats. Just a few of them suckers still flying around but I probably killed 95% of them with the help of the stocky traps. Changed out my rez though cuz it looked all slimy and waxy....yuck....smells good though.

Hazy - I'll give that SM90 a shot next time around. Looks promising

Lonely Shoe - I use b'cuzz coco in bags. I'm thinking the gnats were in the last bag that I purchased from the shop. I'll probably let it dry out a bit before putting in pots so I can dry out any larvae that may still be in there.

Just keep it growing people...

 

[islander420]

Love the Smell - I don't think a top layer of hydroton will work as you are trying to prevent the gnats from going in and laying eggs as the hydroton is too porous.

The sand seems to be working so far from the top and not washing down though the coco considering I hand water my moms.

 

[Nickelbag]

I would say get yourself a moister meter they are like 10 bucks at home depot or lowes and let the plants tell you when to water. Some strains use more or less water than others. Hope that helps.

Thats just stoopid. You should be able to let the plants tell you without any freaking meters. I know this is an old post so I hope you've learned how to grow since then

 

[Levitationofme]

:jawdrop:

 

[paper thorn]

.

 

[Lazyman]

My trick for fungus gnats is the following:

Water less often
Add more perlite to the mix (I water 1x a day with 2 gallon smartpots of 80% #3 chunky perlite 20% coco)
10ml per gallon bleach 1-2x per week. Bleach is cheap, off gasses quickly, and kills the fungus that the gnats eat. It also keeps algae away.

Good luck!