How to deal with knats in recycled soil

[handyandy]

I have : 1 Bale promix bx, 3.8 cu.ft.
25 lb ewc
15 lb vermi compost from bag
used this soil for one run useing mainly ACT with ewc,soil,compost and mollases.
I have knats in this soil with nothing done yet.
I have a old botel of Gnatrol witch has cedar oil (smells great)

should i mix this in now? before using with plants.

 

[grow_right]

gnats are a sign of to wet media. allow it to dry out before watering. stiring the media around in between watering will help also.

 

[handyandy]

Thanks for your input grow right. I should explain more.
I am finishing a grow. My soil is not wet. Will be placed in small baby pool with bloodmeal, bonemeal, kelp meal, dolimite lime. wet and mix. let sit 4 weeks before use.
I know I have fungs knats in this soil so should I use my gnattrol when I amend the soil or wait till I plant or what is the best way to get rid of them without hurting the microherd?
I have read that heating in the sun will kill them but will also kill the microherd.
All Input is welcome.
Thanks

 

[festivus]

Easy solution is bake the recycled media in the oven @ 350F for one hour. This will for the most part steralize your soil, so the microherd will have to be replaced, but it will kill the gnats and their larve. Better safe than sorry, and gnatrol isn't worth a fuck, so if it were me I wouldn't waste money or time on it.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

I would never put my soil in the oven. Quite comical though really. Grow Right is trying to tell you that fungus gnats prefer a wet medium. They also dislike a windy environment. They prefer to eat dead roots rather than live roots. I've found the easiest way to control them is by watering properly, keeping an oscillating fan at the soil level, and by placing yellow sticky traps around the grow. It really takes a massive infestation for the gnats to do any real harm. The last time I let them get out of hand I was more bothered by them sticking to my buds than any damage they caused.

 

[Field&Stream]

2 words, Mosquito Dunks.

 

[handyandy]

Thanks everyone for your input. I was wrong I have Go Nats not gnatrol.
I will try using my Go Nats unless anyone has had a bad thing happen.

Thanks again.

 

[redneck shogun]

Diatomaceous Earth is great and will add silica to your mix while killing off the soft body bugs.

 

[Doobie Nyce]

beneficial nematodes eat gnat larvae!
Also Diatomaceous Earth topdress works wicked good.

I would use a nematode sponge when remixing soil and D.E. topdress also.

 

[Doobie Nyce]

PS> do NOT use Sevin on your soil!!!!!!!!!

or anywhere for that matter!

peace

 

[Doobie Nyce]

Hammerhead>> This is the ORGANIC SOIL forum...
not the forum where we use nasty chems on our produce to solve simple problems!

PEACE

 

[Amber Trich]

To ea there own. It works well for me. I had a serious infestation. I dont use it like most do.. I water my plants well I apply a thin layer let it sit for 3 days. I use my wet/dry vac to suck off the powder and dead bugs. None of the powder comes into contact with any part of the plant roots included. The top layer of soil is the only contact point. Repeat if Necessary. For those that are strongly against any use of chems this method might not be for you.

completely inappropriate advice for the organic forum, especially for recycled soil



...a thick layer of perlite or sand mulch works really well

 

[Hammerhead]

Not if the infestation is out of control. My issue was not simple. There where thousands of Gnats. Organic control was not a option. I forget how serious you guys are about your Organics. I did not notice it was the Organic soil forum when I made that post.. I wont make that mistake again....

I will remove my posts my bad.. Good luck..

 

[festivus]

Oh?

Oh?

I would never put my soil in the oven. Quite comical though really. Grow Right is trying to tell you that fungus gnats prefer a wet medium. They also dislike a windy environment. They prefer to eat dead roots rather than live roots. I've found the easiest way to control them is by watering properly, keeping an oscillating fan at the soil level, and by placing yellow sticky traps around the grow. It really takes a massive infestation for the gnats to do any real harm. The last time I let them get out of hand I was more bothered by them sticking to my buds than any damage they caused.

What's so comical about baking/steralizing recycled soil? Have you ever tried it? Last year I had back-to-back gnat infestations, gnatrol and dunks killed some, but resulted in resistant gnats. Yellow sticky traps will catch some, but by the time you've got fliers, you're already in deep shit.

Alot of peeps swear by dicotimous earth, haven't used it myself but will in the future, if needed.

Gnats start inflicting harm immediately, you don't need a major infestation. The first sign is plant's leaves drooping.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Hey Festivus, Thanks for the advice. No, I haven't tried baking my soil in the oven. Are you sure you're not overwatering your plants and thats why they are drooping?? I've pulled a pound per 600watter with plenty of "fliers" around. It "bugs" me when they get stuck to those big fat buds...and that's why I spend a minimal amount of time trying to rid my room of them.

 

[festivus]

Def not overwater, both infestations all the girls were in one gallon pots. One day they would look lush and vigorous, and the next day leaves pointed down. I pulled one of the pots off and checked the rootball under magnification. The roots were crawling with larve. My yellow sticky traps would get covered in days and had runners everywhere.

Both grows I was able to squeak out a yield, but it was much lower than I would normally get. You're right Rancho, buds with bugs stuck to them doesn't help the bag appeal lol.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

My 14" max fan with a allergen furnace filter stuck on it sucks the shit out of fungus gnats. They fly by and it is like a black hole there is no going back they are stuck in the filter. I think the lady bugs are snacking on the bodies, but they can fly out. I like to go overboard and throw a yellow sticky on each pot it really hurts their numbers.

 

[Bennyweed1]

I had the same problem for the longest time. Literally probably 6 months or so. I then discovered Mosquito Dunks. They work awesome.

What works the best is crushing the dunks and sprinkle 1-2tsp in the top layer of soil.

Go about watering as usual. In about 10-14 days you will see zero Gnats. Hang up sticky traps to catch the adults as the larvae slowly die.

I went out and bought nematodes but did not even have to use them. Still sitting in my fridge. I hope they dont die.......

Mosquito Dunks are completely safe for an organic garden because they are a biocontrol. They will not harm people, pets, wildlife or fish.

 

[festivus]

I had the same problem for the longest time. Literally probably 6 months or so. I then discovered Mosquito Dunks. They work awesome.

What works the best is crushing the dunks and sprinkle 1-2tsp in the top layer of soil.

Go about watering as usual. In about 10-14 days you will see zero Gnats. Hang up sticky traps to catch the adults as the larvae slowly die.

I went out and bought nematodes but did not even have to use them. Still sitting in my fridge. I hope they dont die.......

Mosquito Dunks are completely safe for an organic garden because they are a biocontrol. They will not harm people, pets, wildlife or fish.

Dunks were the first thing I tried. Crumpled them up and spread it across the soil and let it soak in my watering can abefore watering for several weeks. It killed a bunch of the little fuckers, but wasn't even close to being a final solution. Gnatrol did a bit better, but didn't stop the infestation.

Had to pull down my fans and ducting as it was caked with their little dead corpses.

And I thought resistant spider mites were the worst pests...

 

[bigleek]

i,ve been using neem powder in my soil mix
no more knats