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fungas knats

S

shuswap

okay these bastards im finding hard to deal with in organics,first noticed them on the yellow sticky cards,i always let the top bit of soil dry out,i ended up putting yellow cards on every 10gallon pot,i filled a barrel with water and a mosquito dunk that sat for 36 hours I then heavily watered the pots,two weeks later its like they hit overdrive and are back with a vengeance.i have just bought u huge bag of diamtoues earth,even though the top inch or so always dries out,anyways I put about 1 cup on the top of every pot and spread evenly with my fingers and I will be watering in a few days with the mosquito dunk,i have been feeding act tea of castings and molasses every 2 weeks,week 5 of flower,does anybody have some suggestions ?
 
C

canna woop!

Member
Diatomacous earth should work if you let the top of the soil dry out...
I figured, there should be a layer of sand/DE on the bottom of the pot's so they can't crawl out from there and also. have you tried using sand on top of your soil and THEN adding the DE? it really goes a long way to keeping the DE dry. The sand fills a lot of the pore space in the surface soil and keeps the DE from getting watered in. If you want to go all the way with it, get a funnel for each pot you are watering and jam it 1/2 way into your soil. Then put a bit of sand in the funnel to hold it in place. should work to water if you have patience! Good luck. And Don't despair. Remember that the gnats seem to dominate in an indoor environment because their predator's are all outside. Skeeter eaters, spider's, etc. The population of predators on the surface of an outdoor vermicompost bin for example.
 
surfguitar

surfguitar

Member
In addition to what frank recommends I've been having success controlling them with hypoasis mites, rove beetles and caps beneficials.
 
S

SPG*

Fungus gnats are terrible.I was given a plant infested with them and they soon Spread (coco)
Moving soon so that will be the end of them :)
I've heard Gnatrol works good (in the states) here in the uk I've spent loads on gnatoff never really getting rid of them completely though more like keeping them under control.
Don't forget to use Sticky fly traps as well :smoke:
 
S

shuswap

can one buy nematodes from a local garden center this time of year?
 
J

JohnQQ

Member
Mosquito Dunks (or crumbles) are often more readily available than nematodes at the Home Depot and Lowes stores I've visited.

Essentially, it takes longer to work, but once the bacteria in the mosquito dunks (BTi if you want to google it) take up residence in the soil, they enter into the gnat young and essentially release chemicals that make the young vomit uncontrollably until death.

Aaaaaanywho, I tried neem oil, sticky pads, diatomaceous earth (DE), and then finally added the BTi to my soil. That's what ended my problem :)
 
Scottish Research

Scottish Research

Senior Member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Get some Gnatrol, it will solve your problem. I found it on Amazon (great price), and only use it in the warm months. My first grow suffered from these pests, and I tried everything.



R.Fortune
 
DinosaurCocks

DinosaurCocks

Member
just dust the surface of your soil every 2 weeks with diatomacious earth, that will keep them at bay...some people even think it supplies silicon to your plants... it's organic and food safe even, i trust it more than anything else i put near my plants, including amendments and nutrients...it's cheep and effective...cuts up the bugs exoskeletons so they dehydrate and die...

i don't know about the rest of you but i don't worry about one or two bugs flying around, be them thrips or fungus gnats or any other small flying bug, though it's been a while since ive seen any, i mostly ignore fungus gnats because they don't harm much of anything, unless you have a ton maybe, and if you do you are probably watering a bit too often... my light sprinkling of DE twice a month has been more than enough to keep all the pests at bay in my garden for 4 years straight now, even with all the windows open in the summer!

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Diatomacous earth should work if you let the top of the soil dry out...
I figured, there should be a layer of sand/DE on the bottom of the pot's so they can't crawl out from there and also. have you tried using sand on top of your soil and THEN adding the DE? it really goes a long way to keeping the DE dry. The sand fills a lot of the pore space in the surface soil and keeps the DE from getting watered in. If you want to go all the way with it, get a funnel for each pot you are watering and jam it 1/2 way into your soil. Then put a bit of sand in the funnel to hold it in place. should work to water if you have patience! Good luck. And Don't despair. Remember that the gnats seem to dominate in an indoor environment because their predator's are all outside. Skeeter eaters, spider's, etc. The population of predators on the surface of an outdoor vermicompost bin for example. [/FONT]
Click to expand...
why add sand?!? de is a better alternative to sand, sand will slowly trickle down into your soil as you water, changing the drainage properties of the soil, de also trickles into the soil, but does nothing to change the soil except to act as a wetting agent, so your water doesn't bead on the surface of the soil as much...also de is super cheep so there is no reason you cant keep reapplying it...it's not hard to do, after the infestation is dealt with it should take less frequent dustings to keep the bugs at bay. not to mention fungus gnats are gnats, their larva live in the top few inches of soil, they are essentially teany tiny super small maggots that need high humidity and moisture to stay alive, there is absolutely no reason to think they would ever try to burrow down to the bottom of your pot, and somehow crawl out to another pot...thats complete nonsense! they only live for 2 weeks after all before becoming bugs...they have a limited ability to move around, that's why they spend that first 2 weeks within the first few inches of soil, so they can pupate and emerge easily. if you let the top of your soil dry before you re-water that alone will help to control them quite a bit, ive never seen a person with fungus gnat problems, who didn't overwater....
 
A

anferneybra

Member
BTI is the best solution. I run it in every pot no matter what, every time. I actually amend with it when I plant/transplant. I use the Mosquito Bits, same company that makes the dunks.

100 bucks for a 5 gallon bucket full. I pack the bottom couple inches of soil in container, spread a little layer of the BTI, then back fill in and put the plant in. Then a small little bit on the top of each pot. Yellow cards in a room with 72 - 10 gallon organic soil pots, not 1 gnat.

I had a HUGE infestation last run, perfect storm came when I over watered the new transplants from 3gals to 10 gals. Then BOOM population exploded. I set off 1 pyrethrin bomb in veg to nuke all flyers, and started the BTI regimen. Took about 2 weeks for total control. You also cannot over do it with BTI, only over doing would result in a waste of money in BTI no plant damage.

Other things like nematodes and DE works, but the nematodes can be somewhat hard to locate/keep alive. DE is always in the mix, but I think you would have to use a TON to effectively cover each pot. BTI gets wet, stays moist and continually releases.

Hope this helps.

T
 
dank.frank

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Anytime I've ever used the nematodes, it's been super effective. Although, I just had some ordered through my local garden supply and then picked them up and added them to the batch of recycled soil I had composting...

I waiting until it was time to transplant...I use small 9oz cups of soil for planting freshly rooted clones, 1 or 2 gallon containers for vegging, then into 3 or 5 containers for flower...

After having mixed the nematodes into the soil a couple days prior - I transplanted everything into the treated/fresh soil; vegging plants into flower, cups into veg, and rooted clones into their cups...

All fungus gnats were gone in 2 weeks....never had them again at that location.



dank.Frank
 
surfguitar

surfguitar

Member
If you get DE, amorphous silica DE is the bset option imo, better than the calcined one.

You guys must be lucky who cure it with just BTI, I use dunks+roves+hypoasis+sticky traps and I still have some gnats haha. Barely any but the bastards still somehow manage to stick around, not that big of a deal tho at this point they are just a nuisance. THis stuff takes a while too, when I first introdued all the bene's it seemed like the gnats actually increased in population(probably cus they just hatched) but after about 2-3 weeks I can barely find any gnats.
 
E

Eureka Springs Organics

Nematodes work very well for this. So does OGBIOWAR Foliar. I have had success with both.
 
A

anferneybra

Member
I don't think its as much luck with BTI as it is knowing when/how to apply.

It is important to get rid of flying adults with sticky cards while laying the foundation of BTI. Just like setting up your bacterial/fungi with soil inoculants and teas, you have to set this BTI up. It does take time to get full control of a garden with it, but its completely organic and safe.

I have used nematodes also, they do work and well. The thing is that I think, because I transplant rapidly, they don't have time to setup house and reproduce to catch up to the amount of media I use. I go from cups to 3 gals to 10 gals within 4-5 weeks. Thats a lot of real estate for nematodes to protect and I feel that I get better and more reliable control from BTI preventatives.

Also soil drenches do work too with a dunk or even the bits in with your fresh water for a couple hours before watering.

As you are 5 weeks into flower, nothing is really going to cure you before flushing starts, and if they arn't too bad at this point I would just card the place and wait to chop. No sense getting all crazy towards the end of flower. What damage that has been done is permanent, sorry man. Next round, preventative maintenance is best with BTI/DE/nematodes, whatever you go with get it in there early.

Let us know how it goes.

T
 
B

Baked Alaskan

Every few days I rub the top of my soil with the flat of my hand. I'm careful not to disturb my feeder roots or hit the stem. I've broken roots by hitting the stem when the plants were young, im pretty careful now.
 
S

shuswap

I layed about 3.8 of an inch of diamoutous on the top of pots,evenly,all you can see is white,will be bottom feeding for the next 10-14 days aiming at keeping top dry so the de works,also watering with dunks
 
S

Speed Racer

Member
I used mosquito dunks and crumble easily into small bits. Don't use the pre made bits. If you read the label, it has less active ingredient than the whole dunks. I also do a bottom layer of soil in pots with the crushed dunks and down to earth neem meal. I apply only the dunks in the top layer as neem has nutes. Can apply neem meal or gnatrol to top layer if is real bad. Warning, gnatrol is harder on plants and killed a few seedlings once. Don't use gnatrol on seedlings. Dunks do take longer though, but work. I use quite a bit of crushed dunk and no ill affects to taste or anything. I do spread the most around edges and bottom of pot with some at base of plant too. I like neem meal and no mixing problems like with the oil which needs an emulsifier. Never tried DE. Read that can get quite mushy? The thought of cutting up the little bastard adults sounds good though. Haven't tried, but when bad thought to coat the rim of pot that they love to climb out on with easily removed sticky goo that will trap them. Honey and molasses are to thin, but if dehydrated to make thicker maybe or rub sticky tape goo on the rim. Yes seems wouldn't come off, but once wife got tape in her hair. Was hilarious actually, but plain canola oil will wipe it clean no problem and works real good in hair, bubble bags and hand washing etc. :tiphat: SR
 
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