I think that I have Gnats!!!

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

To all the wise green thumbs out there,

Forgive my spelling. Ok I have 5 plants like @ 48 (+or- 2 days) days of 12/12 light. And to day I seen these little basters flying around the bottom of my plants. They look like fruit flys. but my eyes suck so i cant really see what they look like and plus them little shits are fast! All I know is that they look like a little black smudges when I kill them with my hands. My grow room is clean, what the heck? Could it be from the 3 inch rockwool cubes? I noticed the tops of the cubes were kind of green so I coverd them well with the clay pebbles a couple of days ago, is that alge? could that be the cause of the Gnats?

I found this in the Cannabis Grow bible :

Gnats : refer to Powder Bugs.....

"Powder Bugs:
Like to lay thier eggs in your bud and stem. They Can reduce your plant to nothing in weeks. You need a pyrethrum-based insecticide to keep them away. Ask your local grow shop for information on this product. Its will also help keep away other insects such as mites."

Ok nothing is gonna reduce my plant, except me by packing bowls, lol.
I really dont want to spray my crop down because they are not that far away from the chop. and I dont want any weird tast. I am changeing the water to start the flushing process soon. I wanna chop them like on the 10-14 of jan or so. should I let my rockwool dry up to kill these little buggers? 2-mar-o I plan to get some of them sticky fly things that hang. is there anything else i should get? I dont know what I should do? help guys and gals, please!

heres what im working with...











thanks for your help in advance...

 

[imnotcrazy]

If they are Fungus Gnats:



and larvae:


You can use Gnatrol or Mosquito Dunks (available at Lowes or Home Depot) which contain Bti which will eliminate Fungus Gnats.

 

[VanGrow]

Fungus Gnats......go to the hydro store tell the dude....I dont think spray will do it...they are in your medium.....i use promix and was given beneficial nematoades .....works well keeps them at a low level or completely kills them off..
Also you wanna find out where they came from....how are they getting in....most likely you are bringing them in somehow....shared cuttings in rockwool,bags of soil or other garden products.....keeping things dry helps B4 infestation begins...
Not the biggest deal ....just deal with it and it can all be over in a few days

Good Luck


VanGrow

 

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

thanks guys,

imnotcrazy, Gnatrol, its a spray or something that i put im res? am i 2 late in my flowering cylce 2 use this? is it something that would be better in veg than bloom? im not doubting u, because this smoke is not just for me, its for my mom 2. Mosquito Dunks it looks nice just 2 get for my grams pad, um... so i would put this in my rez, would it mess up the taste/or could be poison?

VanGrow, this promix, will it affect the taste of my trees? and can i use it durring the entire cycle or just when need. i am just about to start flushing would this be cool 2 use or should i wait for the next crop.

thanks guys! any more info out there?

 

[sonoma]

I hate those little bastards. They make it real hard for clones. I've found that sprays don't work. fly strips, and dunks are the way to go. I still battle them, so I guess I don't have a cure. The worst part are the little maggots eating young delicate roots.
I think I will get some nemotodes, they worked awesome on termites.

 

[VanGrow]

promix is my medium....or soil ......your in rockwool into clay....they are in your rockwool most likely....if your worried about chemicals ...get some BENEFICIAL NEMATODES .....they eat the larve and BAM no more gnats,,,,,
Fungus Gnats are the Chlamidia of pot growing......its not that serious if you take care of it....which is easy....spend 15$ at the hydro store or online and get the Beneficials your gnats will be gone your buds will be saved.......keep things clean....watch any slime or alge etc....find out how you brought them in.......because you did....somehow...
Tell the guy at the hydro store your tomatoes have fungus gnats.....bring 20$


Good luck
Vangrow

 

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

hey vangrow
i was gonna score some of the nematodes the last time i when to the store. darn it! hey man thanks for all the info im gonna give u some of them rep points for the help homie!

as Chlamidia would say " Let it burn"

 

[VanGrow]

ive had gnats in my very first grow....i grew ALOT OF PLANTS the gnats were everywhere in my bedroom my kitchen....i brought them in , in some scotts soil....beginner mistake using scotts from the depot....russian roulette for bugs and the like....anyway the Benes got rid of them....when you harvest clean the shit out of the whole space.....dont reflower those plants using that rockwool.....clean the space and wait a day or 2 until the coast is clear...if you need to veg ....do it somewhere far from there in a temporary space....closet.....dont mix your shit....they also lay eggs in crusty dirty nute caps....anywhere wet or slimey...
Those are nice plants if you get the Benes they will be fine....
Looks like you have about 3 weeks left in flowering.....dont flush too soon...you can cut your N completely....use the benes and feed them a few days later at least one more time.....the benes go into clean water ....then you water them into the rockwool.....The benes seek out and destroy those little floating bastards...

Thanks
VanGrow

 

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

got ya VanGrow, i got number'd clones in my closet of these, and my flower room is 1 of the corners of my room. im not gonna reflower once there done there done, i was thinking of letting a couple of them plants go 1 more nut change. then a flush. i think they look damn good for being some bagseed to practice on. i got some blockheads, white rhino x black kush , and some hashberry germing.
thanks bud

 

[MTF-Sandman]

BTW don't be concerned about the Gnatrol (aka Mosquito Dunks or BT) being toxic or detrimental to the plants, it's not. It's a microbe that feeds off the larva of insects and doesn't do anything else. Not sure where the guy that wrote that article got his info, but fungus gnats are not the same as "powder bugs" (whatever the fuck those are). They live their entire lives in the upper part of your medium and once they mature they leave to find mates and new places to lay their eggs...which turn into larva feeding off your roots. Sprays are NOT needed to kill them, but sticky traps can be handy for monitoring your insect populations. Just drop a dunk in your res and water them thoroughly. It may not kill them on the first feed cycle, but they will die eventually.

 

[dogmeat]

Gnaterol is a liquid that you can spray via foliar, or directly water with. Instructions from my shop, say 1-2 tsp's per light investation and 2-4 per heavy infestation (per gallon that is). It seems to help keep my fungas knat problem in check.

 

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

good looking out guys, all of you's. i really could not find anything on this board that had to deal with gnats, and that thing about power'd bugs.... it was in the Cannabis Grow bible. hope it helps out others to! any more suggestions would be gr8 thanks yall

 

[pepelepew098]

hey imnotcrazy, is that gnat you pictured a 1/4 inch long? that seems like a big gnat?
i have what i thought to be fungus gnats but they're only about 1/16-3/32. yours looks like a small mosquito am i seeing that wrong?

 

[imnotcrazy]

The pic is pretty magnified, it's from Stitch's thread, I believe those are 1/64 or 1/32 lines on the rule. They Gnats are pretty small. On MTF_Sandman's advice I used the dunks, broken up and half into 2 gallons of water to innoculate RW and the other half in screen bag in rez. No signs of gnats within 2 weeks, only adding I attended to the problem as soon as I saw and killed/identified the pest. Also keep some Einstien Oil on hand just in case

 

[RuralRoute420]

.

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i've never caught a single one with a flytrap, i have better luck hunting them down by eye, and squishing them......NPS don't work for them either. i just doktor doomed the room, and did a transplant on them, found another gnat.....same bag of soil though from walmart, a gigantic bag of MG, for mamas, i second the thought of bugs riding in on storebought soil, what does one do to combat this issue? i used it all up, and need another bag eventually.......?

 

[RuralRoute420]

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question about your tray........you actaully grow with it open like that? dude, cover those roots up. i'm suprise they don't all air'prune themselves off.

 

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

? im new , not crazy, i got lids for all them holes homie so the light dont mess up my water mix. air prune? again im new,lol thanks rr420

 

[Guest]

? im new , not crazy, i got lids for all them holes homie so the light dont mess up my water mix. air prune? again im new,lol thanks rr420

lol sup Gr8. just stopping by to see how ur gnat prob is going? hope u got it under control. Me and u gonna be harvesting around the same time. see u there.

 

[Pink]

What do you do with the mosquito dunks and soil? Do I crumble them up or what? Thanks in advance.

 

[stretchpuppy]

Crumble the dunks up and sprinkle it on top of your medium.... a very little goes a long way. 1/2 a dunk did the tops of my (9) 2 gallon pots and the entire mom/veg cab and I still had a lot left. I store extra in small tupperware.

If I have "dunked" a plant in veg in a 4" or 6" pot, by the time I get to flower and transplant up to a 1 or 2 gal I normally don't have to do it again. One application in veg was enough to keep them out the entire plant lifecycle.

I buy FFOF and Promix BX or HP (or both) and keep them stored in 30 gallon tupperware drums out back until I make my mixes. It never fails that I get a few gnats somewhere along the line.

I'm being anal here too. I've only seen one or two random flies at times but that was enough for me to take action. Since using dunks... I've yet to see a gnat again.

I was actually thinking about "dunking" my soil storage bins out back... I might one day, if it becomes a big problem.