I think that I have Gnats!!!

[Meadowlands]

I just bought some after reading this. I am using soil.
I did indeed find them at Lowe's, and they cost just under ten dollars for 6 pucks. the pucks look like little little doughnuts and have the texture of styrofoam, only more dense and starchy. It took a little while to break up, and I found scissors effective at getting them into smaller pieces before I smashed them into smaller granules and powder. The granules didn't seem to dissolve much upon spraying, but I just put out new sticky traps and will be monitoring the gnat population hoping for a decline. Before this I had tried letting the medium get more dry, tried using neem oil and insecticidal soap, none of which could defeat their overall population.

I've got my fingers crossed with the dunks!

 

[Vermonster]

i just had them, i let my soild dry out real well, covered the top layer with sand, with the exception of the few places that i had put slices of potato, and i hung sticky traps near the pots. those bitches where gone in two weeks. no chems nothing. just make sure you get rid of the potatoes outside in a bag or the eggs in them will hatch. if that don't work check out GTG hydropins on the net they sell Gnatrol in normal size containers for non ridiclous prices. also i used decorative sand from an art supply store so i knew it was super sterile.

 

[testpilot]

You can get pre-crumbled dunks of BTI granules...I'll have to look at the package to get a name.

They come in dissolving pouches. The instructions for flower pots say 1/4 pouch for between 1 and 12 square feet. Just tear off a corner and sprinkle in the pot. You can toss the whole pouch in standing water also.

 

[Loudcall]

Gr8, Hi Man!!!! I frequently have those worriesome little gnats all the time and you're going to always have em too, definately so if you're growing organically. Those things love that soil....I use the Fly Glue Strips. And another thing that keeps them down is to let the soil dry out more between waterings.I learned that little trick from Jorge Cervantes' High Times Articles....So dont worry they wont kill anything they're just annoying...Sort of like some Kinfolk....The only thing that I dont recommend is for you to not use anything chemically based....And as for rooting cuttings with the gnats around, that will not be a problem if you have your clones inside a cloner with a dome to cover them....This practice will help you to keep the gnats away from your precious clones....Glad to be of help....And Happy Growing To Ya!!!! Loudcall!!

 

[richyrich]

I put the dunks in warm water and then crush them down into granule pieces. Then I sprinkle them over my soil. Give a watering and problem solved.

 

[paulobaca]

dunks

dunks

Im a newb using rockwool and had a gnat prob. I used dunks in my res and it really didnt help but when I sprinkled it on top soil the problem was solved.

 

[Meadowlands]

well its been about a week since I dusted my containers. I still have gnats. should i let the dunk dissolve into my water and then pour it on instead? I have about 18 pots that are 5.5x5.5 inches, and for those I used 2 dunks. Was that not enough or do I need to give them some more time to work?

 

[wsp]

Hang 1 No Pest Strip and spray the leaves and stems around the base with Safer Insecticidal Soap which is registered wtih OMRI. This solved my invasion. You can purchase this at Lowes.

 

[toohighmf]

heres a suggestion

heres a suggestion

grab some yellow sticky traps and fold one in half. cut a slit then a 1" circular hole in the center into the folded trap so you have 2 sticky sides place them on top of your cubes. then mix 10-15ml of 35%h2o2 per gallon and flush the cubes with it. it will burn the little bastards and they will fly to the top of the cube or to other cubes for exhile where you will then catch em on the tops of the folded trap. If that dont work. try Go gnats or Gnatrol if you can find it. it usually kills them in 1 application.. biological warfare is truly the only way to rid them. do you have any conditions of pythium or rootrot? slimey stinky roots if so you may want to trim em off after the h2o2 bath.

 

[Meadowlands]

Nothing kills them! I have been through 3 bottles of the soap. it's because of my small containers I bet, watering frequently and the little buggers love it like that.

 

[MynameStitch]

SM90 works good too; soil dunks work both in hydro and soil, but you have to mix the proper amount of water with those dunks other wise they won't work, too much water and too little dunks will be watered down and not enough to kill all them.

How many dunks did you have in there?

 

[asa42]

post 1 of ?

post 1 of ?

i have dealt w/ an extreme infestation on 2 different occasions. so extreme one can visibly see the damage, drasticly reduced yeilds, and even death to a plant. it is possible to tackle gnats completly!

sticky traps are great for adults. ya can hang em or manipulate em to get them near to top of the soil line. reason ya wanna get adults so they dont lay more eggs. some mentioned a layer of sand ontop soil to keep that from happenin, this will work coarse so does perlite. sand smothers emerging adults yet

 

[asa42]

2nd post of ?

2nd post of ?

... can delay egg development. sand is heavier (if ya water by weight) & not as breathable, heck ya add perlite to the medium for air eh.

so the larvae are the major problem & what require more attention. i read peroxide was used, it can work in soil but it also kills all the benefitials & nutes. for soil BTi is amazing. never tried just crumblin it on the soil, instead set up a water mix. we crumbled portions of mosquito dunks into gallon jugs & let sit for 24 hours. the dunks done this way are only...

 

[asa42]

best of luck to those fightin these f gnats

best of luck to those fightin these f gnats

...active in the soil for 48hrs meanin more applications are necessary.

another good option in soil are preditory bugs. hypoaspis mites chow down on em, i've witnessed this. i've not tried nematodes but hear they work too.

to those thinkin they are bringin eggs in w/their medium ya can steralize it. imo it's easier to do a few BTi applications.

to any who have done all the above & still fightin may want to consider covering the drain holes as well as the top. is extreme but was what finally helped here.

 

[Guest]

I'm battling them right now. I have had a no pest strip hanging and two dunks in my 40 gal. res for a month and the gnats seem to be bulking up, lol. Last night I crumbled up a dunk and sprinkled it on top of the coco in the pots. 3 of the plants are in flush cycle and about a week from harvest. I can't see any damage to the plants from these things but they've been around since I put the plants into flower.

About BT, if you've got a farmer's coop in your town, go there. BT comes in liquid and powder form also. This is a little more convenient and a little more expensive but not much and it will kill them.

BT does not give the pests the plague. BT is a bacillus bacteria. It causes the stomach lining of the pest to disolve. Cut worms, caterpillars, cabbage loopers and larvae - any worm basically - will stop feeding hours after ingesting it and be dead within 24 hours. If applied to the leaves, it will need to be re-applied after each foliar feeding. If applied in liquid form, it will leave a residue when dry. This is the BT.

BT is completely harmless to humans. Vegetables sprayed with it can be pulled off the vine and eaten without washing after 24 hours - probably immediately but they had to put something on the label to give it a PG13 rating. lmfao.

Anyhoo, I'm off to find some stuff to deal with them. I don't know if the crumbled dunks are going to take care of them, but I'm getting something else just in case. The pots I flush looked like the gnat population is down a little. I didn't break the dunks up into powder. I broke them up into powder with a few chunks in it and sprinkled it on top of the coco. By leaving little chunks in the indentations the water sprays have made in the coco, it gets carried down into the medium every watering. Every time the water comes on, the sprayers hit the little chunks and more is carried into the coco to replace any that's lost out the bottom of the pots. The coco is inoculated in this manner every time I water. I get a 200% runoff every watering so this is necessary, I believe. May not be though. Coco is just dense enough that it may filter out the BT and keep it from all going out the bottom. And being a bacteria, if a little is left in the coco for long enough, the BT will multiply. I'm not taking any chances.

Neem sounds like the way to go for a little better control. That in conjunction with all the other should take care of them.

Peace

BTW, you don't have to bring gnats in. They're bugs and bugs are attracted to light. Every time you open the door to the grow room, it's like you're switching on a neon sign that says "Eat at the Doobie Diner." They have wings and will follow you in from every part of the house. If you have them anywhere in the house, get rid of them.

I will always have the problem cause my wife caught "Green Planet Syndrome" about a year ago and wanted to start recycling and doing things organically like growing worms and shit. Only hitch is, she doesn't like touching the damned things, lmfao. So basically, she created a worm farm - FOR ME! I don't use them but she doesn't want them to suffer so she keeps the damned things under a table in the utility room. Gnats love it! And I'm stuck with it!

 

[asa42]

cheese & crackers mojo!!

cheese & crackers mojo!!

a worm farm you gotta deal w/ & dont use!?! my man would kill me! lol. anyway, good info. BTW ya generally wont see damage unless ya have a crazy infestation. we had one in a perpetual that slaughtered clone survival rate & those that did make it never showed their full potential. also i fully agree about their capability to enter the house in various ways! since they vary in size, some are small enough to come thru the window screens. our house has bread them too so i fully understand.

 

[spyvsspy]

I tried the ol' Neem plus No Pest Strips plus potato wedges on the soil and it seemed to get my issue in check. When I watered I sprayed the pooling water at top with a spray or two of dilluted Neem- then when it seeped in it took the neem down with it- also sprayed the plants pretty well. Then put potato slices on the surface of the soil in the shade so theyd lay their eggs on it- then removed after 4-5 days. Combined with a No Pest strip and I'm seeing a drastic reduction and the floor is covered in dead little bastard gnats

 

[damrak1]

i had bother, with them a wile bk...i got fungus gnat off all natural insect pest control..plus i gave them some neem oil to seems to kill them at this end of the woods...gd luck with them KILL the bast.... quick

 

[Guest]

Ok, mine seem to be on their way out, hehe.

I hung a second no-pest strip and sprayed the top of my coco with neem just after each watering and let it soak down with the remainder of the water. Been doing that for two days and see a drastic reduction in numbers of the little shits.

The potato thingy, I can't wait four or five days to do anything. I'm more into hand grenades than I am fishing, lol. Or maybe fishing with hand grenades.

Peace

 

[reddy1]

i'm using a no pest strip, spraying the leaves with neem and those cocksuckers are still around.

i've used mosquito dunks in the past. my method was to break a dunk up into a nylon, soak it in a gallon of water(cap open), apply(handwater) after it gets smelly(5 days). seemed to work, now they are back.

anybody got a different method? how long does the bacteria keep the gnats away?

i'm also going to spray the top layers of coco with neem like mojo suggested.