anyone ever lose a crop to gnats?

Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I fucked up. Perfect storm of mishaps and misjudgments, and one of my closets got so out of hand with gnats that now about half the buds look like fly paper in a shit storm. It's 4 weeks into flower at the moment.

How did it get so out of hand? A few main factors: First grow. I read that gnats aren't really a problem because they don't harm the plants, so I waited too long to act. I got gnat infested soil. I used a bad mix (rookie mistake) and one of my soil components had water retention properties, which promoted fungus, which fed the gnats larva/nymphs(?).

So, some questions.... How bad is it to smoke gnats? Would making tincture in 151 Rum be an OK use of the buds? Should I just pull the plants, scrap the grow, and chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned?
 
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patrickkawi37

Well-Known Member
Gnats are ok. If it is super fucked I would let your plants get bone dry and spray sns203 or some azatrol or some shit that's close to organic. Your not too late into flower. If you work hard enough you can rid them. I personally would never trash a harvi because of gnats
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Gnats are not that hard to get rid of nor will they destroy your crop if you take some action. Organic growers can expect the occasional gnat but it's easy to control their population by doing the following steps which work well for me:
1. Mulch the top of your pots- use plain bark mulch or coco
2. Water no more than every 3-5 days - use a spray bottle to keep the top layer moist as needed but NEVER wet
3. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth on top of your mulch- it's fossilized micro life that shreds gnats like millions of tiny Chinese stars about $8 for a 2 pound bags lasts several grows.
4. Gnat traps- get some sticky traps to catch the flying bastards & change them out when they get full

Problem solved in a week or 2
 
Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Thanks everyone for your help.

I've pretty much got it under control -- applied both SNS203 and Diatomaceous Earth about a week ago. The problem is that the "damage" has already been done, in terms of the sticky buds acting like fly paper and being covered with dead gnats that are stuck to them (not all of the buds, but about half of them...).

So now that they are there, I'm trying to decide what can be done with those buds.
 
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patrickkawi37

Well-Known Member
Humanrob said:
Thanks everyone for your help.

I've pretty much got it under control -- applied both SNS203 and Diatomaceous Earth about a week ago. The problem is that the "damage" has already been done, in terms of the sticky buds acting like fly paper and being covered with dead gnats that are stuck to them (not all of the buds, but about half of them...).

So now that they are there, I'm trying to decide what can be done with those buds.
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It sounds like you sat around and crossed your fingers for them to go away. now you know to take action . Take no problem lightly in your grow room and this won't happen again . Suck the dead fuckers off with a shop vac and get rid of those nugs to someone you don't like .
 
Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
patrickkawi37 said:
It sounds like you sat around and crossed your fingers for them to go away. now you know to take action . Take no problem lightly in your grow room and this won't happen again . Suck the dead fuckers off with a shop vac and get rid of those nugs to someone you don't like .
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It wasn't that I crossed my fingers, it was more direct than that. I was kind of freaked out about them but the little info I found on them seemed consistent -- the line basically was not to worry about them. One post on here, for instance, said something about how they are more of a nuisance to us (flying in your face) than they are a problem to the plants, since they don't actually harm the plants. So when they were growing in numbers during veg, I tried to take the advice I was hearing, and not worry about them. I never heard or read that they can stick to the buds and make them unusable.... if it had been discussed, somehow I missed it.

But like you said, now I know. Maybe when I harvest I'll take some pics as a warning to other newbies who also somehow missed that lesson on bug control.
 
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patrickkawi37

Well-Known Member
Humanrob said:
It wasn't that I crossed my fingers, it was more direct than that. I was kind of freaked out about them but the little info I found on them seemed consistent -- the line basically was not to worry about them. One post on here, for instance, said something about how they are more of a nuisance to us (flying in your face) than they are a problem to the plants, since they don't actually harm the plants. So when they were growing in numbers during veg, I tried to take the advice I was hearing, and not worry about them. I never heard or read that they can stick to the buds and make them unusable.... if it had been discussed, somehow I missed it.

But like you said, now I know. Maybe when I harvest I'll take some pics as a warning to other newbies who also somehow missed that lesson on bug control.
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If they got to that point it is most likely from over watering . Usually with a few sprays and letting the pots get dry they slowly go away. That's why people say not to worry about them. If your flooding your pots, letting standing water sit around, it's like a spa day for those fuckers, and they lay a shitload of larva and then you get over infested quick. Post some pics now so we can see them stuck to the buds I've never seen that
 
Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
patrickkawi37 said:
If they got to that point it is most likely from over watering . Usually with a few sprays and letting the pots get dry they slowly go away. That's why people say not to worry about them. If your flooding your pots, letting standing water sit around, it's like a spa day for those fuckers, and they lay a shitload of larva and then you get over infested quick. Post some pics now so we can see them stuck to the buds I've never seen that
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As I mentioned, I made some mistakes with my soil mix and ended out using the wrong kind of potting soil, it was one that held water so I lost out on good drainage. They were also in taller narrower pots, and the perlite I had was old and had gotten crushed, which at the time I didn't think would matter that much, but it does. This combination created soil that is dense and retains water, its amazing the stuff grew in at all. I have another room with the same plants started at the same time, except that had a larger foot print and I could use shorter wider pots, and they got fresher soil amendments and a better mix. The plants in the second room are doing way better and have zero bug problems.

As far as pictures go.... its a long story, but I won't be able to try until tomorrow morning. I'll see what I can do then.
 
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BuzzD2Kill

Well-Known Member
Sticky trap here and there, and vacuum the top few inchs of the soil. I just recently started root drenching with azamax. I was scared to ever water with it, but dam if it didnt knock out everything. GL
 
bbyb420

bbyb420

Well-Known Member
yeah man i had these assholes when I got my clone. easy as hell to get rid of I used this stuff called microbe-lift bmc and I hung up yellow sticky cards..gone within 5 days. Next time this happens just go to ur hydro store and buy that stuff, costs around 25 bucks all in. as for what to do with the bud id make hash...pretty simple if you got a big plant going
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
gnats just drink water til they drown. They don't eat plants. The larva however will eat roots.

if you run soil. Just topdress neem meal, compost and worm castings and that's it.

if you are in hydro run rosemary oil through the resi.

also set up lots of fans. Gnats and all other flyers hate wind.

dont waste money on spray or sticky traps. They don't do a thing.
 
SPLFreak808

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
Pretty simple to get rid of an infestation that came in a soil bag. It is a PITA if you have gnats in your backyard though like me.
 
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