Got Gnats!

[Southerner]

Personally, I find bti to be pretty effective. Check out a product called “Microbe Lift mosquito control”. This stuff is wayyy more concentrated form of Bti and way cheaper to boot. Literally only need a couple drops per 5gallons. Get the smallest bottle you can because it will last you a while. Sand as a top dressing and then bottom feeding thru your drip pans will give you complete control as well.

 

[Go go n chill]

Good morning all, I checked on the girls this morning to find that the fly paper and sticky traps were catching some gnats. But I found white fuzz on the top of the soil of some of the girls. I pulled all the plants out and removed the top 1.5 inch of soil from all of them. Then I went and got a fan and put in on the ground to blow air around UNDER the canopy. I wish I would’ve taken a picture of the fuzz for ya’ll. I figured by removing the top layer I would help nix 2 things at once.
Suggestions?
I created this problem myself by filling my room plum full of a canopy with no airflow I’ll know better next time. Here is a picture of my main grow closet

 

[Kushash]

what about this? Is it safe to use in flower, is it what you use?

That looks similar to the one I use.
Here is mine.

 

[Mr Blamo]

Those bugs are so small. If not treated they will ruin your crop. Only takes one of those bugs to make millions.
Had those last year to.
If you can find green sand place a 1/4 inch layer on the top of the soil.
They wont be able to go in and out. which in turn will die.
If you have house plants in your windows do those to with the green sand.

Oh want to add those bugs will live in your pipes and drains in your house to. Pour bleach down your drains and plug the drains for 24 hours or more.

 

[Go go n chill]

Yes I’m in week three of flour so things haven’t got sticky yet

Do you grow organically?

 

[Go go n chill]

Those bugs are so small. If not treated they will ruin your crop. Only takes one of those bugs to make millions.
Had those last year to.
If you can find green sand place a 1/4 inch layer on the top of the soil.
They wont be able to go in and out. which in turn will die.
If you have house plants in your windows do those to with the green sand.

Oh want to add those bugs will live in your pipes and drains in your house to. Pour bleach down your drains and plug the drains for 24 hours or more.

I feed my girls by top dressing with organic meal. So if I cover the soil with sand will that effect my feedings?

 

[Mr Blamo]

Get the green sand at a plant store.
It wont hurt your plants. Water will go through it like normal.
Yes I only grow in dirt. Have grown hydro but prefer dirt growing as I find the weed taste better.

 

[CannaBruh]

If your canopy is getting so dense that you're seeing dead/dying undergrowth or growth that is sickly and yellow you can eliminate a lot of that next time if you chose to do some heavy defoliation right after the stretch in flower. It feels scary but it will open up those girls so much. I find it to be extremely effective when plants are too close or canopies are too dense. The white fuzz is probably mycelium which can be good or bad depending, if you see it on weak leaves in dense canopies rot can often follow and the defoliation can save crops.

don't forget the sf nematodes are always on standby via Amazon for about $20 shipped in a pinch, they don't attack the flies but they eat the worms in the medium from the inside out, very effective

 

[Go go n chill]

I stop by to check on the girls at lunch the sticky traps or absolutely putting the smack down on the Nats I did go ahead and cover the soil with kids playground sand because it’s what I had enough of . I will worry about top dressing with my fish And bone meal later but the Nats were just currently driving me nuts

 

[Go go n chill]

If your canopy is getting so dense that you're seeing dead/dying undergrowth or growth that is sickly and yellow you can eliminate a lot of that next time if you chose to do some heavy defoliation right after the stretch in flower. It feels scary but it will open up those girls so much. I find it to be extremely effective when plants are too close or canopies are too dense. The white fuzz is probably mycelium which can be good or bad depending, if you see it on weak leaves in dense canopies rot can often follow and the defoliation can save crops.

don't forget the sf nematodes are always on standby via Amazon for about $20 shipped in a pinch, they don't attack the flies but they eat the worms in the medium from the inside out, very effective

Man I looked at the nematodes and they kind of made me sick at my stomach lol

 

[Go go n chill]

If your canopy is getting so dense that you're seeing dead/dying undergrowth or growth that is sickly and yellow you can eliminate a lot of that next time if you chose to do some heavy defoliation right after the stretch in flower. It feels scary but it will open up those girls so much. I find it to be extremely effective when plants are too close or canopies are too dense. The white fuzz is probably mycelium which can be good or bad depending, if you see it on weak leaves in dense canopies rot can often follow and the defoliation can save crops.

don't forget the sf nematodes are always on standby via Amazon for about $20 shipped in a pinch, they don't attack the flies but they eat the worms in the medium from the inside out, very effective

I will probably grab the nematodes anyway , they Won’t attack the root system?

 

[Go go n chill]

Fresh pics

 

[CannaBruh]

If that's sand on top already, i'd see how that works ?

Plants look good, are the gnats more of an annoyance or have you seen a lot of larvae in the soil?

What happens is the larvae eat the fine roots and you end up with smooth roots with no hairs/rhizo and the plants can die (extreme case in small containers with small plants and established gnat infestations)

nematodes won't hurt your plants
but for the fungus gnats make sure it's (SF) Steinernema feltiae nematodes

 

[Go go n chill]

If that's sand on top already, i'd see how that works ?

Plants look good, are the gnats more of an annoyance or have you seen a lot of larvae in the soil?

What happens is the larvae eat the fine roots and you end up with smooth roots with no hairs/rhizo and the plants can die (extreme case in small containers with small plants and established gnat infestations)

nematodes won't hurt your plants
but for the fungus gnats make sure it's (SF) Steinernema feltiae nematodes

No I pulled about a gallon of dirt total out of all the plant pots and saw no larva. Yes to me they were in annoyance but I did not want them to become anything more than that. The sand I just put on the tops about an hour ago

 

[CannaBruh]

They like to play in the top soil so the sand might just do the trick to prevent them from getting into the soil.

Your containers are much larger than solo cups so the roots have more size to them and would make more of a task for larvae to overtake the entire root zone than a solo cup. Let us know how the sand works for you.

Small dish of coffee in the corners (refreshed daily) usually trap a few, another attack vector.

 

[Go go n chill]

They like to play in the top soil so the sand might just do the trick to prevent them from getting into the soil.

Your containers are much larger than solo cups so the roots have more size to them and would make more of a task for larvae to overtake the entire root zone than a solo cup. Let us know how the sand works for you.

Small dish of coffee in the corners (refreshed daily) usually trap a few, another attack vector.

Sugary coffee I assume

 

[CannaBruh]

Sugary coffee I assume

splash of milk only, they seem to like drowning in the liquids

 

[Hotwired]

B'cuzz mix and you will never see a fungus gnat again

 

[Go go n chill]

B'cuzz mix and you will never see a fungus gnat again

?

 

[Go go n chill]

Update! Awoke this morning to find Z E R O gnats in my main closet and one in the smaller closet. The smaller closet doesn’t have a circulation fan, I’ll fix that soon enough. And I didn’t have around 30 or so like I thought!!! I probably had a hundred or SO! Thx, so now I need to figure out how to feed my girls organically with sand on top of the soil. I may use floralicious plus and bottom feed, but that doesn’t address the P and K much