How do I get rid of gnats

[getogrow]

I would argue the oposite. In amended organic soils at least the swing from wet to dry really drives gnats. Consistent moisture levels will help soil biology work out the kinks. Or it could be more frequent watering with lower volumes. Consistency is key

I agree with this and i just dont see "letting them dry out" is going to help them gnats. You would have to dry out the whole pot for long enough to kill them which will also kill the girls.

 

[Hollatchaboy]

In organics , the idea is to maintain the life of the soil* and IF all the stars are aligned, then each element of food is avilable to the plant when it needs it. Its never that easy but it can be with a lil work.
Its fun and cheap too!

I also agree that the plant does not care whether its chemicals or organic matter....food is food.
My personal preference is that organic feeding make the end product taste better but if i were to compare to good soil grown weed with chemicals i dont think i would notice much of a difference.
Weed grown in water taste bland.

I agree... Hydro lacks in flavor.

 

[kingromano]

I would argue the oposite. In amended organic soils at least the swing from wet to dry really drives gnats. Consistent moisture levels will help soil biology work out the kinks. Or it could be more frequent watering with lower volumes. Consistency is key

only way to kill larvae is to let the top layer of the medium dryout
not possible in hydro

 

[Hollatchaboy]

I would argue the oposite. In amended organic soils at least the swing from wet to dry really drives gnats. Consistent moisture levels will help soil biology work out the kinks. Or it could be more frequent watering with lower volumes. Consistency is key

I break my 5% water in two waterings per day at 2.5% each. Keeps my soil pretty moist, maybe too moist considering the gnat problem I have going.

 

[Hollatchaboy]

only way to kill larvae is to let the top layer of the medium dryout
not possible in hydro

The top layer is the most important to keep moist I thought. Isn't that where most of the microbiology takes place?

 

[Budzbuddha]

Sometimes the simplest shit is the answer ........

Top dress Neem Meal / or add it to a top dress of new soil layer . This amendment probably should be added to all bagged mixes before use. As more and more of the little bug assholes show in pallets.

Neemaseek works well too.

 

[getogrow]

The top layer is the most important to keep moist I thought. Isn't that where most of the microbiology takes place?

Not really , its all over the pot. Biology is everywhere. It is true that you will get much better consistancy by keeping the whole pot the same moisture. So you are on the right path.
I brought home fungas gnats from a houseplant a few months ago , you cannot kill them just by letting the top layer dry out. They just go down deeper to the moist part of the pot so now your "top layer" is a few inches down.....and so on.
Mosquito dunks are the answer.

 

[getogrow]

Side note: keep in mind the microbiology is very hardy in there.... even if you were to kill most of it today , it will start to recover by tomorrow. If you treat it right it will be living soil within a week or so. Them microbes dont just die unless something is way off in the pot. They are fragile but at the same time there are 100's of millions of bacteria so it can repopulate very fast if treating the soil like its alive.

 

[kingromano]

I break my 5% water in two waterings per day at 2.5% each. Keeps my soil pretty moist, maybe too moist considering the gnat problem I have going.

i would never treat soil this way

you really want to do wet dry cycles with soil
the pots must become lighter before watering again
not excessively

honesty bro potting flies cant be a problem growing in soil if used properly

even in coco you cant really get them.. maybe during a long veg maybe, because veg stage=higher water content

in flower you start to let the coco getting clearer at the top, giving more dryback
they don't like that

personnaly in hydro i top feed every 2 hours so the top stay relatively wet, and gnats are my achille's heel

and i run sealed .. gnats love high levels of co2

 

[green_machine_two9er]

only way to kill larvae is to let the top layer of the medium dryout
not possible in hydro

Also not good practice in soil. They are fungus gnats because they each fungal dominant decaying organic matter. How to you get fungal dominance? By drying out the medium, kinda creating a wheel cycle that makes the problem go on and on.

everyone has touched on the answers here. It’s multi-phase if you ask me. Top dress with neem and buildchiton containing amendments into soil. UseBTI (masqutoo dunks or bits).

topdress with the highest quality or homemade castings.

reuse quality built soil.
Here’s a side note. Gnats only bug me on first run soil. By secound or third recycle they literally disappear. No more treatments. Just nature has taken over. The right amount of nematodes and predator bugs are happy because the moisture level is constant( daily watering) and plenty of quality castings have been mixed in along with neem, crab Meals during recycle.

sticky traps were never meant as a treatment but a monitoring system... that’s the trutI. Buds catch just as many flyers as sticky traps. Focus on soil health snd longevity snd they will go away.

 

[tstick]

If anyone can scientifically explain why a plant grown hydroponically would lack more flavor than one grown in living soil, then I'm all ears. Plants which are supplied the proper nutrients will grow according to their genetic makeup. They won't taste like oranges if you water them with orange juice and they won't be sweeter if you put honey in the dirt. All that stuff is hype. Plants need light, water and the molecular elements essential for photosynthesis. Their genetic makeup is what makes their terpene, volatile ester profiles unique. You can't alter that no matter what you feed them or how you feed them.

 

[green_machine_two9er]

i would never treat soil this way

you really want to do wet dry cycles with soil
the pots must become lighter before watering again
not excessively

honesty bro potting flies cant be a problem growing in soil if used properly

even in coco you cant really get them.. maybe during a long veg maybe, because veg stage=higher water content

in flower you start to let the coco getting clearer at the top, giving more dryback
they don't like that

personnaly in hydro i top feed every 2 hours so the top stay relatively wet, and gnats are my achille's heel

and i run sealed .. gnats love high levels of co2

What kind of soil practice are you talking about. Sometimes we get confused because living soil, and bottled fed soil grows are two completely different games.

 

[green_machine_two9er]

If anyone can scientifically explain why a plant grown hydroponically would lack more flavor than one grown in living soil, then I'm all ears. Plants which are supplied the proper nutrients will grow according to their genetic makeup. They won't taste like oranges if you water them with orange juice and they won't be sweeter if you put honey in the dirt. All that stuff is hype. Plants need light, water and the molecular elements essential for photosynthesis. Their genetic makeup is what makes their terpene, volatile ester profiles unique. You can't alter that no matter what you feed them or how you feed them.

Wellll..... I thought this was a bug thread. Proof is in the pooding.

 

[kingromano]

If anyone can scientifically explain why a plant grown hydroponically would lack more flavor than one grown in living soil, then I'm all ears. Plants which are supplied the proper nutrients will grow according to their genetic makeup. They won't taste like oranges if you water them with orange juice and they won't be sweeter if you put honey in the dirt. All that stuff is hype. Plants need light, water and the molecular elements essential for photosynthesis. Their genetic makeup is what makes their terpene, volatile ester profiles unique. You can't alter that no matter what you feed them or how you feed them.

hydroponics are harder to master but hydro can surpass soil without hesitation ..

plus you can inoculate your medium in hydro and get the best of both worlds

 

[tstick]

Side note: keep in mind the microbiology is very hardy in there.... even if you were to kill most of it today , it will start to recover by tomorrow. If you treat it right it will be living soil within a week or so. Them microbes dont just die unless something is way off in the pot. They are fragile but at the same time there are 100's of millions of bacteria so it can repopulate very fast if treating the soil like its alive.

I believe this is true, as well. I reckon that the biology in my soil would "reignite" after the H2O2 treatment in a matter of time. I'd like to try that experiment as a side note on my next grow..

hydroponics are harder to master but hydro can surpass soil without hesitation ..

plus you can inoculate your medium in hydro and get the best of both worlds

Absolutely agree!

 

[kingromano]

Wellll..... I thought this was a bug thread. Proof is in the pooding.

yeah i speak about growshop soil+ liquid organic ferts (biobizz ...)

effectively if you make your own soil you maybe have a smaller water content than commercial peat (biobizz, canna, plagron..), more drainage so you get better results keeping the soil wetter

but with commercial soil dry wet is a must .. keeping it always moist is a big mistake
it has a high water content (i measure around 80% WC at saturation with my delta-t)

 

[kingromano]

personnaly i find soil grows very limited and unsuitable under HID

under the sun yeah what a pleasure to grow in soil
its an evidance

but for indoor grow .. hydro is so much better
plants grow crazy faster ..
that electricity is expensive man
need to make the shit efficient

 

[TintEastwood]

Took a pic of my Gnat larvae soup.

Made from soaking and stirring 2 disintegrated dunks in water.

Then strain thru paper towels to filter out the corky dunk solids, and add to feed water/resevoir.

 

[getogrow]

personnaly i find soil grows very limited and unsuitable under HID

under the sun yeah what a pleasure to grow in soil
its an evidance

but for indoor grow .. hydro is so much better
plants grow crazy faster ..
that electricity is expensive man
need to make the shit efficient

I disagree to the fullest. With all respect to you.
I do not see the "limitations" you speak of ? "Unsuitable" is just plain , the wrong word.

generally speaking, hydro grows faster. (in real life its because most "soil" growers are not there yet...)
In real life , i know plenty of dirt guys that cannot speed up things by switching to hydro.

hydroponics are harder to master but hydro can surpass soil without hesitation ..

I sit 100% opposite from this.
Organics is by far the hardest method to master but organics can surpass any other method without hesitation.

 

[getogrow]

If anyone can scientifically explain why a plant grown hydroponically would lack more flavor than one grown in living soil, then I'm all ears. Plants which are supplied the proper nutrients will grow according to their genetic makeup. They won't taste like oranges if you water them with orange juice and they won't be sweeter if you put honey in the dirt. All that stuff is hype. Plants need light, water and the molecular elements essential for photosynthesis. Their genetic makeup is what makes their terpene, volatile ester profiles unique. You can't alter that no matter what you feed them or how you feed them.

I wish i could explain it but i have no clue. I can tell you its all in the terps. Some like their terps clean and hydro. Some like their terps dirty and skunky. I am NOT going to say the lab shows more or less terps then hydro , im just saying it taste way different.

My west coast friends love hydro....my mid west friends love skunk..... just a preference i suppose. One thing i have noticed is that almost every strain has skunk notes when grown in soil and when grown in water , it is more "pure" ?