gnats

[stony_420]

I was wondering if anybody could tell me some techniques to getting rid of gnats. I heard you can put sand on type of the soil. PLease help.thanx.

 

[Pseudonym]

Keeping a fan blowing on your plants and making sure your soil is not constantly soaked are good measures for keeping gnats away.

 

[mogie]

What biological controls are available for fungus gnats?

Adult fungus gnats are tiny black flies which spend time running around on the surfaces and sucking sap from the leaves. After the adults lay their eggs on the soil (medium), the young worm-like larvae hatch out and begin to feed upon the roots. The larvae initially eat the fine root hairs before moving on to burrow throughout the larger roots and even up into the stems. After feasting on the roots the larvae will pupate before hatching out as adults and repeating the life cycle by laying their eggs. The larvae resemble little worms. They have clear or white bodies with black heads.

Life cycle: Adults live about 7 to 10 days and deposit eggs on the moist soil surface or in soil cracks. Females lay up to 100 to 300 eggs in batches of 2 to 30 each in decaying organic matter. Eggs hatch in 4 to 6 days; larvae feed for 12 to 14 days. The pupal stage is about 5 to 6 days.

Damage from the fungus gnat larvae feeding on the roots shows up in the leaves as overfertilization and nutrient deficiency symptoms: yellowing, browning, burning and curling leaves.

Three fungus gnat larvae biocontrol agents:

Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) bacteria which can be purchased as mosquito dunks or gnatrol. Bti is the most appropriate anti gnat biological control agent for DWC systems.

Hypoaspis mites.

Steinernema feltiae nematodes.

Occasionally a dry layer of sand is recommended as a deterrent to fungus gnats. This technique should be discouraged as the close packing nature of the sand particles reduces the quantity of oxygen which penetrates down into the root zone.

 

[SmokerE]

Also what kind of sand you use too should be important. I don't know if it's true or not, but certain types of sand have more salt in them than others.

 

[moxtox]

What biological controls are available for fungus gnats?

Adult fungus gnats are tiny black flies which spend time running around on the surfaces and sucking sap from the leaves. After the adults lay their eggs on the soil (medium), the young worm-like larvae hatch out and begin to feed upon the roots. The larvae initially eat the fine root hairs before moving on to burrow throughout the larger roots and even up into the stems. After feasting on the roots the larvae will pupate before hatching out as adults and repeating the life cycle by laying their eggs. The larvae resemble little worms. They have clear or white bodies with black heads.

Life cycle: Adults live about 7 to 10 days and deposit eggs on the moist soil surface or in soil cracks. Females lay up to 100 to 300 eggs in batches of 2 to 30 each in decaying organic matter. Eggs hatch in 4 to 6 days; larvae feed for 12 to 14 days. The pupal stage is about 5 to 6 days.

Damage from the fungus gnat larvae feeding on the roots shows up in the leaves as overfertilization and nutrient deficiency symptoms: yellowing, browning, burning and curling leaves.

Three fungus gnat larvae biocontrol agents:

Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) bacteria which can be purchased as mosquito dunks or gnatrol. Bti is the most appropriate anti gnat biological control agent for DWC systems.

Hypoaspis mites.

Steinernema feltiae nematodes.

Occasionally a dry layer of sand is recommended as a deterrent to fungus gnats. This technique should be discouraged as the close packing nature of the sand particles reduces the quantity of oxygen which penetrates down into the root zone.

For the "mosquito dunks", do you just leave them in the soil? or do you let them soak in water and then water the plant?


thanks

 

[beenthere donethat]

Float the dunk in a bucket. If you use a lot of water per watering, use a 5 gal bucket or larger.

After 24 hours the baccillus will be being released into the water. The dunks last for 30 days ...so just dip 1/2 of the water out of the bucket...add it to the water you use to water yer plants with...then fill the bucket w/ the dunk back up for the next watering. Keep at it for 3 weeks+...and I have simply been leaving a dunk bucket around all the time now that it is summer/warmer.

DIE FUCKERS, DIE! sorry...just had to say that

bt dt

 

[UserFriendly]

Worm's Way - Yellow Sticky Traps

 

[Legato]

With my experience, as long as your growing in a cealed enviroment, there really shouldnt be no type of incest infestation.. ceailed windows.. doors.. ect.. Havent that this problem personally, but I think Moxtox has already told you anything oyu might need to know.. hope everythigngets under control..

 

[st0ned4good]

i hate those things, ive never seen em irl but still... the sight of those things gives me the annoying vibe, either that or im too dam high to tell

 

[moxtox]

With my experience, as long as your growing in a cealed enviroment, there really shouldnt be no type of incest infestation.. ceailed windows.. doors.. ect.. Havent that this problem personally, but I think Moxtox has already told you anything oyu might need to know.. hope everythigngets under control..

Jesus christ, please tell me that we're not all at risk of incest infestation?

 

[AzGrOw-N-sMoKe]

only in the summer time do i have problems with gnats...a good remendy to use is neem oil an a couple saucer's of beer..spray the neem oile on the leafs front an back an spray the soil..take the beer saucers an place them in different area's around the grow op it atracts the ones that are left an they drown in it...little basterd's kill em all...

 

[marcus420]

I used this stuff recently and it worked real well also no effect whatsoever on the plants I harvested very shortly after using this spray i found at home depot . My problem was fungus gnats so I just sprayed the hell out of the soil and on the leaves of plants not headed for harvest anytime soon I had to reapply once but it works well. I think I got the gnats in my soil miracle grow organic? I have never had any probs with pests and could see no other explanation for it aside from the new kind of soil. Anyways this stuff works

 

[Chuck721]

I'm using Gnatrol and hope to see results by the third treatment. If it doesn't work I guess I'll try the predator nematode mix. It seems to be a better all around preventive measure from what I've read.

 

[vdubfanatic]

I'm using this spray but its not working. I have to admit that i was scared of using it cause the plants are only 6 inches tall. I only sprayed around the plants and alittle on the leaves. I will try and spray directly on the soil cause i too believe that its from the stupid Miracle grow organics choice soil that I'm using. I will never use Miracle grow again. I'm going for the Hempy bucket on my next grow..