Product to keep gnats away from seedlings?

Toolegit2quit

Toolegit2quit

Active Member
What's the best and safest product that would keep gnats away from my new seedlings?

I haven't seen them swarming around the cups or anything, but I have seen a couple flying around the room. I figure I might want to plan ahead and pick up something to keep the gnats away should it become an issue.

Thanks
 
Nullis

Nullis

Moderator
Get some yellow-sticky traps, first of all. There are the common hanging ribbon traps, and then there are certain brands that go on stakes placed into the soil. Get both kinds if you can.

Also, mosquito dunks or another brand of Bti which is a biological control. The bacterium produce a toxin that is only toxic to a few species of insect larvae like mosquito and fungus gnat larvae. Although Bti can help bring control to infestations it is definitely best used before any gnats have actually landed on the soil because it will be able to kill them before they can even fly. They sell dunks and bits, probably other products too (I think Gnatrol is Bti). Dunks are sold at virtually every home improvement store, just soak a half or full dunk in a gallon of water and irrigate. Re-apply every few weeks.
 
Toolegit2quit

Toolegit2quit

Active Member
Traps.. Shoulda at least thought of that myself lol. Thanks! Now the dunks I haven't heard of, I'll head to the store tomorrow and get both if I can.

I read up on the sm90 and it sounds pretty good too. I'll see if they have it at my local shop.

Thanks guys!
 
kush714

kush714

Active Member
azamax worked good for me, its organic and 100% vegetable based. you can use as a foiler spray or a drench. Its not cheap but it works good. I heard people using neem oil also, but azamax worked for me.
 
jesus of Cannabis

jesus of Cannabis

:-)
why not find the cause of the gnats, soggy soil or dirty room..etc. once you have gnats they are with you for the grow, be offensive instead of defensive. a great offense beats a great defense. win one for the gipper. the frozxen tundra of lambo field. the lambo leap, leap frog, games people play as kids for $5000 alex.
 
Toolegit2quit

Toolegit2quit

Active Member
I know the room is clean. They're in the closet of my office that I'm in every day. I only saw 2 gnats, might have been the same one, flying around in the room. The only thing I can think of is from the dirt itself. The only wet dirt is in the keg cups I filled to put the sprouting seeds in, and after wetting the dirt I squeezed the cup, forcing the excess water out to make sure it wasn't soggy. And it's not soggy, I checked it today and it's nice and moist, fluffy even.

I just want to make sure they don't become a problem for my seedlings, strike 1st kinda thing.

Azamax.. I was planning on buying that anyway, I thought that might be a little too aggressive for seedlings still popping out of the dirt.

I'll pick up and try traps, and some Azamax since I wanted to buy that anyway.

thanks guys!
 
Nullis

Nullis

Moderator
jesus of Cannabis said:
why not find the cause of the gnats, soggy soil or dirty room..etc. once you have gnats they are with you for the grow, be offensive instead of defensive. a great offense beats a great defense. win one for the gipper. the frozxen tundra of lambo field. the lambo leap, leap frog, games people play as kids for $5000 alex.
Click to expand...
Now, don't get me wrong but aren't you an experienced and somewhat knowledgeable grower? And you think that fungus gnats just materialize out of thin air because your soil is soggy or you have a dirty grow room? Not that these conditions wouldn't exacerbate the situation should they flurry on in... but these things don't exactly cause fungus gnats.

The cause of fungus gnats is that once one or two happen into your grow room (and these are small enough to get through most window screens) they find your soil, decide it looks nice and would be a good place for their progeny to feed and then they lay their eggs...only around 200 of them... and before you know it you've got tens of gnats because; unlike in the outside world, indoors there is virtually no competition, no predators and hence nothing to keep their populations in check... so they thrive.

I've had my fair share of dealings with gnats and I have witnessed first hand that they could almost give a fuck less if the soil is constantly saturated or just a tad moist (and there is always going to be some moisture in soil), hell even bone dry soil sitting out in the open... the odds are still in their favor.
 
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Nutes and Nugs

Nutes and Nugs

Well-Known Member
I started my grow in mid-winter and am sure they came from the soil. Sta-Green soil, MG also seemed to have gnats thrown in for free.
 
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