Fungus gnats around empty bag of soil

JMystery

JMystery

Active Member
Today, I noticed that a bag of soil which I'd stored away after my first grow, had loads of fungus gnats around it. My understanding was that they are attracted to stagnant conditions and the larvae feed on the roots of plants - but my open bag of soil had loads of them. Has anyone else seen this? I didn't think they would be attracted to 'just soil' without any dampness or plants to feed on. The soil hasn't been exposed to any moisture that I'm aware of but it was certainly the home to loads of gnats!

I've dumped the soil and will get new stuff when I'm ready to start again but thought it was a bit weird. Are there any types of soil that they don't like?
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
JMystery said:
Today, I noticed that a bag of soil which I'd stored away after my first grow, had loads of fungus gnats around it. My understanding was that they are attracted to stagnant conditions and the larvae feed on the roots of plants - but my open bag of soil had loads of them. Has anyone else seen this? I didn't think they would be attracted to 'just soil' without any dampness or plants to feed on. The soil hasn't been exposed to any moisture that I'm aware of but it was certainly the home to loads of gnats!

I've dumped the soil and will get new stuff when I'm ready to start again but thought it was a bit weird. Are there any types of soil that they don't like?
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No...insects like fungus gnats are attracted to decomposing organic material such as found in any decent soil mix. Dumping out good soil just because of a few gnats is kind of dumb imo. If you just sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on top layer of any soil and let it dry out that will deter most gnats. A layer of sand will do much the same thing. Adding neem seed meal to the mix as an amendment will help control thrips and other leaf munchers. Insects are fairly easy to control and a feature of a decent soil mix. If you are squeamish grow hydro.
 
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