FUNGUS GNATS! D:

So my buddy has a little problem....

After diligently thwarting spider mites, nute burn and heat stress, my friend is now encountering a new issue: fungus gnats. Nope, not fruit flies, definitely fungus gnats. After spraying for mites, the soil was left just a bit too wet, and now a few gnats have made their home. First it was 1 or 2, now its a dozen or so that are visible in the grow space at a time. He needs some serious help before this gets out of control. He tried spraying a hydrogen peroxide solution on the soil in hopes of killing any eggs, but it seems that some of the adults (and possibly a few eggs), still remain.

How the HELL can he get these out of the grow space? This is becoming a nightmare. They don't seem to be doing too much to the plant, but who knows what could happen. Moreover, it's not exactly a nice sight seeing creepy little fuckers crawling around your stems and onto your precious buds.

I'll point out, he doesn't have a lot of money and limited resources. Anything outside the range of $20 wouldn't be realistic here, so he needs some serious DIY, homemade fixes for this issue. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Diatomaceous earth on the top of soil will kill in 2-24 hr about $10 for a very large Bag....Greensand will kill any larvae, and flying pest sicky pads work well also
Habanero spry works very fast there are a few threads in hear about how to make it....all are harmless to plants very effective at controlling all insects!

Buzz Buzzilla said:

Diatomaceous earth on the top of soil will kill in 2-24 hr about $10 for a very large Bag....Greensand will kill any larvae, and flying pest sicky pads work well also
Habanero spry works very fast there are a few threads in hear about how to make it....all are harmless to plants very effective at controlling all insects!

Click to expand...

That's awesome advice, thank you! A few questions to go along with that...

- I've read about using Diatomaceous Earth while researching, but I'm a little skeptical because this is a fully organic grow. Is this technically an organic product, something accessible in nature? And moreover, will putting it on the soil have any negative effects on bacteria or roots? Moreover, will it add any unpleasant taste? (I'm sure flushing would help, but still).

- Is Greensand a brand name or a general term for a substance? And where do you think that could be found, would I have to order it?

- Again, with the Habanero spray, I've heard a lot about it but I'm very skeptical as to whether or not this would have a bad effect on the buds- would this not leave a spicy after taste? I will note, this plant is a few weeks into flowering, so anything being sprayed on her has to be extremely benign and relatively tasteless/odorless.

Thanks for your help mate.

Buzz Buzzilla said:

Diatomaceous earth on the top of soil will kill in 2-24 hr about $10 for a very large Bag....Greensand will kill any larvae, and flying pest sicky pads work well also
Habanero spry works very fast there are a few threads in hear about how to make it....all are harmless to plants very effective at controlling all insects!

Click to expand...

That will do it. If you can't get those products wait till they need water and mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 4 parts water to get the larva. The hydrogen won't hurt the plants or roots. Then you will defiantly want to use some kind of pest strips or paper to get all the adults. I just used this treatment due to the pots not having big enough holes and poor drainage. They were all gone in about 10 days.

Pyganic. 5% pyrethrum 20mL per gallon of water. Drench twice 3-4 days apart. Yellow sticky traps and pyrethrum bomb for the the fliers. Kills them on contact. Then for long term control get fabric pots and drench with Gnatrol (bio larvacide B. T. I. Bacillus Thuringienisis Israelensis), water from the bottom so the top stays dry. DTE helps too. Azamax drench at 2oz per gallon does the job too. 2-3 applications a few days apart. let pots dry out between waterings.

I also found that tons of gnats came in fox farm soils. I stopped using them and get baled peat moss and make my own soil. Only gnats I get are in my organic grow but very few. I do an ebb and flow to waste table and flood it with the fabric pots in the tray. Top stays dry 2-3 inches down. That's also my mulch layer.

DTE is completely organic, it's actually fossilized algae and has a mechanical function so bugs can never be resistant....green sand isn't a product name it's and contains bti as mentioned above...as far as habanero spray I haven't tried on my buds yet but used to use it on lettuce when I was growing commercially... It is natural plants love it and doesn't leave any detectable residue.