Gnats!!

foozay

Member
So i have been raging a battle for the past three days, i have been fighting gnats and baby gnats, that appear to be coming out of the soil. has anyone ever had this problem or does anyone have any solutions on how to take care of it? I have read that it is probabally coming from over watering the plant, so with that said i am going to cut back on the water for awhile till it truely needs it. I have been using a insect killing soap with seaweed extract that is suppose to be very gentle on the plant while it kills the insects, it seems to work then i find more. please someone help!

P.S.
I do not see any damage to the plant, but i have also read that they cause problems very very subtley.
 

statik

Well-Known Member
The Gnats themselves are not the issue as far as the plants go. Its the larvae. They feed on roots. I have an infestation right now actually. I would suggest cutting back on the water as you said. You can also look into Neem or Einstein Oil. You can use it as a soil drench every couple weeks. It will kill the larvae down in your soil. You can also mix up a spray bottle of the stuff to nail the adults with. It is also pretty gentle on the plants.

From what I understand Gnats are almost impossible to completely get rid of. You can pretty much just keep them in check.
 

foozay

Member
alright...the battle rages on then, but i appreciate the info man. i think ima check out some of the neem oil.
 

statik

Well-Known Member
Yeah, may want to look into Einstein Oil actually. I think its a higher grade of Neem Oil and will therefore be more effective. Just make sure that the Neem you get is cold pressed. I remember reading somewhere that cold pressed is important.
 

statik

Well-Known Member
Neem is natural. You pretty much dont want to use anything at least a few weeks before the end of flowering though. So I would say yes, especially since you are mainly interested in taking out the gnats in larvae stage. So you while you do want to kill the adults, your main line of defense should be in the soil itself. If you cant spray your plants because you are in flower...get some sticky traps and lay them ontp of the soil in your buckets. You can also try adding a layer of sand to help suffocate/smother both larvae and adults in the top layer.
 

ink the world

Well-Known Member
I had the same problem, i was using MG potting and Garden soils. My gnats came free w/ the soils:-)

I read that drying the soil out killed them, so I dried out all my remaining soil and then I transplanted them and tossed soil the soil they were in. I also read but never tried microwaving soil before using.
before bringing the plants back into the garden I cleaned EVERY inch w/ bleach water and then hung some fly strips to catch any new adults that would enter the garden.

I no longer have any serious problem, but I still see a gnat once a week or so. Ill never use premade soil mix again.
 
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