How do I get rid of gnats

getogrow said:

Side note: keep in mind the microbiology is very hardy in there.... even if you were to kill most of it today , it will start to recover by tomorrow. If you treat it right it will be living soil within a week or so. Them microbes dont just die unless something is way off in the pot. They are fragile but at the same time there are 100's of millions of bacteria so it can repopulate very fast if treating the soil like its alive.

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But wouldn't that mean a week without anything breaking down?

kingromano said:

yeah i speak about growshop soil+ liquid organic ferts (biobizz ...)

effectively if you make your own soil you maybe have a smaller water content than commercial peat (biobizz, canna, plagron..), more drainage so you get better results keeping the soil wetter

but with commercial soil dry wet is a must .. keeping it always moist is a big mistake
it has a high water content (i measure around 80% WC at saturation with my delta-t)

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I agree but 5% a day isn't a lot of moisture, especially at 2.5% per 12 hours... and I mulch so my soil stays moist at the top anyways.

Hollatchaboy said:

But wouldn't that mean a week without anything breaking down?

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That would completely depend on the extint of your "cleaning the soil" ....
In healthy conditions , the biology is all working together everyday after trans plant. As time progresses , they form the symbolic relationship needed to do organics.
So if everything is fairly healthy in the soil at the time you decide to use a chemical of some sort , then just the runoff of the chemicals is not going to hurt the biology much.....
If everything is healthyy in the soil and you decide to purposely sterilize it with peroxide (very bad idea) then in theory , the food that the microbes made availible before the "crash" is going to continue to feed your plant and with proper care , the soil will be good again in about a week. So a couple days of food left from prior to the crash should hold you over till you get your soil healthy again.

If this was me , i would use chemical food for a few days after the crash , then go back to normal in a week.

Hollatchaboy said:

I agree but 5% a day isn't a lot of moisture, especially at 2.5% per 12 hours... and I mulch so my soil stays moist at the top anyways.

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How much is 5% exactly ?
I do let my soil dry to an extent , sometimes more then others. O2 is the most important thing for roots next to water/food/microbes.

getogrow said:

How much is 5% exactly ?
I do let my soil dry to an extent , sometimes more then others. O2 is the most important thing for roots next to water/food/microbes.

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5% water to soil volume.

Spinosad?

getogrow said:

Not really , its all over the pot. Biology is everywhere. It is true that you will get much better consistancy by keeping the whole pot the same moisture. So you are on the right path.
I brought home fungas gnats from a houseplant a few months ago , you cannot kill them just by letting the top layer dry out. They just go down deeper to the moist part of the pot so now your "top layer" is a few inches down.....and so on.
Mosquito dunks are the answer.

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Also, in living soil, I've been led to believe to mulch to keep the soil surface moist, so the microbes start breaking down the top dressing amendments? Jeremy at bas shows mycelium at the surface from keeping the soil moist. Is that not a correct way?

kingromano said:

in soil its easy .. if you got gnats you are not letting the soil dry enough

in hydro its another story

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I don't believe your supposed to let living soil get that dry. I'm still kinda new to this so I'm not 100 on that. I have let my soil dry to the point of wilting (on accident) and I still got damn gnats. Lol

if they wilted you let it dry way too much

plants must never wilt until the chop day
if you keep your soil soggy you will never allow roots to get the oxygen boost that happen when the medium breath

again i dont know the mix you use. if its aerated etc ..

do you get the gnats from outside, via the exhaust ?

they love high rh environnement, is it often humid ?

kingromano said:

if they wilted you let it dry way too much

plants must never wilt until the chop day
if you keep your soil soggy you will never allow roots to get the oxygen boost that happen when the medium breath

again i dont know the mix you use. if its aerated etc ..

do you get the gnats from outside, via the exhaust ?

they love high rh environnement, is it often humid ?

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Yea I don't let that happen if at all avoidable. I was late getting home twice. I should mention in not in flower. Just got a couple moms going, though I think I'm going to flower 1 of them. My soil started as ffhf, but I've added perlite, ewc, craft blend, grokashi. I believe it's not exactly ffhf anymore. I also believe I've gotten gnats from the ewc. It's been too cold here to be coming from outside.

kingromano said:

if they wilted you let it dry way too much

plants must never wilt until the chop day
if you keep your soil soggy you will never allow roots to get the oxygen boost that happen when the medium breath

again i dont know the mix you use. if its aerated etc ..

do you get the gnats from outside, via the exhaust ?

they love high rh environnement, is it often humid ?

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I keep humidity between 50-60%

I hope you guys don't think I'm being argumentative. I read everything everybody says and take it into consideration. I may disagree with something, but it's more for just to keep ideas flowing. I am by no means an expert. I appreciate and respect any knowledge shared.

Toxic Deadite said:

Looking for suggestions on controlling gnats. Someone recommended diatomaceous earth. Wont the fans just blow that dust everywhere? Thinking of trying purecrop1. Any suggestions I'd really appreciate!

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Ladybugs

getogrow said:

I disagree to the fullest. With all respect to you.
I do not see the "limitations" you speak of ? "Unsuitable" is just plain , the wrong word.

generally speaking, hydro grows faster. (in real life its because most "soil" growers are not there yet...)
In real life , i know plenty of dirt guys that cannot speed up things by switching to hydro.


I sit 100% opposite from this.
Organics is by far the hardest method to master but organics can surpass any other method without hesitation.

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Glad you got this covered. Took the words out my mouth.
Especially the speed. I’ll be stacking harvest 4-5 a year. My hydro friends veg for 2 months. I go for 2 weeks. Plant grows bigger faster and more hardy

Hollatchaboy said:

Also, in living soil, I've been led to believe to mulch to keep the soil surface moist, so the microbes start breaking down the top dressing amendments? Jeremy at bas shows mycelium at the surface from keeping the soil moist. Is that not a correct way?

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Yes that is a great way to help keep the top moist. ,ucelium is beautiful!

Hollatchaboy said:

I hope you guys don't think I'm being argumentative. I read everything everybody says and take it into consideration. I may disagree with something, but it's more for just to keep ideas flowing. I am by no means an expert. I appreciate and respect any knowledge shared.

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We know that and its good to ask questions and even better to debate the answer if its not the "common" answer.... Good job , thats how you get pro...

Mosquito Bits drench, i added a tablespoon of bits to 1 gallon (4 litres) of water and let it soak in the water for an hour. Filter the solids then just water your plants to runoff. Then i watered 48 hours later using only plain water, and theres been a 95% reduction in Gnats already in 2 days. Cold pressed Neem oil, and a ton of sticky traps wasnt even putting a dent in the numbers until i got Mosquito Bits.

Ok, question.... the gnat infestation I've been having had dwindled down to almost nothing. I had to vacuum up a shit ton of dead carcasses. Now, I never sprayed them with anything. The only thing I've done is top dress and mulch. Could the ewc in the top dress kill them off from microbes or does it happen in cycles where you don't see fliers for a lil while?

Just learned about these helpful plants

Hollatchaboy said:

Ok, question.... the gnat infestation I've been having had dwindled down to almost nothing. I had to vacuum up a shit ton of dead carcasses. Now, I never sprayed them with anything. The only thing I've done is top dress and mulch. Could the ewc in the top dress kill them off from microbes or does it happen in cycles where you don't see fliers for a lil while?

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Unfortunatly i do not see a way to control them with good soil. Im guessing you are just making the environment unlivable for them? If there was a way to dry the room up 100% for 2 days they will leave.....but larve could stay.....