I have bugs! Please help

Ok think I've got fungus nats in my soil. I was watering my plants today, and because I'm such a newp, I was watching the soil very carefuly, seeing how the water permiates the soil, attempting to gauge how much my plants need for each watering. I see a "gnat" like bug crawling on the surface of the soil. When it stopped moving he was well camoflouged. They are in both plants, and they were not flying. I've done some research before my grow, and the two pest that come up the most frequently are fungus gnats and spider mites. First question: how can I tell what kind of bug it is? Second question: how the hell do I get rid of them. I've heard that MG soil can carry fungus gnats and thats my bet to what they are and how they got in my soil. Any help would be appreciated.

Your best way to identify pests is by the way they look.
Most bugs are kept away using neem oil, cayenne pepper, garlic, and other pungent substances.
You should also mix up the top layer of your soil to get out all the bugs.

http://www.thegrowlight.com/pesticides-disease-control-leaf-wash/ this should help

They look like gnats to me and I'm pretty sure that's what they are. How do I get rid of them for good? I've read some posts and there seems to be a debate about the best/effective measures. Any first hand experiences would be appriciated. thanks

just use perlite, after experiencing diamacious earth, perlite works best. just put a 2" layer down. u can water it too and its like rice crispies cereal.

Funny you should mention that carokann. I just got back from my local hardware store, where I picked up Neem concentrate and some bug strips. I was looking in the soil section for sterile sand but they didnt have any. So I thought maybe I could use Perlite as a replacement. I went to pick up the bag and it had a fucking fungus gnat on it! lol. Needless to say I didnt get any perlite today but I will tomorrow. Thats the same place I purchased my MG soil from too. Lesson learned. I churned up about one to two inches of the top soil and sprayed it down good w/ Neem. Place the bug strip in my grow room. I'll put perlite down tomorrow. Question: should I try to keep treating the soil w/ Neem for about week or two then lay down the Perlite? Or will laying down the perlite now and stoping the Neem treatment work best? Or should lay perlite and treat the perlite top w/ Neem too? Not certain on the best method. Thanks.

i treated the soil a few times but it didnt stop them, they got stronger. DE, kept them in check. neem oil is good for preventing spidermites on the leaves but thats about it and u need to be careful with it or it will burn ur leaves. use 2 teaspoons of ivory soap and 1/2 teaspoon of neem to 1 quart water. ive had no problems with this solution. what u do is take a plain white ivory bar of soap, grate up half with a cheese grater and bring it to a boil over the stove in 3 cups water. after 5-10 minutes pour it into a jar and then let it cool and save it because its a concentrate. then just use the 2 teaspoons of it when you need it.

Anything with SPINOSAD in it.

This will kill a broad range of pests. From FUNGUS GNATS to CATERPILLARS THRIPS APHIDS SPIDER MITES

Google NATURALYTE or SPINOSAD.

J

Here's my plan: I will dig up two inches of soil, lay a layer of DE on the new top soil. Then cover soil w/ two inches of perilte. Then treat top layer of Perlite w/ Neem oil. Also, I will leave the bug strip hanging and refresh when needed. Should that solve my problem?

should keep them down to a few here and there. im yet to beat them though been about 1 month. im also using the expensive mg soil and i think it came with the gnats.

I had fungus gnat larvae like a mofo in my res. during my last grow from being lazy abt changing my water. I ended up killing them with a product called Gnatrol. The indgredient says "bacillus thuringiensis, subspecies, israelensis 37.4%"
After a couple heavy doses to my res they were dead. If you have adults, the only way to kill them is with strips. I know you are using soil but you can use Gnatrol in your waterings.
Fungus Gnats suck btw.

Carokahn, i think you have to treat for 7 to 14 days, everyday for the neem oil to work, or at least thats what the directions state. What does the perlite do excactly? I heard it prevents the adults from digging into the soil and also puncture thems and kills them. Does the perlite act as layer to prevent the larve turned adults from coming to the surface? I dont want to "seal" in the larve turned adults at the roots, that for sure.

Do not use the Hot Shot Strips for pest control inside. These are carcinogenic. The Gnatrol will control them in soil. You can also water with 1/2 tsp/gal hydrogen peroxide ( 3% from durgstore or supermarket). The perlite or sand on top of the soil gives some control but makes it harder when to determine when to water and slows down the drying of the soil.

If you are seeing flying gnats you also have the larva in the soil as well, so the soil needs to be treated also.

The reason you have them is because you are keeping the top of the soil too wet. Let it dry 1-2 in before adding more water to the pots. It is unlikely they came from the MG soil because it is sterilized before packaging.

I used Gnatrol in my res in an Ebb and Flow application. It worked fine.

I want to get rid of this problem asap. I think I will buy the mosq. dunks and use them. It has the same bacteria in as the gnatrol only its in a time released tablet. I think if I cut it up and shake in a jug of water I can then just pour it over the soil and get the bacteria to working. My understanding is that the bacteria cause larvae to stop eating immediately and in about 10 to 14 days. I will spread perlite on the top soil to kill the adults. Since I cant use bug stips, I will place a bowl of beer in the grow room: the sweet smell attract the adults and the drown in it. I will also keep using the neem to provoke the adults to go to the beer trap and to also help in prevention. Thats four methods that should address the larvae, adults, and prevention.

I made a bad assumption off the top of my head when commenting about Gnatrol and hydro because of the earlier post. The active ingredient in Gnatrol is Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti). This is the same chemical that is impregnated in the mosquito dunks used in ponds and lakes, so obviously it works in aquatic situations. Sorry for the mis-statement of these facts.

Hey pointswest. I dont think you bad assumetion at all. Dunks are to be used in standing water and gnatrol (I believe is made to be sprayed on soil and plants.) They both have the beneficial bacteria, but believe gnatrol has some other ingredents that make more suitable for soil. The dunks last for about 30 days and dissolve slowly. I put a quarter of a dunk in one gal jug of water and will water with it when its time for my plants to be watered. I refill the jug (with quarter dunk still in it) and repeat as necessary. So using the dunks the way I'm using them will do good, but the gnatrol would be better as its concetrated and could spay it on today and the larvae to stop right away. Using the dunks I need to let some dissolve before I can get a benefit from. No gnatrol at hardware store so I'm making do. Thanks for all the help everyone. I hope I cured it.