Pro mix and gnats

desertdog

desertdog

Well-Known Member
Has anyone who used promix got gnats in the pots? Some dude is telling me gnats don't go near it and I don't believe him. I could be wrong, and I will be happy to be mistaken, because those monsters come in packs. I have used everything on them but I want a medium they don't like. Rock wool? Pro mix? Grow stone? please share your experiences with different mediums. I grow lettuce in rock wool and they don't touch it, but I want to use Pro Mix for my girls if the gnats don't like it. thanks DD:blsmoke:
 
S

SSHZ

Well-Known Member
There are plenty of reports with people using pro mix that have gnats. One or two soil treatments with Azamax or Gnatrol and you won't see any. Be pro-active, and apply something before you see them and you should be good. If you do have or eventually get them, also try sticky yellow traps and a layer of sand on the top of the pots. These insects are more of a pain in the ass than anything- I'd much rather have Gnats then mites or thripes.
 
TriPurple

TriPurple

Well-Known Member
I notice a few almost every time I repot with promix. Never a serious problem, you can put up a few sticky strips if they get too pesky. :peace:
 
thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
Yea gnats suck. I got a pot of mg soil that they fucking thrive in. The other pots of happy frog not so much. The top layer of sand helps. They haven't caused a problem with the health of the plants but I few made it into the bud room and they stick to the buds. Not many tho, maybe 10 on the whole plant. I'll smoke em. Idgaf.
 
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patrickkawi37

Well-Known Member
ya im running sunshine mix and i have had fungus gnats. if you handle them before they become a problem its usually not an issue. once there is larva everywhere and thousands of the bastards flying around they are pretty hard to get rid of. gl
 
desertdog

desertdog

Well-Known Member
Yeah they love sunshine mix at my house LOL. I live in the desert, but they love me, what can say. Mosquitto dunks in soil sounds interesting..
 
desertdog

desertdog

Well-Known Member
Yep, once they came in I put up sticky traps and applied organacide to the medium, but I had to reapply every three days. I was running growstone mixed with a pellet made from coconut husk. I loved the method, but the gnats loved it more LOL. I forgot to mention in my grow house I use a swamp cooler because ac would stone me to death with day time temps outside hitting 118 in aug. I even put soap and sm 90 in the cooler. I controlled them but never eliminated em. I have never used the gnatrol or Azamax, but I will. If you can kill the adult and the larvae at the same time you can have peace.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
I used to have gnat problems when I grew in potting soil. Since switching to coco the gnats are gone. I think the problem is that they often propagate in the bag of soil while it's still at the store. Aside from getting rid of the gnats, coco is a great medium. IMO, potting soil is obsolete.
 
colonuggs

colonuggs

Well-Known Member
promix and sunshine are considered soilless mediums..... (peat moss based) i would never try to grow in soil like what you can buy at homedepot or walmart :)






How do I get rid of them? easy h202 and yellow tape
Getting rid of the adults is a snap: simply give them a sticky yellow surface to land on, and within a few days you'll have enough dead adults to make a tasty dinner of gnat casserole (YMMV).

The larvae are a bit trickier. The first step toward getting rid of them is to starve your plant of water for a few days, letting the top layers of soil dry completely. Larvae cannot develop in dry soil, though they can survive a drought by suspending their development. Don't worry about killing your plant; it takes serious dedication to kill most houseplants from underwatering, while overwatering a plant can kill it very quickly.

Once the soil is dry, mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution with 4 parts water. Use 3% solution, which you can find in any drug store or in the hygiene/medicine aisle of a chain grocery store. You can use a stronger solution if you change the water mixture appropriately, and don't be too concerned with proportions; it would take a very high concentration of H2O2 to hurt your plants. Just make sure you buy pure H2O2 with no chemical additives! Hydrogen peroxide is often sold as a topical disinfectant, and things that are good for your wounds may not be so healthy for your plants.

Water your plants as you normally would, using the hydrogen peroxide solution and taking care to get good coverage of the entire top layer of soil. Use a spray bottle if desired. The soil will fizz for a few minutes after application; this is natural. The gnat larvae die on contact with the H2O2. After a few minutes the fizzing stops and the H2O2 breaks down into oxygen molecules (which your plants don't mind) and water molecules (which your plants love).

Congratulations! You've just successfully treated your fungus gnat infestation. Monitor the gnat population for a few days with sticky cards, in order to make sure you've got them all. Make sure not to overwater, and consider sometimes adding a little hydrogen peroxide to your daily waterings--in my experience, the plants react well to this little treat. Watch your plants grow big and strong and enjoy the fruits of your labors, whether they be flowers, vegetables, literal fruits, or big sticky nugs of homegrown chronic.
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SpicySativa

SpicySativa

Well-Known Member
Gnats have a VERY short life cycle, and your job is to break the cycle before it starts over. Drench your soil with Azamax at 1 oz per gallon twice about 8 days apart and you will break the cycle. Adults will die off of "old" age and the larva in your soil will be killed before it sprouts wings. Done-ski....

A little mosquito dunk ground down to a powder and sprinkled on the surface of your soil (maybe a 1/2 tsp per pot) will help present them from returning (or showing up in the first place).
 
desertdog

desertdog

Well-Known Member
Now that winter is finally here they have all but died off, but my problem is really in the summer and I tried everything except watering in the h202. My thing is I want to go back to soil, promix, or sunshine. In sunshine mix my plants grew an in a day with all strains. Hydro is just work on top of work. I don't mind the work, but soil and sunshine mix and a gravity feed water system lets me veg the fuck out of plants, super crop, and get better results for less. My biggest problem with the gnats is my swamp cooler on building. I just couldn't justify over 100.00 a month for AC. Thank you all for the help now I am more confident I can get control of the situation.
 
Endur0xX

Endur0xX

Well-Known Member
I use promix, I have gnats when I keep things wet, neem cake in my recipe seems to keep them from getting out of control.
 
D

DJCA

Member
Yeah, I see on the net that Promix is treated with something to prevent fungus gnats, but I bought a huge bail of Promix at Canadian tire and it had plenty of gnats in it. To be fair though, there was a very small hole in the packaging that had been taped-up. But gnats I had and there were plenty of them. I finally got rid of them by using only natural and organic methods, no chems, but it was a bit hard on the plants. I used organic cold pressed Neem oil, mixed with natural soap (to get the oil to mix with the water). I sprayed the leaves a few times and drenched the soil with it, then I let the plants dry out as much as possible, without killing them, then I topped the pots with DE (Diatomaceous earth ), it is considered to be food safe, but cannot be inhaled into the lungs. DE can be used as a soil topping because it is like tiny little microscopic razor blades blades to the bugs, it cuts them up and dries them out. They can't get into the soil to to eat the fungus from over watered plants and they can't lay their eggs in the pots (up to 300 per adult fly). If any eggs hatch after you've applied DE, the microscopic maggots get all cut-up and die when they try to get around in the soil. These are completely organic methods to get rid of them. I don't know what's in mosquito bits, but I will not consider using any kind of chems on my plants because I don't want to ingest chemicals.

You can even sprinkle DE on the plants or spray it on the leaves in a water mix. DE does not work when it is wet, but it will do it's thing after it dries. Personally I would not want any in or on my buds because it is not considered safe to inhale DE. I did once sprinkle it all over my plants during veg, but it was hell to get rid of it so it wouldn't get into my buds because the fans blows it all around the garden. it is a very fine dusty powder, soft to the touch, but deadly for bugs when applied carefully. It's just not a good idea to inhale it.
 
D

DJCA

Member
By the way fungus gnats don't usually eat the plants, they feed on the fungus in the pots of over watered plants, and lay their eggs in that soil. the maggot like larva eat the roots of the plants. Treating the soil makes more sense than treating the plants or foliage. yellow sticky fly traps are also good to catch the adult flies, so they don't get a chance to hatch their eggs, up to 300 per adult fly. That's how I deal with fungus gnats in a safe and organic way.
 
G

Green Puddin

Well-Known Member
DJCA said:
Yeah, I see on the net that Promix is treated with something to prevent fungus gnats, but I bought a huge bail of Promix at Canadian tire and it had plenty of gnats in it. To be fair though, there was a very small hole in the packaging that had been taped-up. But gnats I had and there were plenty of them. I finally got rid of them by using only natural and organic methods, no chems, but it was a bit hard on the plants. I used organic cold pressed Neem oil, mixed with natural soap (to get the oil to mix with the water). I sprayed the leaves a few times and drenched the soil with it, then I let the plants dry out as much as possible, without killing them, then I topped the pots with DE (Diatomaceous earth ), it is considered to be food safe, but cannot be inhaled into the lungs. DE can be used as a soil topping because it is like tiny little microscopic razor blades blades to the bugs, it cuts them up and dries them out. They can't get into the soil to to eat the fungus from over watered plants and they can't lay their eggs in the pots (up to 300 per adult fly). If any eggs hatch after you've applied DE, the microscopic maggots get all cut-up and die when they try to get around in the soil. These are completely organic methods to get rid of them. I don't know what's in mosquito bits, but I will not consider using any kind of chems on my plants because I don't want to ingest chemicals.

You can even sprinkle DE on the plants or spray it on the leaves in a water mix. DE does not work when it is wet, but it will do it's thing after it dries. Personally I would not want any in or on my buds because it is not considered sae to inhale DE. I did once sprinkle it all over my plants during veg, but it was hell to get ri d of it so it wouldn't get into my buds because the fans blows it all around the garden. it is a very fine dusty powder, soft to the touch, but deadly for bugs when applied carefully. It's just not a good idea to inhale it.
Click to expand...
Promix BX I believe has a fungicide in it which is supposed to keep knats away from lack of fungus and whatnot , but all other promix blends are usually polluted with knats.....doesn't help when you can't find a bale with no holes ffs
 
Greenman71

Greenman71

Active Member
I recently had a huge breakout of fungus gnats. I think they came from a bag of Dr. Earth Organic ferts. I used Summit Mosquito Bits and yellow sticky traps to get rid of them. Mosquito Bits uses a bacteria to kill the larvae in the soil. Takes about two weeks to break the cycle and rid yourself of the pests. The container is covered in scary warnings but from what I've read researching the Mosquito Bits it's harmless to plants and humans.
 
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