what kind of bug?

O.K this is my third grow and never had bugs till now. I have a bunch of tiny flying bugs that congregate down around the base of the plant. At first I noticed 1 flying around so I squashed it, but I went to feed today and seen a whole bunch crawling around on the soil. I have never seen this type of bug before. They are black and kinda slender. Thats about the best desciption I can give. Any ideas?

i noticed the same thing at the bottom of my plants in the soil... just today went to go water and i picked up the bag and saw a few TINY slender black bugs crawling around. dont know about the flyin part tho. dont know what they are and havent shown any harm to my girls yet but still curious what they are and whether or not i need to do somehting about it now

sounds like fungus gnats... google them... pretty sure they will get into the soil and eat your roots... bad deal

here ya go

http://www.learn2grow.com/problemsolvers/insectsanimals/insectdamagecontrol/fungusgnats.aspx

i had the same little bastids climbin in my shit. they are gnatts. the number 1 reason people get em is water in the medium. they absolutly love wet soil. and the larva come in a lot of soiless mixes. they eat beneficial larva and roots. i started by putting 2 inches of sand around the stem of the plant cover the soil, you can still water through the sand. then put out a bowl of fruit punch or beer. all the adults will go there and die. then back way way way off on the watering. the dryer the medium the less they wanna be theree....they are the one bug id want to have if i have to have any. youll be ok.

Sort of sounds like what i have.Just noticed a bunch of tiny flies along the top of my pots fuckin around in the soil.Not sure what they are,and not sure what their doing in my soil,but i am sure it's not to good.Will the sand over the top of soil trick work here also?

hows the gnatts going. so i had a ton of em and i went out to the local hydro to see what was out there to deal with em. i found a way better way than sand. they have these strips you hang they look like an airfreshner or sumthin. you just hang it and in 1 or 2 days i never saw another one. no pest strips i think. im at my pharmacy so ill chech the exact name when i get home and hit you up with it....has it gotten worse? or the same?

Fungus Gnats are a bitch. They have powders out there that you water into the soil. I would try Neem Oil though. It works as a foliar spray but you can water with it as well. It's been a tried and true multi-pest controller for me and it's all I use. However, I've never tried it on Fungus Gnats.

Had a FG infestation in a palm in my living room once that got so bad I had to throw the whole tree out. Nothing I used actually worked.

Definitely fungus flies. I had them with my first grow. Caused by over-watering. If the soil is moist for too long, the roots will start to grow fungus. Where the flies come from, I have no idea. But what happens is: the flies lay eggs in the soil, the larvae hatch and eat the roots, the larvae turn into flies which lay more eggs.

What this means is that you have to kill both the flies and the larvae. When I had this problem, someone recommended I get nematodes (microscopic worms) to kill the larvae and ladybugs to kill the adult flies. Worked like a charm on the first try. Problem solved within a matter of days.

fruit flies