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Fungus gnats, about to go full retard?!?!?

T

Towlieee

Ok so I just thinned out one of my Melon container plants, cut it down, omg, like 50 fungus gnats around its base, didn't realize it was that bad.

I still have another melon (crimson sweet watermelon) in the same 40 gallons of soil.......  

I was thinking about doing a mild bleach sollution and spraying the top of the soil to try and tame them...  I know, full retard....  Then next time I water, flush the bleach through, then maybe add another mist of bleach to the top....


I'm mad that over these fungal gnats I can't over winter my plants, I planned on keeping my peppers in a closet with grow lights, but I wont bring in the gnats....  


So is my bleach idea super bad?  Will it harm them THAT bad?  

Should I maybe spray with cheap vinegar?  Something else?  I want to kill these fkers!  
 
I would not use bleach. Look for/google BT or mosquito dunks. It will kill the larvae, but not the adults from what I understand. I generally sprinkle some diatomaceous earth in the soil if it's really bad, but this apparently doesn't work. :) Try sticky traps though to get the adults.
 
I use a 50 gallon drum to fill from my hose and let the chlorine dissipate for 24 hours, then i add 1 mosquito dunk.

If you peroxide/bleach your soil, your soil will be dead.

You can get a mosquito dunk and add some crumbs as a top dressing.

I havnt seen a gnat around my plants in years.
 
So you had a topic already started on this.

Buy the product called "Growstones", if you are not planning on re-potting. (which by the way, is a really bad idea, but I guess that's for you to learn)

Some people have just layered sand on top of the potting mix.

At some point, you're going to have to actually pick a course of action, because people around here already get grouchy about talking about the same topics over and over...
 
solid7 said:
So you had a topic already started on this.

Buy the product called "Growstones", if you are not planning on re-potting. (which by the way, is a really bad idea, but I guess that's for you to learn)

Some people have just layered sand on top of the potting mix.

At some point, you're going to have to actually pick a course of action, because people around here already get grouchy about talking about the same topics over and over...
Click to expand...
Sorry about that, just realized how out of control it was.  And my old thread rambled on and on.

I'm not even as concerned about over wintering now, I'll just start really early next year on new plants.  But they are so bad on my porch, I see them inside now, just opening the door a few fly in.  

There are probably 200+ in my melon tote alone walking and flying, probably a lot more, its out of control!  
 
     Definitely go the Bt route, as ndeme said. Mosquito dunks work but are way more expensive than water dispersable granules that you can order from Amazon. 
 
Good house keeping helps .. keep the pots free of dead leaves and fallen flowers ... Always water from the bottom .. damp top soil gives them an environment to breed ... as others have stated fly traps will catch the adults sand, vermiculite layer will hopefully stop eggs being laid

Over wintering is a repot clearing the soil and washing the roots will again stop the issue

Best of luck on their eradication
 
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