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seeds Gnat Larvae Ate My Seeds?

JUR-Z-Devil

JUR-Z-Devil

Any one else ever have this happen?From what i found on google that is what happened to me...Lost a few full trays..They werent showing after a good amount of time so i started digging up the seeds and one after the other had tiny white worms inside the seeds some seeds completely emptied full of worms... From what i gather its too much moisture?I am going back to germinating in paper towels this is the first year i tried direct sowing and its been going great but now that the gnats have found it, nothing seems to be making it without getting eaten... Its the moisture right? I think since they are already here they will keep doing it even if i use less moist soil from now on so im gonna go back to paper towels... luckily i have back up seeds for all of them except 3 varieties, so not a total lossas i oly need one of each to sprout...
 
 
:mouthonfire: :mouthonfire: :censored:​
 
96strat said:
Bake or microwave your soil
Click to expand...
 

Definitely gonna do that... im so bummed... they were all doing so well... the first few flats had near 100% germination, then when the gnats showed up, nearly zero germination...gonna bake the soil and germinate in paper towels again... dont know why i tried something else when paper towels worked just fine...
 
if these things are here already and they ate my seeds, are my seedlings in danger or do they just eat the seeds? christ i may have to start over completely if they eat seedlings too
 
Their in your soil now. I use liquid ladybug. It want kill your plants and will kill the bugs. I'm sure there are other methods. I never had the flies before but I think Frank(moruga welder) had them. Ask him how he got rid of them.
 
You can use Neem as a drench for one watering, you can add perlite or a product called "Growstones" to the top. (the Growstones is by far the best method I've seen - it works sorta like Diatomaceous earth)

Also, when you plant seeds, try not to completely cover the seed with potting mix.  Let the hole you planted in, stay mostly open.
 
Sorry about your losing so many seeds to those beasts. I use some form of liquid Bt when I see their presence, but have never had them eat the seeds before.

I've heard chamomile tea works to deter them, as well as sand, cinnamon on the top of the container.

I've been using Mcrobe-Lift but am not sure it's still available. A little of it goes a long way.
Edit - yes, it's available under mosquito control on Amazon, eBay, etc.
 
Im gonna go go with a dry top layer from now on like the sand. And im gonna try mosquito dunks for the bacteria in them to kill the larvae... just cause i have the stuff on hand... A few i dont have back ups for im gonna pull out, wash away the effected soil, and replant in microwaved soil... going back to paper towels or coffee filters to start them off so i can see instead of wasting a month waiting for nothing... Thanks all
 
I think this is what has been wreaking havoc on my new plants this season.  I just thought they were fruit flies but now I see the larvae in my soil.  Should I just start over with clean soil?  Or just try the suggestions above?
 
I was gonna start over but decided to do 3 things and it worked... One.. started watering from the bottom..holes in the bottom and let them soak it up.. keeps the top soil dry and unattractive to the adult gnats... Hung yellow fly paper.. the gnats are attracted to the yellow but any fly paper will start killing them off so they cant lay more eggs... and then i blended up some mosquito dunks in a blender with water and watered the seedlings killing all the larvae... my seedlings bounced back fast from any damage done... new soil heat first... all depends if you feel you have time or if you want to lose any specif plants... i have a lot of rare plants started so i had to try to save them and it worked... they seem to fight ok as seedlings but if you dont heat the soil when you put in seeds the larvae eat the seeds so those are a loss... now i heat the soil and maybe only 1 seedling i have hasnt made a full recovery...  
 
JUR-Z-Devil said:
I was gonna start over but decided to do 3 things and it worked... One.. started watering from the bottom..holes in the bottom and let them soak it up.. keeps the top soil dry and unattractive to the adult gnats... Hung yellow fly paper.. the gnats are attracted to the yellow but any fly paper will start killing them off so they cant lay more eggs... and then i blended up some mosquito dunks in a blender with water and watered the seedlings killing all the larvae... my seedlings bounced back fast from any damage done... new soil heat first... all depends if you feel you have time or if you want to lose any specif plants... i have a lot of rare plants started so i had to try to save them and it worked... they seem to fight ok as seedlings but if you dont heat the soil when you put in seeds the larvae eat the seeds so those are a loss... now i heat the soil and maybe only 1 seedling i have hasnt made a full recovery...  
Click to expand...
 
How much mosquito dunk did you blend in with water to kill the larvae?
 
BSH said:
 
How much mosquito dunk did you blend in with water to kill the larvae?
Click to expand...
 

i used a few in a gallon... but i am pretty sure one would be fine... i mean its bacteria so its not like the larvae have to find chunks to eat or anything... one in a gallon should be plenty to distribute them and wash into the soil...
 
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I use mosquito dunks as well, but as a preventive measure, and have not had any knat problems since
 
1 dunk is said to treat something like 100 gallons,  I just shave off the smallest amount, mayabe the size of a pea for about 10 gallons of soil
 
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