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gnats and my Bhut Jolokia - thin layer of sand on top ok?

S

svtcontour

Hi guys, my Bhut plant seems to have a slight gnat infestation. I have not seen too many but I have seen a few so far that hover around the plant and I've seen one come out of the soil when I was watering it last week. I've read that a 1/4" of play sand might do the trick. Can anyone verify if this is an ok thing to do? I'll be watering it from the bottom of course.

PS. I've read that gnats can be common in organic rich soils that are moist. I'm not sure if the miracle grow potting soil I used qualifies as organic rich but I dont have this issue in any of the other peppers wihch are downstairs which use a different soil.

Here is the plant and the sand in place. Should I be ok this way or get rid of the sand? I figure that watering from bottom up would avoid gnats in general right? I've only started doing this (past couple times). I used to water the standard way before....

gnat_remedy.jpg
 
The fungus gnats don't harm the plants, and the larvae only eat fungus or dead plant material... I just hit them with bug spray and they leave quietly.
 
I see a fungus knat or two every once and a while, but not enough to worry about. I just squish them when I see them.

That sticky sticks says it works on aphids as well, you have any experience with that? or do they just ignore that and go straight for the plants? I have seen some on my seedlings, and would like something easier than lifting and spraying every leaf on 100 plants.

jacob
 
Jacob,

Knock on wood… I haven’t had an aphid problem (yet).

The Sticky Stiks are just yellow fly type paper on plastic poles. Gnats, Thrips, Aphids seem to be attracted to yellow so they do help keep the population under control. Unless you catch them early the best you can do is control, not eliminate, the pests.

Bill
 
Yeah, I am trying to stay on top of them, but they already made cumari pollux go down hill before I caught them and did a number on my red savinas too but they seem to be improving. The cumari now has yellow (actually closer to albino) leaves so maybe they will leave the others alone and just go after that one. I resowed it anyways as I don't think it is going to make it. Other varieties seem to doing fine though despite the hit or miss infestation.

Sorry for the hijack, svt.

Thanks!
jacob
 
Bummer.

Jacob, send me an email [ottawapepper (at) hotmail (dot) com] with your mailing details. I'll spot you a few Sticky Stiks to try out, I'm told you can't get them in the US.

As a US based member on another forum once commented after trying them, "dam, we get Britney Spears and you get Sticky Stiks, no fair".

Bill
 
If they get bad enough they can drive you up the wall. I had the same problem last year. I was also using miracle grow and the gnats loved it!! i was also using the sticky sticks. It was so bad the yellow strips were covered with fungus gnats in a mater of days. The sand does work to a point too but i found the plant wasnt growing as well. Finally I changed the soil to pro-mix and their numbers declined bigtime. I dont know what is in the miracle grow they like but i would change soil. the only other thing is not to water too much
 
Thanks everyone for all the replies. I'll pick up some of the stickies tomorrow. As for the sand, I'll leave it in place for a couple weeks (I think gnat life cycle is 1 week or 10 days so maybe if I leave it 2 weeks, I can get rid of them) and see how it turns out. After the two weeks, I'll gently dump the stuff out.
 
No worries :) Its all related - bugs and all so I didnt take it as a hijack :) BTW I found a ladybug in my house so I put it in one of my larger pepper plant pots. I have no idea where it came from because its freaking cold and snowy outside!

jjs7741 said:
Yeah, I am trying to stay on top of them, but they already made cumari pollux go down hill before I caught them and did a number on my red savinas too but they seem to be improving. The cumari now has yellow (actually closer to albino) leaves so maybe they will leave the others alone and just go after that one. I resowed it anyways as I don't think it is going to make it. Other varieties seem to doing fine though despite the hit or miss infestation.

Sorry for the hijack, svt.

Thanks!
jacob
Click to expand...
 
ottawapepper said:
Bummer.

Jacob, send me an email [ottawapepper (at) hotmail (dot) com] with your mailing details. I'll spot you a few Sticky Stiks to try out, I'm told you can't get them in the US.

As a US based member on another forum once commented after trying them, "dam, we get Britney Spears and you get Sticky Stiks, no fair".

Bill
Click to expand...
Thanks Bill, I am interested in trying them out. E-mail sent.
 
Your soil was likely contaminated. I always like using dry compressed soils where pests aren't a problem. Sticky traps work well but they don't seem to be effective against aphids
 
Fungus gnats are hardly benign- they are a serious disease vector. Got root rot on a houseplant? Congratulations, it's just been spread to every other plant in the area. And they don't just eat dead stuff and fungus- they absolutely do eat plant roots and stunt growth and stress plants. I think they are more common in soils such as Miracle Gro because it retains a TON of water, and because it most likely comes with the gnats already in it. Fortunately, as far as insect nasties go they are relatively easy to exterminate or at least manage.
My advice-
Stop watering. Remove the sand.
You may be exacerbating the issue by watering bottom up and by putting the sand on top- it's been my experience that watering up with soil such as Miracle Gro leads to soaked soil which leads to fungus gnats. As for the sand- it's a great way to trap moisture in the soil and it won't do anything to stop the gnats from reaching the surface. I use Miracle Gro often when I'm growing in dirt- it's great stuff if you're going to be away for long periods of time because of it's water retention qualities (those little clear/yellowish balls hold a ton of water!). However, I sterlize it before I use it by hucking it in the microwave for 2 minutes before potting. Zap- everything's dead (including beneficials, btw). I water at the base of the plant and I don't water it again until the top inch or so of soil is bone dry and depending on the size of the pot, when the soil just begins to draw away from the edge of the pot. Most plants and peppers in particular don't do well in soil that is constantly moist, and if you dig into your pot a few inches I'll put money on it being moist.
Yellow Sticky Traps shouldn't be the first or only tool used to prevent fungus gnats, but they can definitely slow them down and they are a great monitor- if you've got gnats stuck to the trap, you're overwatering. Another good trap? Potatoes. Or rather, cut up a raw potato into 1" squares and put them in the pot. What's a potato, but a big juicy delicious hunk of root? Leave the potato for a couple days then toss it in the trash because it'll be packed full of the larvae. When used in conjunction with the yellow sticky traps, this really does damage to the population of the little dicks.
I've always had good luck with just cutting back on watering to a proper level and leaving the traps up as a monitor, but if you want you can always order up some bugs. I've heard that Hypoaspis miles are EXTREMELY effective, though I've never tried them myself. Note they also feast on thrips.
As for aphids? Marigolds.
 
The sticky traps are ok for the flying gnats, but you need a safe way to destroy the eggs and larvae. I recommend GNATROL. It contains nematodes that are fungus gnat specific, and those nematodes feast on fungus gnat eggs and larvae, much the same way that ladybugs feast on aphids. If you use this AND the sticky traps, you should have the gnat problem well under control in no time. One of the local pot grow supply stores carries it, but sells it by the gallon. He agreed to sell it to me at roughly $1+/ounce, but I'd have to buy at least a quart at a time(@$40). It's more than I'd care to spend for the fllowing reason, but I'd consider it if others wanted to split it. PM me if interested. BTW, the stuff needs to be stored in a refrigerator once it is opened, and has a limited shelf life.
 
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