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Gnats!!!

megahot

megahot

I have noticed a few little black gnats flying around here and there in my grow room. They are either fruit flys or fungus gnats??? They might even be the same thing??? Anyways I found on dead that was stuck to my yellow sticky tab, but there are no others. Should I get some mosquito dunks??? I have some Bayer advanced Fruit,citrus & vegetable insect control, but I dont know if I should use it in this case or not. I have no exp in dealing with pests. Perhaps I am just being to worried, but I always say " better safe then sorry." I would appreciate some input please

One thing i should add about the Bayer pest control is that it says for outdoor use only and I'm growing indoors. But I think this is some good stuff for killing insects. Can I use it indoors anyways? lol
 
I wouldn't freak out right away - you can never get rid of every gnat and larva.
From what I've found online, the best defense is to have the surface of your
soil dry down a half inch or so by bottom watering, and to keep the top of the
soil loose and cultivated down to a 1/4 or 1/2 inch. the larva live in the moist
top layer of soil, if I remember correctly. I'd keep a close eye on things. If you
get one gnat a day, I'd say there isn't that great of a problem, and the advice
noted above might be enough. If you start seeing more, then some more radical
steps might need to be taken. I'd say the Bayer is a last resort. Neem might be
a safer alernative.
 
I found any bar hand soap shaved mixed in with water in the sprayer. Water the plant first but not too much, even though they are there because of water you cant not water to get rid of them because they will be there still. The reason I say to water the plant before treating with soap is to stop the palnt from taking in anthing anymore so it wont take in soap. This is good to do when spraying pestisides. Now, spray the surface of the soil and the drain holes at the bottum of the pot cause that is where they are most of the time.

After I hit them with soap I never have a problem. Soap can up the ph if not used carefully.
 
unless your plants are super small, just get 4-5 yellow sticky traps and set them out, they all will eventually get stuck and problem solved. i had TONS last year and put out 7 and within a month they were all gone and never came back!
 
The sticky traps help, but mostly to identify the level of your problem, catching some of the adult flyers. I agree with PaulG, a gnat a day is no big deal.

Also, it is getting much closer to Spring--once outside gnats are doomed. Established plants that are just starting to get a few gnats now, not a big deal, IMO. If they are totally running amok in your small seedlings, different story.

Looking at your GLOG, I would recommend you lay your sticky traps flat instead of upright. The gnats are lazy flyers and like to land and crawl around. Diatamaceous Earth dusted around the rims really gives them a bad day, also. Keep top of soil dry, check for them around the drain holes. Don't leave any standing water there.
 
Make sure they're gnats and not white flies. If you see what look like fine spiderwebs on the plants and drying leaves, it's white flies and they multiply and kill plants fast. They tend to show up mid-winter in plants brought in from outdoors when the eggs were laid in the soil.

If the plants aren't too young and delicate, I've rescued plants from infestation by fairly drastic measures. First, they all headed to the shower for a good hosing down to physically knock off the pests, but they need sturdy stems for that. I've only done this with mature houseplants, so am not sure younger vegetable plant can take it. Then, spray daily or twice daily, depending on how bad they are, with a 50/50 solution of rubbing alcohol and water with a few drops of dish detergent added. Make sure to get the undersides of the leaves. It's harsh, but the flies are harsher on the plants. It also works for other pests if you need to kill them when there are already flowers that make it unsafe to use pesticides. Safe indoors around pets and children too. The alcohol kills flies on contact and evaporates quickly not to dry the leaves. The detergent helps get the eggs off...but just use a few DROPS in your spraybottle, or too much detergent will damage the plants too.
 
Picture010-1.jpg


put some pieces into the water for a day or two
then water well

the little fungus gnat larvaes eat and die
 
I was dealing with fungus gnats earlier and got lucky. I caught them early. The yellow sticky tape is great for taking a census, and killing adults, but you have to keep an eye out for the larvae--they're the seed/seedling killer. I was able to photograph the larvae actually in a seed munching away. I allowed things to dry out for a little bit and so far so good.

Good luck to you megahot.
 
Nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure :)

I kid, I kid, but I had fungus gnat larvae, and the suggestion was made on here to use mosquito dunks, and had great results. I think all told I saw only 2-3 flies
 
Big +1 to nitwit and elcap for the dunks. Some will take 1/4 of a dunk, powderize with a hammer. This speeds mixing in the water. Some gardeners leave a whole dunk in their water can or outdoor water supply as mosquito larvae abatement.

I've posted before as I hate the f-gnats more than any other bad bug. Like Patrick said, it's the larvae which is bad news. If you are not sure if you have a problem, thoroughly drench a suspect plant with water, saving the run-off. Observe with a magnifying glass, looking for the larvae. They are very tiny, flip around in the water. If you see them, drench with your dunk-water once a week. You can put your nutes in there, if desired.

Wishing you well in the hunter/killer ops... :cool:
 
Please just do not use soap I think soap could hurt a plant........O, sorry just picturing how it was when I was a Noob and did not uderstand how strong plants are.
 
Similar to the mosquito dunks is a product called Fungus Gnat granules from Gardens Alive (same pesticide I think- a form of Bt). Once you order from them they haunt you forever along with all their sister companies but the stuff works. I have had major fungus gnats in the past. My sticky traps were loaded. They multiply so quickly it isn't a good idea to get too nonchalant.
 
I got em now, lol. Think they were in some new soil I bought :( . I wonder if putting vinegar (near the plants) would repel them. We used to use that when I worked in produce to keep the fruit flies off stuff. Has anyone tried that?
 
Dulac said:
I got em now, lol. Think they were in some new soil I bought :( . I wonder if putting vinegar (near the plants) would repel them. We used to use that when I worked in produce to keep the fruit flies off stuff. Has anyone tried that?
Click to expand...

How many do you have? Go with the mosquito dunks and yellow stickys if you have alot!
 
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