fungus gnats

[Gen]

I have been battling fungus gnats with yellow sticky traps. They are winning. Yesterday I cut up a bunch of garlic (nice and stinky) and spread it around the base of the plants. Yesterday, I had swarms of fungus gnats and today I saw a couple. I've done this in the past with my indoor plants and it works.

[latewood]

thanks Gen. Just got back from the hydro store...heheheheheheheh

[Gen]

good

[friendowl]

fungus gants are annouing lil creatures.
they make me feel dirty.
lil basturds

[Gen]

friend owl, such poety.

[Gen]

poetry

[Gen]

alright, the fungus gnats are back again. Just a couple, but I thought the garlic would totally eradicate them. I guess I have too many plants. Next, I'm going to try wrapping the soil containers in grow cloth. If they can't land and lay eggs on a wet surface, they can't breed.

[Zandor]

But they live in the dirt. The ones they lay eggs are already in the dirt.

If you can find some Gnatrol will get rid of them and not harm the plants. They sell it here http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/items.asp?Cc=PC&Bc=

As well as pure Neem oil. They will work but the think you need to know is you need to treat the plants every 3 day's for about 2 weeks to break the life cycle of them. You may kill the ones you see but the ones you don't see yet are just as big of a problem.

That link also have a room fogger that can kill them as well.

That's about all the help I can give you but it's also all the help you need to get rid of them too. As for homemade remedies not all of them work for gnats, most are for other mites or insects that I know of.

Good luck

[Gen]

thanks z

I just read off ic forum to use potato slices to help reduce infestation. They will lay their eggs on the potato slices then can be removed. I layed a few pieces out and came back 1/2 hour later. I could see the eggs and larvae. The larvae can jump (like a flea) to get away. I rinsed the slices off and stuck them back. If I do this about 25 times today, I can help reduce the population.

[elcheapo]

Those little bastards become very annoying! It's one of the main reasons I switched to hydro. Haven't seen one since.

[Gen]

elcheapo, I wish you luck. I got them in hydro too. I've taken to covering all growing medium with grow cloth. Let's how they like that.

[elcheapo]

Geez thatâ??s weird. What medium/setup are they going for? I had them in plague proportions in my soil grow but only found a couple of dead gnat bodies floating in the water of my hydro setup. As soon as I stopped the soil grow, I never saw one again.

[Gen]

el cheapo that's really interesting. They love soil. It's dessert time. I had them in soil before I had them in hydro. So you're saying if I stop growing in soil in my hydro set up, the fungus gnats will disappear. I'll have to try that. This evening I covered all medium up with growth cloth. Seems to keep them down. Time will tell.

[elcheapo]

I don't have enough experience to claim that they won't go for a hydro setup. Maybe a root rot problem is keeping them around? Or maybe itâ??s just the way my hydro setup functions that drowns them or prevents them from breeding?
Whatâ??s your hydro medium/setup? Somebody else might be able to offer some insight on why they are attracted to your setup.

[Zandor]

el cheapo that's really interesting. They love soil. It's dessert time. I had them in soil before I had them in hydro. So you're saying if I stop growing in soil in my hydro set up, the fungus gnats will disappear. I'll have to try that. This evening I covered all medium up with growth cloth. Seems to keep them down. Time will tell.

Gen are you saying you have dirt in your hydro??? Or dirt plant groing with your hydro?

Anyway if you don't want any in your soil improve the drainage by adding more perlite and more drain holes. The dirt is holding to much water for to long and then you water again. Then you get gnats. It's just that easy, they live off the roots. Not that they can do much damage other then to be a pest for the most part but if not dealt with they can do dammage just by the numbers. Next thing you know you harvest and are smoking bug's with your buds...yuck!!

A cover over the soil will help to keep them from getting out.