gnats...a problem or just annoying?

Hi all :)

Growing indoors for the first time in years. Seem to have quite a few gnats. I get them anytime I have an indoor plant (regular house plants as well as my special plants). My guess is that they are just annoying, but figured it was worth asking if they are just that, annoying, or a real problem?

When they appear in my regular house plants I just have the pest control guy give them a spray when he comes, but obviously I can't do that for my special plants haha.

I'm going to pick up some fly paper to help get rid of them myself.

So, just a simple annoyance or will they cause any problems (like spider mites)?

Much thanks!
me myself and I

i have gnats very few because i live in the desert but they dont seem to be a problem with me...

i have them too, but i try to squish them or clap them out of the air if they wander away from the plants, lol.

i only have about 3 or 4 a week but yea they arent much of a problem...

Yea, I get them sometime too. Get some of those sticky fly traps to get rid of them for a while.

Fungus gnats in themselves will most likely not give you trouble, though they can be vectors for disease.

The problem is, if you have gnats, you also have created the conditions for mold to grow.

Somewhere in your grow you have a problem with either stagnant water (check drip trays) or too-wet soil that never dries out.

Fix this, gnats are gone.

:D

While you let things get drier, try this! Put foil on your soil. It seems that the poor little gnats are light sensitive and having light coming from above and below, confuses their little minds. Non-reflective dark surfaces, like soil, are where they lay their eggs. The sticky yellow strips work on the adults and the foil cuts down the number of eggs. Organic farmers use foil in this way to discourage various insect pests. - Granny:hippy:

Storm Crow's method is also going to help protect you from thrips.
A paper plate with a slit cut in it for the stem will work too.
Don't let the air under there stagnate though.

I've dealt with gnats in the entirety of my admittedly short growing tenure. They've never done anything to my plants except poo on the leaves, but never the flowers. I've read that you can place potato slices on the soil and they will attract and concentrate the larvae, then remove the potatoes. There's also something called neem oil that kills insects in the soil. I'm yet to try any approach because they are nothing more than annoying so far.

Thank you all so much!

(StinkyAttic) I do think drainage was the problem. I am using 5 gallon buckets, so I just set them up on something and drilled a bunch of little holes in them all so they could drain easily. Why didn't I think of that when they were light and empty?? Ah well.

Problem solved!

me myself and I :)

If they come back consider bacillus thuringiensis israelensis available under the brand name Gnatrol, vectobac and bacrimos. Thank Ed Rosenthal for that one.

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Originally Posted by me myself and I

(StinkyAttic) I do think drainage was the problem. I am using 5 gallon buckets, so I just set them up on something and drilled a bunch of little holes in them all so they could drain easily.

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Word, when you use that sort of container, you need to set them up on something to drain properly because there is a rim around the base= no where for moisture to escape.

3 bricks works like a charm, and/or a bunch of holes drilled in the SIDES (I used to do this. 5/8" paddle bit, 30 seconds of your time, happy plants).

Holes in the sides is a good idea. Will do!

Was also planning to get 2 boards to rise them up off the ground a little because I saw that rim at the bottom as a problem for drainage if simply setting flat on the floor.

They are all ready looking better since I drilled the holes in the bottom (the plants, not the buckets) heh heh

me myself and I