Flying insect trouble? You'll wanna see this...

I am curious if anyone has any trouble with flying insects such as fungus gnats or something like that? I have some pictures I'd like to post about one of the ways I am going to deal with flying insects. I have had fungus gnats and controlled them well, with the occasional stray gnat still flying around, but definitely not a problem. I came up with a creative way to deal with these things so I am actually going to allow those stray gnats to survive and repopulate my grow room a little bit in order to test this out. Not only could it work, but it would also be very entertaining.

I'll post the pics once I get some replys with people dealing with flying insects and how they currently attempt to manage them, make sure you check back here, it'll be fun! hahahaha god damn I'm evil.

Can't wait.

I just use Imid, (Bayer), in the soil for seedlings .
I water it into the soil before I germinate.
That kills any pre-existing pests.

Then I cover the soil surface with dryer sheets to prevent random "flyers" from laying eggs.
Have not had fungus gnats, root aphids or white fly for over a year now.
The dryer sheets won't help much if you are already infested.
But they will keep you from getting infested in the first place.

So, what's your evil plan?

Aloha,
Weeze

Evil plan is a surprise, I have it kinda set up now but I wanna get it going full force before I let the cat out of the bag. I dont expect it to be something new and innovative, probably been done before, and I don't plan on it being a solution to flying insect trouble by any means. It'll simply be more of a "maintain control" strategy. So right now I am inviting those little bastards to come on back for the party, worst case scenerio is that I'll just need to revert back to my usual treatment methods if things get out of hand. Also its not a real cost effective method of flying insect control, but for those with some extra money I think it could be well worth the money for those that are pationate about their gardens. Maybe ill end up cracking and letting my secret out early cuz im too excited to wait haha. check back soon!

Startin' to sound like the's a vacuum involved. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Weezard

I just use Imid, (Bayer), in the soil for seedlings. I water it into the soil before I germinate. That kills any pre-existing pests.

---

Weez - you mean aspirin? Doesn't that pose a hermie risk? I've always meant to ask you this question!

Alright after tonights session on getting this ready I realize it will take me a little while to finish my plan so I'll get on with explaining it. It started out as me going to get more soil and then I decided to buy a venus fly trap, then I thought about it and bought a few more, now I've decided to get a couple more and then clone them and cover all the available space in my veg room with carnivorous beasts in a manner that won't get in my way when doing other things in there. The setup cost isn't all that much for trays, growing medium and such. Plus my veg room has a climate perfect for their growth as well. I figure that the gnats like to land down in the soil and lay their eggs and such, so if that area is lined with devouring devices, there's a pretty strong chance they'll end up in a pretty shitty situation with those chompers. I already spent too much time tonight messing around with it so I'll post the pictures tomorrow of what I have done so far.

Should be fun. Post up pics when you get it set up!

It's a pleasure to meet another madman. :D

However, I though that Venus Flytraps were geared for bigger bugs, like flies.
Dem teeny gnats will have to land hard, right on a trigger hair, yah?
Den, it snaps extremely fast to 95% closed and the teeth form the bars of a cage that are rather widely spaced for gnats.

Also, suggest you take a good whiff of one in flower before you fill a room with them.
Mine smelled like rotting meat.
Prolly to attract the flies.
Still, It's a fun idea.
I keep pitcher plants by the fish pond.Attachment 282585

They no care about bug size but seldom catch any flyers.
No wanna sniff dem too close either.

Plants in the Sundew family catch all sizes of flyers.
Might wanna look them up.

Carry on,

Weezard

So far I've noticed that the gnats are able to trigger the snapping heads on the traps, and that they're light/weak enough for the sticky insides of the trap to hold the gnats in there. Also I'm very surprised at how strong/fast the traps close, I had a venus fly trap when I was younger and it wasn't nearly as aggressive as what I have now. Also I couldn't find any bad smells coming from it but we'll see once I start filling it up a bit more.

IMPORTANT: I would like to add a note here for everyone that is reading this. It is not recommended to allow/encourage the reproduction of invasive insect species in your garden. Fungus gnats can destroy seedlings and fresh clones. I am only allowing them to thrive in my larger plants where the larva can't possibly eat enough roots to cause any problems, the smaller plants are going to be kept safe during the entire experiment.

The issue is going to be that once they close, that's it. They don't reopen. They digest the prey and then die back while newer shoots grow in to take their place. I don't think them little gnats are going to make much of a meal plus you would likely need tons of the fly traps to make a difference in the population... but a cute idea to be sure.

Oh I plan to have tons of them, they're simple to clone and easy to maintain whatever size you want to fit around in specific areas. Also, it isn't true that once they close they don't reopen. Typically each trap can close and reopen anywhere from 5-7 times before they die, and during that time several more heads can appear to replace it. I don't intend for it to be real successful in the overall control of the fungus gnat population, more so it would just help maintain lower levels in combination with continued spray treatments. Perhaps it'll lower the amount of insecticide spray that I need to use. As for not being much of a meal, well that'll be part of the experiment. Those gnats don't fly around for very long periods of time, they like to land on things a lot so as a %, the more traps I have, the greater the probability that they'll land inside some jaws and be eaten, so hopefully enough of them will land in there for food.