Little flies on coco

[Psi]

Using coco with run to waste. Have noticed these small flies that seem to run round the rims of the pots. Put up sticky pads and caught quite a few around the ceiling. Looked at them with a glass and they are small and black with wings, long and thin about 1mm long. Cant notice any damage on leaves or anything much underneath. Had them for a few months now.
Been offered soem systemic spray that is pretty nasty stuff that will do the job but am in 4th week of flower so am reluctant to spray now.
Any body know of a site that has some pictures of bugs so that I can identify them, looked at thrips and some other common things and cannot see this type yet. I am in the UK.

Psi Reviewed by Psi on 10-17-2007. Little flies on coco Using coco with run to waste. Have noticed these small flies that seem to run round the rims of the pots. Put up sticky pads and caught quite a few around the ceiling. Looked at them with a glass and they are small and black with wings, long and thin about 1mm long. Cant notice any damage on leaves or anything much underneath. Had them for a few months now. Been offered soem systemic spray that is pretty nasty stuff that will do the job but am in 4th week of flower so am reluctant to spray Rating: 5

[PharmaCan]

They sound like gnats. Try setting some sticky traps on the rim of your pots. That's what I do and it controls them pretty well. I'm using coco, run to waste, same as you. :thumbsup:

PC :smokin:

[Psi]

First thing I tried was a product from grow shop called Gnat Off - didn't work and v.expensive considering. Have tried the stick pads and got quite a lot of them, have them up on the ceiling and will carry on. They must be living off something, how much damage do they do? Are they a serious problem? Should I just use that systemic pesticide stuff and say goodbye for good?
BTW while on the subject of coco, I use cannazym and reuse the pots. this is 3rd time round, how many times can you reuse the coco with zym b4 you have to replace it?

[stinkyattic]

Fungus gnats in and of themselves aren't particularly harmful to plants, but can act as a vector for disease.
Hang a no-pest strip, and make sure that your grow room has nowhere for standing water to sit and stagnate- that's where the nasty little shits hang out and do their bug thing.
Pyrethrin bomb the room if you want faster and better results, and repeat once about 3 days after the first bomb, to kill any flies that emerged from a more protected life stage, such as eggs, and missed the first round.

[Psi]

Thanx so much, sounds like good advice and will give the bomb a go. The only standing water is in the run off trough, I cant really do much with it as it will just fill up again but will pump out what's in it and flush it away down the sewer, then put some of that gnat off stuff in it to try keep em at bay. What a plonker though, never thought to check the run off, it's plumbed in and just drains itself but the drain is half way up the side so it is always half full, I figured that heavy stuff would sink and not block it up that way, Duh! Thanks again.

[stinkyattic]

The only standing water is in the run off trough, ...the drain is half way up the side so it is always half full,

There's your problem, those are certainly fungus gnats. Give it a little scrub with a stiff brush when you dump it too.