HELP!! BUGS!!

[boldtdweller]

Can anyone tell me what to do about the plethora of soil fungus gnats that i am finding in my room. Even when i lift up the pots there are gnat larvae under 2 in particular. Please help me get rid of these pesky bugs, any suggestions ?

boldtdweller Reviewed by boldtdweller on 04-14-2008. HELP!! BUGS!! Can anyone tell me what to do about the plethora of soil fungus gnats that i am finding in my room. Even when i lift up the pots there are gnat larvae under 2 in particular. Please help me get rid of these pesky bugs, any suggestions ? Rating: 5

[Mr. Clandestine]

Those little bastards are generally more of an annoyance than anything. But if the infestation gets too bad, the larvae can actually do damage to the root hairs, inhibiting their ability to intake nutrients, and delaying or stunting growth. Keeping 'No-Pest' strips near the soil surface work well to catch the adults that can fly. You can also hang them near lights where there isn't a strong draft, and the flies will naturally gravitate right into them. I'd prefer As for the larvae, there are a few things you can try.

1) Prevention. Be careful not to overwater - larva can't survive dry conditions. Also, make sure there isn't any standing water in the collection trays of your pots. This makes for a very comfortable breeding ground for them.

2) Insecticides. You need to be real careful about which chemical pesticides you introduce to your crop, and they'll only do limited good against fungus gnats, since they spend much of their time in and around the soil. Pyrethrum and neem treatments work pretty well, as do homemade recipes using hot pepper, tobacco water, etc.

3) Suffocation! Many growers advocate using sand, or a layer of perlite to block access out of the soil. I've heard mixed reviews about this, and have yet to try it myself, so I'll let someone else attest to its authenticity.

I haven't had a really bad infestation in years (knocking on wood), but the last time I had one, I just put a few of those pest strips in the room and got very conservative with my waterings. Waiting until I noticed a slight bit of wilt before watering with just enough to keep them happy. After about a week of minimal waterings, I noticed less and less of the adults flying around until one day they practically disappeared. I'd still see the occasional one fluttering about, and I'd just smash the little devils between my fingers. The soil I was using is what was causing my problem. This may or may not be the case for you, but many commercial potting soils are anything but pest-free.

Hope that helps a bit. :jointsmile:

[boldtdweller]

Thanks for all the good, info, sometimes i think because of my low status on the .com webpage, people may be reluctant to answer my posts, i appreciate the info and will try something. Ive seen some of your other posts and you have mentions the sand method before, i think ill try that

[Mr. Clandestine]

Hey, glad I could help. Don't fret over the lack of responses, posts get lost around here pretty easily... and I know I have a bad habit of generally only checking new posts in any given day. Sand seems to be a pretty popular method, but remember to be careful about overwatering, too. Standing water is where the gnats breed, so you want to be sure to eliminate that to the best of your ability.

Take care. :jointsmile: