Gnat Flies...Damn Gnat Flies

Well let it be known that I used Wiggly Worm as well. It could have been the potting soil as well but Ive been using that potting soild for months with house plants ....with nothing. I had a feeling the fuckers may have come from one of the products but wasnt sure which. Still cant say 100% but very likely.

Spinosad is organic but I believe it will test for quite some time (1 month+???) if that is important in your state. Some states ban it or maybe only one.
I have isolated wiggle worm in the past and found 5 for 5 of the bags were the source but I have heard of roots among others that have them as well. My own worm castings have them too so cannot really do much other than treat.
One way to get the larvae is to let the top soil layer dry out except for one small spot. The larvae will congregate to that spot and you can scoop them out and throw the scoop in a bucket of water (I hate wasting good soil).

The gnats are so easy to import. I have a small bog garden. I am surrounded by hardwood trees by the thousands or more. The bottom of leaf litter is full of them. Nursery plants too. The very best mixes can have them. Many times you think you're ok only to find after you water "game on". Larvae eating bacteria is the best with Neem spraying soil and pyritherin for knock down. Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled on soil and around area is helpful.

I live with a certain number and if kept under control are not a bother.

NaturalFarmer said:

Gnatrol works very well and is probably the highest concentration of BTi and most expensive I believe but I found a product a few years ago called MicroBElift BMC (biologic mosquito control) which is very effective (10-11% BTi) and I believe the cheapest option.
Mosquito Dunks are okay 10-11% but stay away from the Mosquito Bits from the same company as they are only 2-3% BTi yet more expensive (RIP OFF).

Click to expand...

I've added the bits to compost tea and also to plain bubbled water. Soaked the soil afterwards. Also added the bits to dry, stored soil. Covered the top soil in pots...

Every house plant in the house has been treated with BTI. Snake plants to mini roses.

At this point, I think gnats are getting high from it. I still have to go back through and treat them with Pyrethrin.

Sounds to me like this is more of a common situation than not. So much so that it sounds like tackling the flies should be part of the regular prep regime when working with soil. Regardless of the source for materials.

I will certainly be keeping various products available from now on as part of my regular inventory.

They never stop. No matter where the soil is or how tightly sealed. Somehow they can get into a sealed 48qt beer cooler. If a bag of soil has a pin hole. They're in it.

Expect to battle them for the entire summer. All the information about them only being attracted to wetter soil is bullshit. They just dig deeper to reach the moist stuff. They're good at their life job.

Little flying Assholes.

Any bagged soil with MOISTURE is suspect. I've found nothing in Coco brick or peat alone that has the moisture taken out. You need to kill them before they fly.

Just keep hitting them with crushed Mosquito Dunks every watering for about a month. Apparently their life cycle is such that you have to keep on em for at least 24 days to wipe em out. Sticky yellow strips are also good for taking out a lot of the adults. You don't need a whole Dunk, just a little chunk broken off between your thumb and forefinger crumbled into the water and mixed. Try not to breathe in any dust created and make sure to clean it off your hands well. Supposedly it's harmless to humans but who knows really? To be honest, I've never actually been able to wipe em out but I wasn't keeping up with the applications, trying to conserve Dunks. I'm doing it a lot more often now though, just smaller amounts each time.