Gnats....Neem Oil.... experienced help in this department plz...

So...my dumbass got a couple sacks of "Organic" soil from Lowe's...it sure was Organic alright...loaded w gnats...larvae n I'm assuming eggs n everything else that comes along w the lifecycle of these annoying bastards... luckily I only have one plant in this soil...not ten...

I threw a couple gnat traps in there which have each successfully trapped a handful....n yesterday I bought some Neem Oil...mixed it w water n a drop of dish soap per the Cannabis use instructions I found online... sprayed the plant down thoroughly top sides n underneath...then drenched the soil/roots thoroughly...the plant looks good this morning...n at first glance I was like "NO GNATS!!"..

Wrong ...as soon as I Disturbed the soil a little....there a few were....

What's it take ??
Multiple treatments ??

Diff approach ??...

You're on the right path friend! They're gonna go through a couple life cycles before you get them all. They like the top few inches of wet soil, I'm sure you're not overwatering but pulling back and letting your soil dry out as much as you can without depriving your girls will help as well.

You can also use a three inch layer of mulch to help supress gnats as well. It'd have to be straw or wood mulch tho. If you mulch with compost they can exist in that too.

They commonly pop up in soil that is stored wet, like your bagged soil you bought. If you ever buy another bag of soil and it seems moister than it should, you can spread it out and let it dry out for a week before you plant in it.

Diatomaceous Earth - powder the top of your soil with it gently a few hours after every watering and it'll cut the little bastards to ribbons. It'll take a couple weeks of treatment, but they really go away with that stuff.

Yeah...I usually have a regular place for my soil...a privately owned greenhouse w quality products...I saw this soil at Lowe's n it caught my eye...n has now reminded me of why I steered away from these stores n their soil to begin with...I've dealt w gnats before but never of this magnitude and never to the point where I felt like they affected the health of the plant...I've seen a few leaves that look gnawed on n jus over all less vigour of the plant in general...

How long between treatments should I wait?

This is this morning...
After last night's treatment

MrVega2 said:

Yeah...I usually have a regular place for my soil...a privately owned greenhouse w quality products...I saw this soil at Lowe's n it caught my eye...n has now reminded me of why I steered away from these stores n their soil to begin with...I've dealt w gnats before but never of this magnitude and never to the point where I felt like they affected the health of the plant...I've seen a few leaves that look gnawed on n jus over all less vigour of the plant in general...

How long between treatments should I wait?

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Fucking waiting! Kill those bastards lol. D. Earth you need to reapply every time after you water (it don't work well when wet).

I just use plain dish soap (don't use antibacterial), it works as a wetting agent and will get rid of the gnats after a couple weeks of applications.

I did use jus reg dish soap..n only one drop/gallon of water...

How long between treatments should I wait... should I apply the Neem to every watering til completely gone?...every other?...

??

MrVega2 said:

I did use jus reg dish soap..n only one drop/gallon of water...

How long between treatments should I wait... should I apply the Neem to every watering til completely gone?...every other?...

??

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I would do it every watering til they're gone. You only need to do a capful or two per five gallons of water. It doesn't take much.

Neem oil sucks

MM422 said:

Neem oil sucks

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So do whores.

Neem is not going to do much for gnats, try BT. Wipes them out.

You can also layer the top of your pots with play sand.....this seems to work also.

1st treatment /The Neem Oil...

Sprayed entire plant down thoroughly...then drenched the soil til runoff...3days ago...has definitely put a noticable dent in the Gnats... plant is lookin good...perky n green n growing...
Will apply 2nd Neem Oil treatment in a day or so...

Hey man i hope this info will help a bit, at our shop we sell 4 main product for fungus gnats to completely take care of the problem quickly and efficiently. The first thing i recommend is stopping the flying adults from spreading there eggs with ofcourse any type of sticky fly trap. The second recommendation id make is getting yourself 1 of 2 products, TanLin which is a bacteria that will eat all the larvae in your root zone! The products ratio is only 1ml/25gallons and from what i and customers have seen it works within 1-2 applications MORE than just noticably. This is a great fully organic approach to taking care of this problem. You could also try products like RootCleaner as a water in which will most def kill them quick and easy but will also kill off the microbial content of your soil or hydro!

Bugeye said:

Neem is not going to do much for gnats, try BT. Wipes them out.

Click to expand...

I second this as the proper course of treatment.

2nd treatment last night...
The Neem Oil...

Still see a couple Gnats here n there...def not as many as before... plant seems to be doing ok....

Will continue Neem Oil treatments...
Either until I see no more Gnats...or until it's close to light flip for flower cycle...

I've jus been sprayin the plant down along w every watering... also adding Neem Oil to every watering...tbsp.5/ gallon...still seein the occasional gnat here n there but it's keeping them under control n the plant seems happy...

Wasted some Azamax on gnats...great for mites not so much for fungus gnats. Use the yellow fly tape as closs to a heat source such as your light...amazing how much heat they can tolerate, little fuckers were so bad I had to cover my Cree CXB with the clear plastic lense because they would foul up my COBS to the point that two failed. Between yellow fly tape that is about size of note card from Amazon to emptying out my reflectors ...kill 20 to 25 per light per day. Killing them off with the mild winter is not going to happen but it does keep the numbers down to the point that they are not pissing other family members off. If you have fungus gnats and a compact intense light like a COB just flick the reflectors with your index finger...if same that I have you will see 10 or so fly an inch out and right back to heat that would kill any other bug I can think of.

Put a fan pointing at the top of the pot to dry that top layer out. I would also say DA sand would help. Generally, you just need to make the environment non-conducive to pests.

I do keep a fan on my plants at all times...gnats or no Gnats... but at the moment have one large fan that basically hits the body of the plant...the plant canopy...and the space between the lights n the canopy n the lights themselves...

Also have had these gnats/fly/pest catchy sticky things/box's since the beginning of the gnats... started w two...now have four....cause they've worked so well at Killin these evil bastards...100+ per trap I'd say...one on top soil...they other three are placed near the holes at bottom of pot