Insects in soil... fungus gnats?

Hey Gang,

soooo, I got some organic soil at my local b and m, immediately noticed some small winged gnat like bugs coming up around the surface. this soil has a lot of guano in it so im assuming these are fungus gnats? cant get a good picture unfortunately. can any one advise on a treatment? have half a bag left... should i try and exchange the soil as well?

Cheers

Edit: 0 flying bugs.. not a mini mosquito looking bug...more round and havent seen any flying, but have seen several in the soil itself.

tagging along... I just bought a bag of Roots Organic 707 and having the same problem and looking for a safe solution I have caught a few on the sticky cards but when I water more fly out of the soil. So far only my veg tent has them because I used a different bag of soil in it.

hmmm, mine look rounder then these, the wings almost make a heart shape. as mentioned even after watering none have left the top of the soil. any info is much appreciated.

BostonPuff said:

hmmm, mine look rounder then these, the wings almost make a heart shape. as mentioned even after watering none have left the top of the soil. any info is much appreciated.

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If they're a tan or light brown color and run around the soil fairly quick, they could be baby fruit flies or plain gnats. I have them. I get about 20 dead adults in my cool tube a week. The heat in the tube and a couple fly traps are slowly getting rid of them.

Creature1969 said:

If they're a tan or light brown color and run around the soil fairly quick, they could be baby fruit flies or plain gnats. I have them. I get about 20 dead adults in my cool tube a week. The heat in the tube and a couple fly traps are slowly getting rid of them.

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seems like what i am dealing with... besides being a PITA are they detrimental to plants or development ?

@BostonPuff Nope just seems they like the warmth, soil and moisture a lot.

saw one flying around today and crushed it... much to my dismay, they are in fact fungus gnats.. was reading about mixing some hydrogen peroxide with water and saturating the soil in this as its supposed to kill the larvae... any one have experience with this? or know of any other methods that are proven to be effective? keeping the soil dry for now to try and mitigate breeding and a larval infection

Pretty sure the peroxide kills benificial bacteria an could cause more harm then good, get some sticky traps an u can get little pellets u sprinkle in your dirt an water over them.. helps.. an let ur dirt dry out nice an good between watering.. should get rid of most.. atleast jeep them at bay

You can buy sand and they will die when they try to burrow into it. I plant in one gallon pot higher then I want so I can add a layer of sand

Hydrogen peroxide mixed in water will help kill em. Just don't mix it to strong. Also you can add an inch of sand to the top of your pot. This will help keep the adults from laying their eggs in your soil.

Sticky cards to kill the adults, they lay eggs in the top layer of the soil so water from the bottom and let the top dry out to kill the larvae. After about 2-3 weeks you should see minimal gnats. If the population gets out of control they can harm your plants the larvae will damage the roots and you will see problems that look like nute deficiencies. Like others said you can also use sand or diamatacious earth in the top layer to help kill the larvae. Get sticky cards and hang them from the plant at soil/pot level.

BostonPuff said:

saw one flying around today and crushed it... much to my dismay, they are in fact fungus gnats.. was reading about mixing some hydrogen peroxide with water and saturating the soil in this as its supposed to kill the larvae... any one have experience with this? or know of any other methods that are proven to be effective? keeping the soil dry for now to try and mitigate breeding and a larval infection

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Disturb the top inch or so of soil on a daily basis, just rub your hands in it. This disturbs their prefered environment and helps keep them at bay.

SSGrower said:

Disturb the top inch or so of soil on a daily basis, just rub your hands in it. This disturbs their prefered environment and helps keep them at bay.

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No disrespect but that won't get rid of gnats, it won't kill the larvae and the adults will fly right back to the soil soon as you leave

Kronickeeper said:

No disrespect but that won't get rid of gnats, it won't kill the larvae and the adults will fly right back to the soil soon as you leave

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None taken because i never said thismwould get rid of gnats. Just hoping op hasnt dumped peroxide in their organic soil. What i suggested works for me as i find them to be relatively harmless creatures and i inevitably kill few without much effort.

Mosquito dunks ground up in water. Water through pots. Beneficial bacteria will kill larvae.

Diamethes earth food grade.it will kill the gnats and do no harm other wise.i use it for chicken feed.hig feed.inside tomato and pepper plants.it cuts them into little pieces.