Sterilizing soil or no? Fungus gnats present In other room

Hey everyone, title says it all:

I have a tent with 3 plants in it & I have seen one fungus gnat in the tent. I have 5 or 6 bags of ocean Forrest potting soil outside of the tent wrapper in black trash bags. Do you all think I should sterilize it before transplanting my vegging plants?

Any help is much appriceated!

A few gnats aren't any big deal. Just don't let it get out of hand.

I've used FFOF and you always buy a good dose of gnats included at no extra cost.

Kill'em while you can.. If those bastards get a toe hold, you'll have 5kinds of hell getting rid of them.

Extacie said:

Hey everyone, title says it all:

I have a tent with 3 plants in it & I have seen one fungus gnat in the tent. I have 5 or 6 bags of ocean Forrest potting soil outside of the tent wrapper in black trash bags. Do you all think I should sterilize it before transplanting my vegging plants?

Any help is much appriceated!

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Wouldn't sterilize the soil, you'd likely kill the positive microbial flora/micro-edaphon that live in the soil. I'd look at: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05584.html and http://forum.grasscity.com/sick-plants-problems/544536-how-kill-fungus-gnats-hydrogen-peroxide.html .

AimAim said:

I've used FFOF and you always buy a good dose of gnats included at no extra cost.

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I was lucky enough to not have a gnat problem with my FFOF/HF mix.

I used FFOF twice and didn't have a gnat problem.

If you do just use some sticky strips in the room close to the plants, then shake the plants when the gnats have settled on the leaves and they should fly around and get stuck. I'm sure even after a few days with the door or tent closed with sticky strips inside you'll get rid of them fast. I've also head sand as a top layer on the soil works as well to stop them from multiplying.

Wouldn't it be better to sterilize rather than risk the gnats repopulating?

I also read where one guy would transplant, then water with gnatrol or gognats as an extra preventative measure without sterilizing the soil. I ordered some gnatrol just waiting for that & gnat nix to come in the mail. Although itd be ideal to transplant sooner rather than later if possible. Just really don't want to get my non-infected plants infected.

Could using gnatrol possibly decrease my overall yeild? -Couldn't find much info online, so naturally sort of assumed it wouldn't, but didn't know for sure.

I'm personally against using any type of pest control on my plants but I never grow outdoors only indoors and always keep my windows closed to avoid any pests coming in and annoying me.

The sand and sticky trick have worked well in my past case of flys.

MedicatedGrow said:

I used FFOF twice and didn't have a gnat problem.

If you do just use some sticky strips in the room close to the plants, then shake the plants when the gnats have settled on the leaves and they should fly around and get stuck. I'm sure even after a few days with the door or tent closed with sticky strips inside you'll get rid of them fast. I've also head sand as a top layer on the soil works as well to stop them from multiplying.

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That's good to hear. I had always heard FFOF was the best soil to use. What's some other good brands? Thanks for the advice. I plan on using sticky strips as soon as they arrive! (Ordered in mail) as well as the gnat nix which is like sand but suppose to be better. Sucks living in the middle of no where with nothing else around sometimes.

Ya my buddy lives in the dessert (Literally) and has to have EVERYTHING shipped to him. He gets pissed because sometimes it's things he needs like right now.

I would only recommend FFOF & Roots Organic Soilless Coco Coir.

I can't say it was the switch, but Roots Organic coco coir is so easy and nice to use that I don't think I'll ever go back until a store near me offers real super soil. (We have literally no stores that offer super soil near us, not even home depot)
Even then I'd be more inclined to use ROCC though. It's just the fact that it's airy, light, easy, and hard to fuck up. My plants thrive on it but maybe its a placebo? Meh I don't care.

Extacie said:

Wouldn't it be better to sterilize rather than risk the gnats repopulating?

I also read where one guy would transplant, then water with gnatrol or gognats as an extra preventative measure without sterilizing the soil. I ordered some gnatrol just waiting for that & gnat nix to come in the mail. Although itd be ideal to transplant sooner rather than later if possible. Just really don't want to get my non-infected plants infected.

Could using gnatrol possibly decrease my overall yeild? -Couldn't find much info online, so naturally sort of assumed it wouldn't, but didn't know for sure.

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No. There are a wide variety of microbes in a soil like Ocean Forest and the only way to reintroduce them would be to inoculate with an actively aerated compost tea. Too much trouble baking soil just for some fungus gnats.

I would suggest the Gnatrol/Bti, though. Bacillus thuringiensis israeli is a bacterium that produces a a very narrow-spectrum larvacide toxin which kills only a few species of fly larvae (such as mosquitoes and fungus gnat larvae). It wont effect anything else in the soil.

Fungus gnats are more damaging to seedlings and young clones, while for mature plants they are more of a nuisance.

AS of recently the EPA I believe, has some concerns with BT insecticide toxicity in mammals, and are backpeddaling on its safety. Stay tuned for these results, as they spray most of Ontario with this biological control for moth elimination. Scaring me!

Nullis said:

No. There are a wide variety of microbes in a soil like Ocean Forest and the only way to reintroduce them would be to inoculate with an actively aerated compost tea. Too much trouble baking soil just for some fungus gnats.

I would suggest the Gnatrol/Bti, though. Bacillus thuringiensis israeli is a bacterium that produces a a very narrow-spectrum larvacide toxin which kills only a few species of fly larvae (such as mosquitoes and fungus gnat larvae). It wont effect anything else in the soil.

Fungus gnats are more damaging to seedlings and young clones, while for mature plants they are more of a nuisance.

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I'm thinking about making a trap like thing for nats with 2 sided tape that they crawl into and don't come out.What would be a good bait? Might not need to bait it they just crawl in to hide or live.I have a crowded grow so I can only imagin what kind of trouble i would get into with sticky strips. I don't have them real bad now it's winter here and I'm in flower mode so temps are low.Summer is a whole differnt story though. I've used a hot shot once it worked, I had it at full exposer for a few days then put it back in package and took it out. I did'nt like using it after reading the package.Something to laugh at, when I take them out to LST or get a good look at them. I have corner that has a spider web and shake and brush the leafs rub the dirt a little by the web. Then I take them to where I work on them.I think I get a lot from my dollar store starter stuff I have some in the freezer now then I was thing about microwaving before using it, do you think thats a dumb idea? It's only my 2nd grow sorry for the newbe ?'s thnxs 2pics each WWxBB and critcal+