How do you deal with fungus gnats?

PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
beercan said:
Really, earth worm castings huh??
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I buy the Build a Soil EWC and vermicompost now. Their Black Friday sale is still going. I ordered another 1/2 cu ft bag and it actually just came today. My basement's fully of shit from BAS. Anyways the EWC are hella cheap after the sale.

And I just noticed it's only through today.

And if you go through this link you can get another $5 off. $13 for a bag of BAS EWC is a steal.
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BuildASoil: Organic Living Soil, Fertilizers, and Soil Amendments

Everything you need to grow no-till with organic living soil. Our mission is to support organic gardeners and to provide the best products and information on how to use them. We carry pre mixed super soil, living soil, organic soil fertilizers, organic water soluble nutrients, soil minerals...
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I swear this looks like more than a half cu ft. Maybe if I packed it down tight.
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Lockedin

Lockedin

Well-Known Member
For fungus gnats you can stir DE into a top dress.

The gnats are cut to pieces as they leave the soil.
Remember that these methods take more time than most contact kill poisons, be patient. -- Mine took 4 days.

Edit:
Also, you can remove your plants and wipe down the floor & walls with citric acid / soap solution.
Non toxic, the CA is a short-acting contact killer / irritant, the soap coats wings & spiracles prevent flight & respiration respectively.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Lockedin said:
For fungus gnats you can stir DE into a top dress.

The gnats are cut to pieces as they leave the soil.
Remember that these methods take more time than most contact kill poisons, be patient. -- Mine took 4 days.
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Only problem I have with DE is it will also cut some of my beneficial predators into pieces too. Like the hypoaspis miles.
 
Lockedin

Lockedin

Well-Known Member
PadawanWarrior said:
Only problem I have with DE is it will also cut some of my beneficial predators into pieces too. Like the hypoaspis miles.
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It is a blunt weapon in that sense. I want to try going with beneficial predators - but explaining why I'm bringing bugs INTO the house will be a tough sell with my WIfe! :P

I was desperate - I saw one, then six, then infestation - all in about 36-48 hours.
I DRIED my pots - made em BEG for water (so hard for an overwaterer to do!)
Applied the wipe down mentioned above.
While drying the pots I top dressed with FFOF & a TBSP of DE per pot, but did not water.
Immediately after watering, I reapplied all of the above.

It took a few days, but they're gone.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Lockedin said:
It is a blunt weapon in that sense. I want to try going with beneficial predators - but explaining why I'm bringing bugs INTO the house will be a tough sell with my WIfe! :P

I was desperate - I saw one, then six, then infestation - all in about 36-48 hours.
I DRIED my pots - made em BEG for water (so hard for an overwaterer to do!)
Applied the wipe down mentioned above.
While drying the pots I top dressed with FFOF & a TBSP of DE per pot, but did not water.
Immediately after watering, I reapplied all of the above.

It took a few days, but they're gone.
Click to expand...
You don't have to tell her you have them. Hypoaspis miles will stay in the pot. They also don't fly. They're fungus gnat larvae's worst nightmare and our best friend.
 
Ukulele Haze

Ukulele Haze

Well-Known Member
Usually people don't transplant cannabis unless it's time for a bigger pot. But, if I had a gnat problem I might personally consider dumping the soil and transplanting into fresh medium. Of course, that would depend on how far the plant was along.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Ukulele Haze said:
Usually people don't transplant cannabis unless it's time for a bigger pot. But, if I had a gnat problem I might personally consider dumping the soil and transplanting into fresh medium. Of course, that would depend on how far the plant was along.
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The gnat larvae will just get transplanted to a bigger pot. That doesn't solve anything. Unless the new soil has beneficial predators that are gonna kill the larvae.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Ukulele Haze said:
That's good to know, thanks. They sound pretty hard to get rid of in general.
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Not really hard at all. At least for me. And I'm still using the same FFOF soil base after 2 years. No gnats.

The FFOF was the original source of them, but the hypoaspis miles in the EWC took care of them long ago.
 
B

beercan

Well-Known Member
PadawanWarrior said:
Not really hard at all. At least for me. And I'm still using the same FFOF soil base after 2 years. No gnats.

The FFOF was the original source of them, but the hypoaspis miles in the EWC took care of them long ago.
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Can hypoaspis miles just show up? Reason i ask is i seen a few critters that looked very similar to them, they were larger than a spider mite, i could see them fairly well with naked eye..
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
beercan said:
Can hypoaspis miles just show up? Reason i ask is i seen a few critters that looked very similar to them, they were larger than a spider mite, i could see them fairly well with naked eye..
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Ya. They could've came with the soil. When I first saw them, I was like WTF. Then I figured out what they were.
 
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