I hate gnats …

So I put Mexican pinguicula on my Christmas wish list and I got this. I switched to a new container with fresh media today because it’s raining outside and carnivorous plants prefer untreated water as a general rule. It was a lot smaller when I got it. The black smudges on the leaves used to be gnats. Mexican pings tend to grow on rocky hillsides and don’t really put down roots. They cling to rocks and absorb water through their leaves. I am growing in a mix of perlite and vermiculite but pumice would probably be better. I have grown them on decorative lava rocks.

Ugh... Yep Fungus Gnats are my name

Fungus gnats hide in the upper layer of soil.
I sometimes spray the surface with Method1 pps, to discourage colonization.
It's made with essential oils, smells like pinesol, and evaporates fairly quickly.
It's been very useful for me. Runs just about any bug away.
A little goes a long way. I usually have some left when I buy a new bottle.

DrBuzzFarmer said:

Fungus gnats hide in the upper layer of soil.
I sometimes spray the surface with Method1 pps, to discourage colonization.
It's made with essential oils, smells like pinesol, and evaporates fairly quickly.
It's been very useful for me. Runs just about any bug away.
A little goes a long way. I usually have some left when I buy a new bottle.

Click to expand...

Pinesol? I think you mean peppermint.....

Mosquito bits. Has a bacteria in it. Sprinkle on top of soil and around the pot to get the ones in the root area.

This stuff works!!!
Microbe-Lift BMC Mosquito Control, 2 oz. | Petco

OneHitDone said:

Pinesol? I think you mean peppermint.....

Click to expand...

Buy it and try it. I mean PineSol.

I am so fucking sick of fungus gnats. Hope next run they’re not such a problem, tossing old soil swapping for Promix and maybe using a mulch layer this time round. They’re not really hurting anything but fuck they’re annoying.

Lenin1917 said:

I am so fucking sick of fungus gnats. Hoped next run they’re not such a problem, tossing old soil swapping for Promix and maybe using a mulch layer this time round. They’re not really hurting anything but fuck they’re annoying.

Click to expand...

Anything bought in a plastic bag and kept outside a store, will have fungus gnats, most likely.
You gotta decide whether riding the ragged edge of moisture control is actually worth it. Your watering regimen is most likely at fault. Gnats needs a moist top layer to move in and make your life miserable.
Cannabis doesn't mind a crispy top layer...
Water less frequently.
Use Method1 pps as a soil surface spray when they show up to annoy you.

Organic and couldn’t get the nematodes or predator mites when I setup and shit kept coming up that needed my money more than the plants. I’ll get em in there this time around.

DrBuzzFarmer said:

Fungus gnats hide in the upper layer of soil.
I sometimes spray the surface with Method1 pps, to discourage colonization.
It's made with essential oils, smells like pinesol, and evaporates fairly quickly.
It's been very useful for me. Runs just about any bug away.
A little goes a long way. I usually have some left when I buy a new bottle.

Click to expand...

Also they are smart adaptable creatures. If you treat the top layer of soil and don’t drench it they will burrow deeper. also you have to have a planned attack killing all three life cycles at once. You have the larvae stage which are in the soil eating your roots so you would treat your soil with a bti product or peroxide drench killing the larvae. then you need to focus on the adolescent or teenage gnats as I like to call them. They live near the plant base and around the leaves and top of soil. I kill them with either sand which I don’t prefer I use Damascus earth and perlite they don’t like that. then there’s the pesky adults that fly around searching for a new house to inhabit and destroy the current resident. I kill them with Damascus earth and fly strips remember if you kill one stage and not the other they will return the only effective way to eliminate them is to kill them all at the same time.

You also have to be proactive when they are gone and keep up on your Damascus earth and strips I also keep bti in my top dressing to prevent babies from forming at all

Outdoors they are no match for these guys when using this. Hummingbirds will clean a plant of anything small very quickly. And the show as a bonus.

MICHI-CAN said:

Outdoors they are no match for these guys when using this. Hummingbirds will clean a plant of anything small very quickly. And the show as a bonus.

Click to expand...

I've watched them at my window planter, with their slender, long beaks, and it never occurred to me that they eat protein...
Blew my mind...

DrBuzzFarmer said:

I've watched them at my window planter, with their slender, long beaks, and it never occurred to me that they eat protein...
Blew my mind...

Click to expand...

Long time lover of nature's predators. In all costumes.

DrBuzzFarmer said:

Buy it and try it. I mean PineSol.

Click to expand...

I use it all the time - might wanna get your sniffer checked