Bug Identification?

Kudzuchron

Kudzuchron

Member
Just noticed these guys popping up in my tent this weekend. Did a 0.25ml dilution spray of Azamax and put up some strips which have caught a bunch (8-10) in a couple of days.

Little help identifying these guys would be appreciated as well as best method for dealing with them.

Thanks in advance!
 

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ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Looks like fungus gnats IMO. let the soil dry out and add some diatomaceous earth to the top soil to kill the larvae. You can also flush with insecticidal soap, but try to keep the soil on the drier side until the problem goes away...
 
VTMi'kmaq

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
I have seen similar flies in a garden but they were called "drain flies" wierd name i know, they seemed to be much grayer in color than the pic the op posted, however that being said its prob best to err on the side of caution with any insect in our gardens well other than the lovely lady bugs and praying mantis assasins.
 
Kudzuchron

Kudzuchron

Member
ItsSaturday said:
Looks like fungus gnats IMO. let the soil dry out and add some diatomaceous earth to the top soil to kill the larvae. You can also flush with insecticidal soap, but try to keep the soil on the drier side until the problem goes away...
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Sorry, I should've posted more info about my grow. I'm growing hydro right now with glass "stones" as the medium. There was some algae build up on the "stones" so I covered the top of the kit with some foil to let the algae die back.

Is there something I can inject into the recirculating reservoir to address this issue?
 
Kudzuchron

Kudzuchron

Member
So, after some research, these are in fact fungus gnats. They likely got started in the overgrowth of algae in the medium.

Any tips on how to deal with them would be much appreciated.
 
ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Kudzuchron said:
So, after some research, these are in fact fungus gnats. They likely got started in the overgrowth of algae in the medium.

Any tips on how to deal with them would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Easy cheap way - Put sticky traps around your netpots and hang some fly papper... It will take a couple of weeks but should eradicate them.

Edit: Make sure to clean out your algae and res... Fix the algae problem asap so it doesn't get worse...
 
Kudzuchron

Kudzuchron

Member
ItsSaturday said:
Easy cheap way - Put sticky traps around your netpots and hang some fly papper... It will take a couple of weeks but should eradicate them.

Edit: Make sure to clean out your algae and res... Fix the algae problem asap so it doesn't get worse...
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Thanks. I have some sticky paper hanging in the tent (pic from OP) now and I've covered the kit with foil to kill the algae.

Just wondering if I should put Azamax or Gnatrol in the reservoir to kill any larvae that may be active in the res.
 
ItsSaturday

ItsSaturday

Well-Known Member
Kudzuchron said:
Thanks. I have some sticky paper hanging in the tent (pic from OP) now and I've covered the kit with foil to kill the algae.

Just wondering if I should put Azamax or Gnatrol in the reservoir to kill any larvae that may be active in the res.
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You can if you want to but the sticky traps and fly paper work really well in my experience. The larvae will crawl out of your pots when they are ready to fly... if you have the sticky traps laying around they will walk on them and die lol... You can shake the stem lightly too knock off anything on the plant... I always like to use simple and safe options then expensive chemicals. This actually works for a lot of other pests too...
 
oldschooltofu

oldschooltofu

Well-Known Member
BTI or mosquito dunks work well for fungus gnats

check your roots. make sure its not root aphids. they look exactly the same in adult flying form. i have made this mistake.
 
Kudzuchron

Kudzuchron

Member
oldschooltofu said:
BTI or mosquito dunks work well for fungus gnats

check your roots. make sure its not root aphids. they look exactly the same in adult flying form. i have made this mistake.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, oldschooltofu. Root Aphids are nasty critters based on my reading. : /

Can't really check the roots in the kit at this point, growing a scrog and the plant is well trained into the screen. I'd rather roll a preventative solution into the nutrient reservoir to make sure I'm covered in case it is Root Aphids.

I'm having trouble finding a ratio in either PPM or vol/vol for BTi per gallon in a hydroponic reservoir, any thoughts?

Thanks again, I appreciate all the advice!
 
cues

cues

Well-Known Member
Yeah, root aphids are much worse. Fungus gnats are nothing in comparison.
I don't see any wings in the picture. Are you sure they aren't springtails?
 
Kudzuchron

Kudzuchron

Member
cues said:
Yeah, root aphids are much worse. Fungus gnats are nothing in comparison.
I don't see any wings in the picture. Are you sure they aren't springtails?
Click to expand...
Yeah, they are winged. The upper left gnat has it's wings folded down, you can kinda see the outline. The bottom gnat's wings are actually stuck in the glue on the paper, heh. :P
 
cues

cues

Well-Known Member
Cool correct identification of everything, be it pests, diseases, environmental or nutrient disorders is crucial. If the problem isn't identified correctly, treatments can vary from successful (lucky!), no change (usual) or often make things worse.
I know I'm stating the obvious but sometimes it's the obvious that's important.
 
oldschooltofu

oldschooltofu

Well-Known Member
root aphids:
you will see them crawling around on the rim of your pots/containers
flyers will hang out by the plants and will fly off when shaken
they create a waxy white web like substance near roots (dont know if this shows up in hydro)

fungus gnats:
have small worm larve with a black head
adults will tend to fly to the ceiling of your room

put a pice of potato on your medium. in 12 hours you should see either the worms or crawling aphids, use at least a 10x loop. dont know if it works in hydro.

i do not know how much BTI in a res. just put a few mosquito dunks in there and let it run. i dont do hydro, but some have said this works.
i would use BTI, its 100% mosquito dunks are only 10% bti
 
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