fungas Gnats in my soil, looking for cheap control methods

GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
hello, dealing with these little buggers has gotten to be a nuisance. I thought they were harmless, but come to find out, they are not! the larva feed on your roots, and carry disease, and can contaminate yr entire plant if you let it get out of control....I have read about 1/4 in. sand on top layer, so they cant lay eggs, hmm, not sure I want to drive to the beach...
ive heard of azamax is pretty good, but kinda spendy, and i'm really broke atm, so that's out...
If there was something at home depot that was safe and about 10 bucks, I would do that, this is all I could find there that looked somewhat safe...heres a link...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Monterey-32-oz-All-Natural-Mite-and-Insect-Control-LG6284/202043615?MERCH=REC-_-SearchPLPHorizontal1-1-_-NA-_-202043615-_-N
im just hoping there are more do it yrself type ways of getting rid of them, with out getting rid of my plant. lol any help is always appreciated. thanks for taking the time.
 
travisw

travisw

Well-Known Member
kentuckyboy

kentuckyboy

Well-Known Member
I just had a hell of a time with those little buggers! I went through about 10 seedlings that keep dying on me, and I couldn't figure out why? These seedlings would pop out of the ground and live for about 2 days and just fall over and die. I kept using the same solo cups full of dirt with all those larvae in it. Finally I started fresh and cleaned everything up, and I was good. If you are a ways through your grow, you can get some shit called Gnatrol for cheap at your local hydro store. I bought some for about $6. It is a very small bottle, but a little goes a long way. You use it as a soil drench to kill the larvae. If you don't have a hydro store near you, you can get Mosquito Dunks at Home Depot for about the same price. It has the same main active ingredient in it called bacillus thuringiensis. The flying adult fungus gnats will eventually die off unless you have them real bad. Then you might want to get some sticky traps and stick them around the base of the stem on your plant to get them when they try to land in your soil to try to lay eggs. You will need to get rid of the larvae to get rid of the flying one's. Hope this helps!
 
Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
kentuckyboy said:
I just had a hell of a time with those little buggers! I went through about 10 seedlings that keep dying on me, and I couldn't figure out why? These seedlings would pop out of the ground and live for about 2 days and just fall over and die. I kept using the same solo cups full of dirt with all those larvae in it. Finally I started fresh and cleaned everything up, and I was good. If you are a ways through your grow, you can get some shit called Gnatrol for cheap at your local hydro store. I bought some for about $6. It is a very small bottle, but a little goes a long way. You use it as a soil drench to kill the larvae. If you don't have a hydro store near you, you can get Mosquito Dunks at Home Depot for about the same price. It has the same main active ingredient in it called bacillus thuringiensis. The flying adult fungus gnats will eventually die off unless you have them real bad. Then you might want to get some sticky traps and stick them around the base of the stem on your plant to get them when they try to land in your soil to try to lay eggs. You will need to get rid of the larvae to get rid of the flying one's. Hope this helps!
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Sounds more like damping off than Fungus buggers.

The best luck I have had with gnats, was a Lavendar tea....
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
travisw said:
One of these might help and they're under $10

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Quikrete-50-lb-All-Purpose-Sand-115251/100318450

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Southern-Ag-8-oz-Triple-Action-Neem-Oil-08721/100662146

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hot-Shot-2-29-oz-No-Pest-Insect-Strip-HG-5580-6/100004739

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Summit-12-in-Mosquito-Dunks-6-Pack-110-12/100334779

If you put a bowl with some soda in there, you'll catch a disturbing amount of them.
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hey that's really helpful, so that neem oil is a good way to rid them? also, I like the idea of using store bought sand, I was thinking sand off the beach would add so much unwanted salts to my medium. that would be bad.
thanks to all you guys, I gotta get rid of em, they are getting worse every time I come back.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
kentuckyboy said:
I just had a hell of a time with those little buggers! I went through about 10 seedlings that keep dying on me, and I couldn't figure out why? These seedlings would pop out of the ground and live for about 2 days and just fall over and die. I kept using the same solo cups full of dirt with all those larvae in it. Finally I started fresh and cleaned everything up, and I was good. If you are a ways through your grow, you can get some shit called Gnatrol for cheap at your local hydro store. I bought some for about $6. It is a very small bottle, but a little goes a long way. You use it as a soil drench to kill the larvae. If you don't have a hydro store near you, you can get Mosquito Dunks at Home Depot for about the same price. It has the same main active ingredient in it called bacillus thuringiensis. The flying adult fungus gnats will eventually die off unless you have them real bad. Then you might want to get some sticky traps and stick them around the base of the stem on your plant to get them when they try to land in your soil to try to lay eggs. You will need to get rid of the larvae to get rid of the flying one's. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
dang, little fuckers aint they? lol...anyway, my hydro store is horrible, I called them, and they only had some stuff for $20 plus dollars, so I passed on that. I don't have em to bad yet, I am trying to stop them before they do get outta control, but the good thing is here, I only got 4-5 wks left on this one, and then I can dump out that old soil and remember not to take it outside for any reason in the future, I thought giving them some real sun was a treat for it, turns out to be the only big mistake I made this grow....not to bad.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
should I just follow the directions? I really am nervous about putting it on my plant! but I gotta do something...so I am willing to try, I am just gonna mix the neem oil very lightly, and increase as needed until they are gone.
kentuckyboy said:
I've always used it as a soil drench. Mix some with water and pour. I can't remember the exact measurement per gallon of water though.
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so you have actually used it and it didn't harm yr plant, and it got rid of them little Gnats?
 
kentuckyboy

kentuckyboy

Well-Known Member
I've used it before, but I really don't know how well it worked. It didn't get rid of them completely. Plus I used it in tandem with sticky traps and mosquito dunks.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
hmmmm, well like I said earlier, I got about 4 weeks left on this plant, and the problem isn't out of control, im killing maybe 5 or so a day....so it isn't horrible...I am just wondering since I am so close to finish, if I should even bother, they haven't caused any noticeable damage....what do you think? and thanks for the help broski.
 
W

wcharles

Well-Known Member
ive been useing neem oil, other pesticides from stores with out much luck but i bought them dunks and i think im starting to win the battle. now i do spray neem oil every other day just to help and it hasnt hurt any of my plants.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
wcharles said:
ive been useing neem oil, other pesticides from stores with out much luck but i bought them dunks and i think im starting to win the battle. now i do spray neem oil every other day just to help and it hasnt hurt any of my plants.
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so you just put it in a spray bottle, and spray the soil? whats yr mix on that? I will go get some today, and I am unfamiliar with these dunks, how are they used! I am just helpless over here, huh? lol,
really appreciate you all.
 
FrozenChozen

FrozenChozen

Well-Known Member
Abiqua said:
Sounds more like damping off than Fungus buggers.

The best luck I have had with gnats, was a Lavendar tea....
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please explain! I know a lot of other bugs HATE lavender..... scorpions, spiders, ants, roaches..... I'm curious though as to what you did.
 
W

wcharles

Well-Known Member
on neem oil i use 1 ounce per gal of water then i just put it in the spray bottles and i spray everything,the walls the pots the soil the plants itself. the dunks i just put 2 dunks in each of my water containers, then water with it when they need it. oh my water containers are about 150 gal barrels .
 
Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
FrozenChozen said:
please explain! I know a lot of other bugs HATE lavender..... scorpions, spiders, ants, roaches..... I'm curious though as to what you did.
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Sure, I basically just soaked lavender bits in a small sealed container for about 24-36 hours. [5 oz container, mostly filled with chlorine free water and bits of Fresh material]

I added it to my spray bottle undiluted and sprayed the surface of the soil in my pots. Did this every few days or so, for about week and a half. I didn't pay much attention, really, but I did notice that no more gnats were buzzing around.

After that I tidyed up with dia earth and they didn't come back for that cycle.
 
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