Fungus gnats and hot water

Hi. Question is simple. Has anyone else tried Boiling water to rid themselves of this situation.

The story

My mother room has become infested with the little suckers, so ive been trying to find a non toxic method that i can use . I came across somebody talking about hot water and killing the lava. (I use strips for adults so its the larva i want to kill.) Since nobody seemed to haVE tried this method,(Afraid of burning there plants alive) i decided to grab one of my young mums and put on the kettle.

I Used Boiling water, and began pouring the water into the pot , making sure to soak every bit of dirt i could. The Plant Seemed fine. And I Got a nice amount of leakage from the bottom. (Use a container to catch the hot water.) I Then placed the pot plant away from any other planT (CONTROLLED AREA)

So Its Been an hour and the plant looks great. No Wilting,No Stress.All the Larva look dead. But there is still adults flying around. Im Placing another yellow strip near it, and killing them by hand.

I Guess shes not out of the woods just yet, as i may have burnt the root matter, But all i can do is wait. And post updates

Just Wondering if anybody else , has given pouring water and soaking your plant to kill the fungas gnats in soil, and what your experience from it was.

Now back to smoking a pipe and watching my plants

gnats are terrible {feels pain but provides no solution}

The Plant Seemed fine

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Until it keeled over and died the next day. Dumb idea, root systems are sensitive and your pouring boiling water on it.

Some of the crazy-est shit ever on Rollitup.org ...man o' man, use Neem Oil, 1 teaspoon to a pint hand pump fill with warm water and spray everywhere but mostly at the roots, and soil zone, gnats suck sap from the roots only, many smart tricks out there but this is the dumbest I've ever heard ....yet!

Just add either a BT product into water and be done in 2 waterings or use some predatory nematodes or hypoaspis miles.


I understand you're trying to save a few pennies but BUDS is right in the fact you're not going to notice anything straight away in the plant but no doubt you will eventually see some issues. I'm just glad it was a controlled trial.



J

Microbe-Lift BMC is the best and fastest method I have found to rid yourself of this problem in hydro or soil!
just follow the directions.

http://4hydroponics.com/microbe-lift-bmc-2-oz

I am having the same issue I have heard of mixing a cup of nitrogen peroxide and a bucket of water is suppsed to help and make your roots whiter but have not personally tried it yet but have been combing the forums for solutions and have yet to find any besides sticky strips and this "creative" idea.

Go natural and go early...the key is avoiding infestations(when stressed out, smoke filled ideas ideas start popping in your head) is to be vigilant in the grow room. Always look for the details, monitor with sticky traps and as jondamon mentioned, use any reputable product with BTI along with a natural predatory regime...they work. I found some flyers on my regular root zone checkup on some young plants and was able to lay into them right away...although I did only see and kill a handful of adults, I have had a few sticky traps in the area since I started the program and have not seen anymore.
Do it right or do it over and over and over.....

Rileysgotluck said:

I am having the same issue I have heard of mixing a cup of nitrogen peroxide and a bucket of water is suppsed to help and make your roots whiter but have not personally tried it yet but have been combing the forums for solutions and have yet to find any besides sticky strips and this "creative" idea.

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hydrogen peroxide???

I've never even heard of nitrogen peroxide.

And also....pouring boiling, freezing, etc water on roots is a surefire way to fuck up your plant.

Twice I successfully eliminated gnats using hydrogen peroxide. After using it last time (@ 6 weeks of flowering), however, all my leaves clawed. I don’t know whether the gnats or the peroxide caused the clawing because I also had a timer malfunction, causing a light to remain on 24/7 for about 5 days. Thankfully the plants recovered and produced well.

I gathered the following information about Fungus Gnats from various forums:
Fungus GnatAdult Fungus Gnats are small and grey with longs legs. Females lay eggs at the rate of approximately two hundred per week at the base of the cannabis plant. These little buggers attack in both the adult and larval (maggot) stages. Fungus Gnat maggots are microscopic, sporting black heads and transparent bodies. Fungus Gnats are found at the soil level and initially feed on fungus. Once they run out of soil, they attack the plants’ root systems, damaging larger roots and eating smaller root hairs, retarding the plants’ growth, discoloring leaves and causing malformation of stems and branches. Fungus Gnats render the marijuana plant susceptible to various fungal diseases.


One way Fungus Gnats damage cannabis is through their droppings, which limit the soil’s drainage properties. Without well drained soil, the root system becomes too wet, and attracts pests that thrive in wet conditions. Taking care to not over water the plants is a good preventative measure against infestation; gnats are drawn to moist conditions.

There are a couple of simple ways to detect whether or not you have a gnat problem. One is to purchase yellow sticky cards from your garden center and place them in the soil around your plants. After a few days, remove the cards and see what has stuck to them. If you see more than a few gnats, uh oh!

To check for fungus gnat larvae, place a half inch thick piece of potato on the ground. After four to eight hours, check for maggots. If there are several dinner guests on the potato, it’s time to send them on their way.


Placing yellow sticky cards or tape throughout the garden will trap adult gnats, who love the color yellow! Fungus Gnat larvae are a different matter. Begin by letting the top few layers of soil dry completely by not watering for several days. When the soil is dry, mix one part (@1.25 cups/gallon) pure (3%) hydrogen peroxide with four parts water.Water the soil’s top layer thoroughly, which will kill the larvae without hurting the plants. The peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water molecules, and actually benefits the soil. Periodically watering with peroxide will ensure that the gnats go away and stay away, and is actually a healthy treat for the soil.

I seemed to have a little fungus gnat problem when I was growing in my closet with just a blanket over the closet doorway.

For some reason they loved the seed starter cubes. Pissed me right off but the only time I seen them was when I was starting seeds.

They thrive in moist environments...so naturally they will hit up a nice and cozy moist starter cube. Stay on top of your monitoring and removal program...one or two gnats in a 5 gal pot will most likely not harm the plant, one or two in a small clone or seed cube could kill it.

There's a product on the market called "Mosquito bits". This is a corn meal that is soaked in a microbial soup and dried. The microbes present are death to the larval form of mosquitoes and fungus gnats. I sprinkled a thimble full into my nutes and the gnats are gone. No effects observed in the plants at week 4 of flowering, 3 weeks later.

I always get fungus gnats and here is how i deal with them - sure the sticky traps help a little, but will not solve the problem. Never tried hydrogen peroxide or anything else, but I DO put a layer of about 1-1.5 inches of sand or perlite on top of the soil (i favor perlite because it doesn't seem to sink into the soil as much everytime i water). What this does, is prevents the adults from being able to get down to the soil and lay eggs (a fungus gnat's life cycle is ~28 days). surpised no one has mentioned this yet
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fungus gnats aren't so much a thing to worry about during veg phase as they are flowering stage. it's a bitch to sit there with tweezers and magnifying glass and pick out hundreds of little gnats that get stuck on the trichomes of your buds. so tackle the problem early

I have gnats on my homemade organic soil I have cycling in a storage container, which DOESNT have any santas beard growing which im concerned about. I was thinking about pouring some real hot water on the soil, as its still cycling and has no plant in it. Thoughts?

Gnats are a sign of a healthy soil

However, they stick around due to overwatering.

If you have gnats,

1) Your not letting the soil dry out enough. Gnats can't lay eggs in dry soil.

2) Lack of airflow. A small fan near the base of your plants will prevent gnats from landing and laying eggs. (Most effective method)

Diatomaceous Earth and Beneficial Nematodes will take care of them 100%