Fungus gnats problem

A

Alfredo007

Member
im currently 4 weeks into flowering and thought i eliminated these stinky gnats from my grow tent but i was wrong.

numbers have reduced but i took clones of them prior to flower and put them in my proporgator in a separate room, i then noticed that it was full of gnats half dead in the proporgator, i now have them in small pots after they all rooted and my god, i hung 3 fly traps in that area not the yellow ones but clear traps, it seems i have a serious infestation of these smelly f**ks and i cant for the life of me get rid of these buggers no matter what i try, i am currently using GNAT OF, which if u ask me this product is a scam and far to expensive for something that does nothing for the problem i have literly used a whole bottle within 3 weeks and it seems all that its doing is aiding them to breed..

these dirty punks have already runed 2 of my largest plants, they look like they have only been in flower for a week, still white hairs on them when others looks like they are developing nice buds...

im so sick of these pests, they have literally put me of growing, im conidering veging up my clones to a reasonable size and taking new clones of them and chucking them in the bins as they look like they been to hell...

i would start over but i do not want to lose these genetics i have.. and i refuse to spend more money buying seed because of these smelly pests... they cost far to much.....

i have almost read every theory about getting rid of these gnats but now im almost certain you just cant get rid of them, if anyone out there has been sucessfull in completly getting rid of them plz guide me, also i would like to know, do these f***s grow out of nothing? i mean jeez its like they come from nowhere.

im never buying cheap soil ever again as i have a feeling thats where they came from..
 
C

Cannabest

Member
Im sorry to hear about your gnat problem they can be real buggers, and unfortunately there's really nothing you can do about them but to try and control the population. They do derive from the soil as you suspected once they start hatching and laying eggs it's damn near impossible to get rid of them. Some people might not agree but I do believe the soil you use has a lot to do with it. I spray with organicide about once every three days and that seems to keep most pests under control for me.
 
sandiegojack2

sandiegojack2

Well-Known Member
Put sand over soil and stop the gnat's...use benificial nematode's from scanmask and all gone....but a hot shot no pest strip and no bug's two day's....done won't affect plant or bud's work's best for mite's apid's white flies and gnat's...two day's home depot hot shot no bug strip!!!!!!!Nothing else!!!!! jack
 
naimad1234

naimad1234

Well-Known Member
I've also heard that if you top your pot with a layer of perilite it helps keep them at bay as well.
another one i heard is cover yellow construction paper with vasoline, it will attract them and they stick to the paper and die
 
A

Alfredo007

Member
Appreciate your input guys, these buggers are so annoying.. the sand theory is just a myth besides its hard to keep an eye on your soil as it drys..

today i am gona build a few homemade d.i.y gnat traps with cider/wine vinegar, so that will be a total of 3 methods on the go, GNAT OF, FLY TRAPS, and VINEGAR TRAPS... my problem is with the larva eating the roots.. i am also gona try the yellow strips of card and add petroleum jelly and rest them in the top part of my soil, i seen this on another site before...

i think on my next grow i am going to use paper plates over the soil and as an extra alterantive i have no choice imo to buy some gnat predators so if any manage to escape into the soil it will be the last move they ever make lol, nothing will give me more joy knowing if they dare go in my soil they will get ripped apart, im so annoyed at these things that i want to punish them as much as possible, i want them to feel pain and die the worst possible death. they are going to wish they got caught in fly traps...
 
chrishydro

chrishydro

Well-Known Member
Three day fix, never fails, first get the yellow sticky things, put them up all over the bases of the plants dont be sparing they are cheap. This will kill the adults. Next the most important part. Go get a few Potatoes, skin them and cut them into two inch by 1/2 inch pieces. Place them on the soil three or four in each plant. Change them out every three or four hours during daylight hours. The adults love them and will lay their larve on the pieces, check them out with your scope they are grooss as all get up.

Three days max and they are gone, never fails, always works, I would not use any type of chem while in flower.
 
A

Alfredo007

Member
hey naimad1234 i noticed that you have grown sour diesel before, is it from reserva privada ?

i poped 3 fems from my pack a few months back and current have them flowering, was gona ask ya a couple of things, when i opend the pack i noticed the seeds were the smallest i have ever seen, as a result the stems seem to be very weak and frail, 2 of them smell more fruity if anything but one of them is going strong producing the best top bassed bud of the lot in my tent, i have like ten going atm all different strains mainly from dinafem and that sour d is owning only prob is it loves staying light green for some reason..

i think i might have 2 different pheno types as the sour d's seem to be different, the light green one dont smell as much as the tiny weak stem sour d's but seems to be producing more bigger buds. let us know of your findings if possible it be nice....

peace....
 
A

Alfredo007

Member
yo chrishydo thanks for that so far the most logical idea without using chems, i like it i like it alot..

i heard of this method before but never paid much attention to it as i thought i would get lazy and by the time i looked at them they would have already eaten there bit and moved on into the soil to punish my roots, must be honest i like the idea it sounds like you got it down..

i think i might try it just for the fact i can finally se what these f***s offspring look like, and maybe just maybe i might take my anger out on them and burn them with a lighter when i remove them from the soil, yes they have annoyed me that much i want revenge bigtime.....

just outa intrest, how long once they lay the larve on the Potatoes before the larve manage to escape ?
 
slabhead

slabhead

Well-Known Member
Get some of the mosquito dunks and water with that while spraying a spinosad product up under the leaves. I like to put a trash can outside with a dunk in it for my watering can. That's the only way I've ever got rid of them.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Alfredo007 said:
the sand theory is just a myth besides its hard to keep an eye on your soil as it drys..
Click to expand...
It's not a myth. The sand will really control the population. It won't solve the issue in one fell swoop, but it will help. In my experience you need to attack gnats from multiple angles if your really wanna get rid of them. Keep in mind too, they're much tougher to control in soil compared to hydro or coco. I would strongly suggest switching to coco.

To attack gnats, I'd suggest the following:

- a thin layer of sand on the surface of the soil with a some hydroton clay grow stones on the surface of the sand to keep the sand from washing away when you water
- the sticky gnat traps
- Mosquito Dunks (to kill the larva) mixed in with your water (1/2 dunk to one gallon water) for every feeding for at least one week.
- Diamaticious Earth sprinkled around the ares where you see gnats walking. Keep it in as dry as possible, and don't breathe the stuff. It has microscopic razor sharp edges which slices up little buggers and makes they dry up and die.
- Neem Oil to spray the annoying plying pests

If you do this every day for a week or two, they will be gone or at least under control.
 
Izoc666

Izoc666

Well-Known Member
Alfredo007 said:
im currently 4 weeks into flowering and thought i eliminated these stinky gnats from my grow tent but i was wrong.

numbers have reduced but i took clones of them prior to flower and put them in my proporgator in a separate room, i then noticed that it was full of gnats half dead in the proporgator, i now have them in small pots after they all rooted and my god, i hung 3 fly traps in that area not the yellow ones but clear traps, it seems i have a serious infestation of these smelly f**ks and i cant for the life of me get rid of these buggers no matter what i try, i am currently using GNAT OF, which if u ask me this product is a scam and far to expensive for something that does nothing for the problem i have literly used a whole bottle within 3 weeks and it seems all that its doing is aiding them to breed..

these dirty punks have already runed 2 of my largest plants, they look like they have only been in flower for a week, still white hairs on them when others looks like they are developing nice buds...

im so sick of these pests, they have literally put me of growing, im conidering veging up my clones to a reasonable size and taking new clones of them and chucking them in the bins as they look like they been to hell...

i would start over but i do not want to lose these genetics i have.. and i refuse to spend more money buying seed because of these smelly pests... they cost far to much.....

i have almost read every theory about getting rid of these gnats but now im almost certain you just cant get rid of them, if anyone out there has been sucessfull in completly getting rid of them plz guide me, also i would like to know, do these f***s grow out of nothing? i mean jeez its like they come from nowhere.

im never buying cheap soil ever again as i have a feeling thats where they came from..
Click to expand...
what kind of cheap soil you re speaking of ?

I still grow organic soils for my outdoor veggies with cheap soils, its still thriving and baked under sun :D the organic soil require cooking and stir...it take time before they re ready for plant.

the alternative is soilless , its free from pests and problem that associated with soils...its more sterile and you have the control plants nutrients. it will be easy for you...the organic is kinda require more knowledge , JMHO

for right now you have problem, I will recommend to get Dyna-Gro s Pro-Tekt (silica, help plants more strudy and more resisitant to pests) and Dyna-Gro Neem oil , plus diatomaceous earth (powder form) top dressing, it will make insects diffcult to pass the diatomaceous earth. thats my recommend , buddy and good luck

happy gardening and peace
 
Grojak

Grojak

Well-Known Member
Yellow stickys did shit for me and fungus gnats, I don't think they attracted anything but dust. I fought fungus gnats for about 2 months of vegging, much easier to get rid of in veg.

Hydrofarm (i think) makes a product called "Don't Bug Me" it's pyrethrum based spray, it does't do anything to mites (azamax for that) but it did take care of the gnats, but even so it took a few rounds. It is safe to use during flowering but that is the worst time to use it and I wouldn't use it within 2 weeks of harvest.

I sprayed everything top of the soil, plants and the perimeter of my room. each round with better results, after about 10 days they were pretty much dead.
 
A

Alfredo007

Member
thanks for all the ideas guys, much appreciated im only on my 5th grow so far and this is the first time i have had a pest problem with soil, which is why im so freaked by these b4stards...

cheap soils the tomato kind, all i know it had pics of tomatos all over the packaging and was almost the cheapest brand, full of twigs/sticks which attract mold growth, it's full of all types of garbage, hair, plastic particles, man i even found strips of telephone wire in that shit, honestly they may as well have called it a bag of shit..

im almost certain this soil came with gnats as it was wet when i opend the bag and some areas had mold developing...

are you telling me hydo has less pests ????

if this is the case i think i might have to convert to hydo, also i am bored of trying to manage 10 odd plants at a time moving them into to the bath tub for watering etc, it takes up far to much time....

think im just gona veg these clones up and take new cuts of them and bin all and start again as they look like they are in pain, just hope it dont affect the gentics in any way....

hydo gods, convert me im 50/50 atm... are you certain hydo has less pests ??????????????????
 
H

Highhawyn!

Well-Known Member
so far the only thing i have been able to do is hang a bunch of the traps and get my girls harvested before the infestation gets too large. gnats are the worst enemy. i sulphur bombed, bug bombed, cleaned with clorox used sprays and all kinds of shit but they keep coming back. i hang 4 stickies and will hang more for next cycle.
 
sandiegojack2

sandiegojack2

Well-Known Member
High>>>> DON'T BE THICK WE HAVE ALL DELT WITH THIS...USE HOT SHOT NO PEST STRIP'S AND NO BUG'S!!!!!!IF YOU MUST MIGHTY WASH BUT....NO PEST STRIP'S WORK WORK OTHER'S NOT SO MUCH!!!!JACK
 
slabhead

slabhead

Well-Known Member
The problem with stickies is that you are only catching some of the adults. I call them the dumb ones. Pass your hand gently through the canopy and see if any fly out. That's where they like to hang out until romance comes along. But the real damage is being done under the soil where the maggots are eating your roots and maturing enough to emerge as a breeding fly looking for a mate. Kill those larvae first and kill all of the adults by spraying or bombing. Once you get the BTI bacteria in the soil that will stop any more from maturing.

Kill them all.
 

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naimad1234

naimad1234

Well-Known Member
Alfredo007 said:
hey naimad1234 i noticed that you have grown sour diesel before, is it from reserva privada ?
Click to expand...
My sour d is from a mom thats been around for a while. i honestly don't know if she originally came from reserva privada. and can't really answer questions about the seeds, but mine stays light green and and stink to high hell like rocket fuel. stinks up the outside of the house even with a carbon filter, but hey my neighbors should get to enjoy the smell too. J/K.
not the biggest producer but one of my favorites out of my stock. got six vegging now going into the flower room in about two weeks
 
U

user hidden

Well-Known Member
sticky traps catch adults. eggs and larvae are still in your medium.
NEMATODES is all you need to get rid of the problem.
all other methods are just trying to "control" the situation and not to "eradicate".
neem oil is useless for fungal gnats.
 
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