100% solution to Fungus Gnats?

[magiccannabus]

Organics dont attract bugs are you kidding me, i didnt say that there wasnt other things to prevent bugs just what i use, READ THE POST and stop trying to debate my methods . Yes you can have a pest free grow, I never said you couldnt either. I simply told the originator of the post my ways of dealing with pest. If you have never heard of DIATOMACEOUS EARTH OR SABADILLA, then you need to do some studing on organics and organic pest control, I dont want to smell TOBASCO sauce all over my plantsor in my grow, I am a gardener of various plants not just this sacred plant. Furthermore, I am not a ROOKIE just because I just joined this site, people here love to argue about things without truly opening their eyes...I NEVER MADE A STATEMENT THAT WAS FLATOUT UNTRUE,LEARN TO READ!!!!

haha oh boy you really got worked up about that didn't you? There's no reason to get mad over all this. It's just a bunch of potheads discussing some gardening techniques and opinions are just opinions. As I have chosen to disbelieve your opinion, you're fully welcome to question mine.

I just disagree that a fully developed micro-ecology will have inherently worse pest problems. There are tons of things in nature which fight the pests we hate so much. If a gardener hasn't implemented those controls, then it's not a failure of organics, it's a failure of that gardener. These things include nematodes, predator mites, bats, spiders, preying mantis, and many others. In an indoor garden, some of these are impractical, but not all of them.

I must note that I said tobacco, not Tabasco! Tabasco sauce does have some ability to kill pests too, but tobacco is so good at it that I am not sure why you'd need anything else. It requires no more than a handful of tobacco, a sauce pan, and some water. Gotta sterilize it to avoid virii, and then you've got a foliar pesticide that is pretty hard to beat. I would only recommend it be used for foliar feeds though, and definitely not on the soil directly. This is true of most foliar pesticides. Garlic spread on the soil surface takes care of many soil pests, and nematodes below the surface help kill the eggs of many types of flies and other pests. These options are just the surface of all the available organic remedies and preventatives. Companion planting can help too, as some plants outright kill bugs that land on them, either poisoning them or trapping them somehow.

 

[JackTheGrower]

I am still going to try Tabasco LOL


No Tobacco in my grow.. There is strange Fungi aspects I fear..

 

[maryjohn]

Jack, if you boil the tobacco there is nothing that survives fungus or otherwise. when you spray with tobacco, nothing survives, including beneficials. so handle with care.

tobacco mosaic virus, incidentally, was the first virus ever discovered. it proved the existence of viruses. true story.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Jack, if you boil the tobacco there is nothing that survives fungus or otherwise. when you spray with tobacco, nothing survives, including beneficials. so handle with care.

tobacco mosaic virus, incidentally, was the first virus ever discovered. it proved the existence of viruses. true story.

I can do without.. Icky Tabacky.. No need.. But thanks for the info..

I've got a lot of gnats outside in the compost tumbler area now because of all the organic peaches. So, it looks like they are finding their way in but I see that I have no juveniles that i can see. I hope this is because of the Nematodes. Still have to use sticky traps but, that's a given for a while with the Black Soldier Fly Grubs making leach.

I will be going for more sticky traps soon.. I just have to deal with all the life..

Jack

 

[magiccannabus]

I should have mentioned that I cover the soil with aluminum foil before doing any foliar treatment that is not a compost tea. Nicotine can indeed be hard on beneficials. I'm not sure I've ever experienced a complete sterilization from it, but it definitely poisons a few things.

Peppermint oil also kills a lot of bugs, as do many sorts of peppers. There's a huge number of plants with a pesticide component. Finding them and extracting them can give you quite an arsenal of organic solutions. Tobacco is still the most powerful, but as Maryjon says, use it with a lot of caution, and wear gloves. You should really wear gloves with any pesticide though.

 

[opt1c]

gnatrol wdc... newer formulation has a better shelf live and plays nicer in a res than the old liquid one... you can get smaller sizes at like bghydro or something like that just search around... just pray you only have fungus gnats and not root aphids as well though

 

[robbiedublu]

predator gnats I get them from Natures Control.

 

[SMBDYSMWHRE71]

I should have mentioned that I cover the soil with aluminum foil before doing any foliar treatment that is not a compost tea. Nicotine can indeed be hard on beneficials. I'm not sure I've ever experienced a complete sterilization from it, but it definitely poisons a few things.

Peppermint oil also kills a lot of bugs, as do many sorts of peppers. There's a huge number of plants with a pesticide component. Finding them and extracting them can give you quite an arsenal of organic solutions. Tobacco is still the most powerful, but as Maryjon says, use it with a lot of caution, and wear gloves. You should really wear gloves with any pesticide though.

Amazing I offer solid valid advise and this guy tells you to use tobacco that could kill off your microherd but i was wrong lmfaoooooooooooowhich is MY honest opinion, DIAMATACEOUS EARTH wont kill your microherd, well maybe it will if you mix it with TOBACCOlol

 

[magiccannabus]

I'm right here, you can address me directly. You're just being rude now. All because I disagree with your opinion? You don't have to accept my opinion, but there's no reason to be a jerk.

 

[dub 6]

When mixing your soil(less) mix, mix in some BNs... then when you pot your plants, top dress with diamataceous earth. do this regardless if you have fungal gnats or not, and they'll never show up.

 

[maryjohn]

so between environmental control like watering less or a layer of sand/perlite on top, products like neem oil, gnatrol, tobacco tea, DE, and whatever else, plus biological controls like predator gnats or whatever, no one should be worried about gnats.

 

[JackTheGrower]

so between environmental control like watering less or a layer of sand/perlite on top, products like neem oil, gnatrol, tobacco tea, DE, and whatever else, plus biological controls like predator gnats or whatever, no one should be worried about gnats.

Trying to capitalize on them if you can.. The Nematodes seem to be gaining ground.. I did see some juveniles today.. but not so many; also yellow sticky traps on the soil surface are great! They have to practice flying before they actually take freedom on the wing.. Sticky death at an early age is cool..

In organic soil or the organic garden we don't kill everything we keep the odds tilted in our favor.. IMO

 

[habeeb]

good luck on that jack, them pests can be annoying, and watch out with seeds, as if you have fungus gnats they will kill the tap root that comes out 90% of the time

 

[ItsAllOver]

I didn't read the whole thread, so I may be repeating. I don't want to waste my time.
But I hope I help someone with:

- Sand as a top layer will stop them bitches from getting to the moist and homey soil that they love. Go for 1/2 inch maybe 1inch.

- Also, they are the shittiest flyers imaginable, and have very low mass, so just rock a fan or two at the soil level and they won't be very harmful. It seems to help for me.

- Neem spray a little on the leaves, try not to during flowering, though, who wants to smoke that shit? It's organic. Also neem is systemic (is that the right word? It's been a while) so if you water with Neem, it'll take out the fungus gnats in the soil, and the plant will absorb it and hopefully take out other bugs, too.

- If all else fails, vacuum them out as you see them in addition to these other methods.

Fungus gnats are a bitch, but spider mites are worse.

 

[habeeb]

^ hope I never see spider mites then..

 

[robbiedublu]

In my unfortunately extensive experience in dealing with these f***ers, predator gnats work the best if you already have a serious infestation. Nematodes also work well but take longer than predator gnats. I never had any luck with gnatrol, liquid or powder. Perhaps my infestation was to far advanced when I started it.
I'm interested in trying the neem seed cake as recommended by clackamas coot. Anyone know if it affects beneficial bacteria and fungi in coco??

 

[maryjohn]

I'm not sure the effects of neem on soil biology have been studied, perhaps because neem has been used to treat soil in the ayurvedic system for so long. generally when something has been used for so long, most people assume it is at the very least benign. I'm guilty there.

I have read of people using neem leaves to feed worms.

It would be nice to know for sure. Maybe someone around here with a microscope could give a cursory glance?

 

[Milwaukee]

I've always had really good luck by mixing a few milliliters of neem oil with a few drops of mild soap in a spray bottle with about a quart of water. I spray about once a week regardless if I see gnats or not. In veg and early flower and spray the plants. After buds start to form I only spray the top of my medium, and my buckets.

 

[opt1c]

when hand watering, an ounce of azamax/azatrol per gal does the trick for a neem drench... i don't think they hurt the colony if what i've read on here is correct... and you don't have to use hot water either the neem extracts mix nicer than the pressed oils and i believe are omri rated as well

if gnatrol doesn't work you might have root aphids; the flying nymphs look just like a gnat... if you have anything that looks like an aphid but is smaller and black in your medium u have more than gnats

 

[maryjohn]

optic check out my neem oil secret thread. with a hand blender you can get the same effect, plus all the other compounds in neem oil, and much cheaper than an extract. mixes perfectly with room temp water. might not work on a cold winter day in a cold place.