Blowfish, Lemon Larry, Ghaze, Lemon Thai, Stardawg EATEN

[The Revolution]

Been having issues germing seeds this season. Decided I would use peat pucks and little greenhouse since Im germin dozens of different varieties, mostly to reproduce old seed and rare seed stock, and to do some breeding projects Ive been wanting to do for years.. Started digging into some of the peat pucks and Im finding worm, more worms, and more fucking nasty fungus gnat larvae! MOTHER FUCKERS> They must have eaten over 200 seeds! Of course, theyre mostly my rare and limted seeds im trying to reproduce. Its gta be the fucking peat pucks right? Ive seen them in one of my solo cups im germing in promix, but Ive had about 3 flats (72 seeds)/flat not come up..Whats the deal, how can i avoid these ****s? Luckily I saved some of most each variety and I can give them another go. Im going to germ indoors in a paper towel until I get the first cotyledons to pop out. Will this eliminate the threat of these larvae?

God damn, Im irate!! Im battling the fucking critters this season. Trying to stay ontop of these fucking slugs, and now I got an infestation of these ****s. Sorry guys, I had to vent. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! FUck!

 

[gorilla ganja]

I lost some to peat pellets this season as well. I skip the paper towel method that I always
used before.

Straight into some moist soil in a solo cup now. I keep the tray covered with plastic till about half have popped above soil. close to perfect germination with this method.
Best of luck with the rest of the seeds.

Peace GG

 

[neongreen]

Sorry to hear that bro

There are biological controls you can water in against fungus gnats (gnatol IIRC?) but I never really liked peat pucks. I'd just grab some garden soil and mix it with compost (and also some seaweed meal at least) and use small cups. Ideally pre-soak before hand in mild H2O2 solution (I also add seaweed) @ around 78-79F (use a water bath) and use same solution to water the soil that you are planting in. This will kill most harmful things in the soil as well as stimulate growth. I very rarely have any problems with older seeds doing this.

For the slugs, I've found copper wire/bands to be effective with all but the smallest plants, so I resort to organic slug pellets for them. I've also just tried wool pellets and they seem to work quite well for small/medium large plants... so far at least.

Might be worth looking into miniature electric fences too... multiple layers of defenses are never a bad thing.

Sending out some good vibes your way for better luck with your next attempt!

 

[bloyd]

Todd mentioned this on hash church saying he and others experienced the same thing with those jiffy pellets

 

[Truthful]

Pretreating with Gnatrol or Root Cleaner will save you a lot of trouble, I had this happening to me last year, couldn't get anything to germ for weeks losing a lot of rare beans so I poked around in the soil to see my seeds were being used as an all you can eat buffet for them. Lost a bunch of clones too, now I never use any medium w/o pretreating it.

 

[The Revolution]

Damn, Thanks guys. Sounds like the same thing happening to me this season Truthful.. Been gearing up all year for this outdoor, all bases covered, been starting 200-300 seeds/week, and losing a large percentage of them to these fucking fungus gnats.. Never dealt w these before. Id say they have to be coming from the peat pellets, but I think theyre just in my environment, bc Ive found them in solo cups, and cuttings mediums.
Thanks for the tip neon. I have cages out in the woods theyre about 10 feet around and I secure these early season and start filling them up with solo cups with seeds and cuttings. As they grow and sex i transplant them out into homemade smart pots and larger trees pots. Some go into the ground depending on the terrain.. So Ive been struggling to fill my first fenced area bc of these larvae. Anyways I think I can fit 300+ solo cups in this area, Id have trouble wrapping each stem in copper if thats what you mean. I suppose I could run copper wire across the area.. Dont want to create any visuals for anyone above either.. I seem to be controlling them for now. I chopped down all the grass below, and threw down a cpl bags of soil. Than I scattered Diatomaceous earth all around the area and on the seedlings.. I also strategically placed beer cup traps all around the perimeter.. Seems to be keep them thinned out for now. Only thing is everytime it rains I have to recheck the area to ensure none are creeping in.. Its frustrating the little things that can ruin your season. It all pays off tho in the end. I love the fight, I live for it, really.

My question is if I sprout them indoors and get the first set of leaves above ground, will the larvae still be able to affect them? I havent lost anything thats made it above the soil. I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out why they werent popping up. I was soaking indoors in an aloe solution and getting tap roots in hours. They were looking vigourous than Id plant them and expect them withine 24 hours to poke up and been waiting, and waiting.. Atleast now Ive got it figured out and can move on. Im germing another 14 varieties tonight, some are the last of my rare/limited stock that I held back. A lot of seeds did come up in the last few days tho so Im glad to see that.
I want to make a log here soon, to document all of these varieties. Im familiar with growing multiple varieties, but this season is a whole new ball game with the amount Im doing. I will try to get a log up on the forums for ya guys to check some of these out. I need to get a count on the varieties im growing soon. I usually keep a chart of each variety, and plant numbers for when it comes time to make seed I know what Im working with. Thanks again fellas I appreciate it

 

[neongreen]

if I sprout them indoors and get the first set of leaves above ground, will the larvae still be able to affect them?

If the larvae get into the medium they will attack the roots. Plants that are out of the seedling stage can probably cope, but small plants will definitely suffer or even die.

For the copper, I use thin strips, or if none are available strip some old cable to get the wire.

With the wire, it's also a bit fiddly, but I try to make a loose coil of wire (like a spring) that runs from the base up the stem at least an inch. 3-5 coils should be enough, just make sure the coils are a bit less apart than the width of the slugs you have there, at least in 1-2 places. Too many coils might increase the chances of the plant being strangled, so keep the number low.

I assume the way I'm doing it, that when the stems grow the wire/strips will also expand, but if not it could strangle the plant, so I will be keeping a close eye on them as they grow, and making sure the copper won't restrict growth.

It will be time consuming/fiddly to do this if you have lots of plants, but once done you don't have to worry about slugs for the rest of the season.

Good luck!

 

[The Revolution]

Nice thanks for the tip and illustration Neon! It would be a bit time consuming but may be my next option if I cant get these fuckers under control. Its really ridiculous the little nuisances im dealing with this season. Threatening the hell out of my garden.. A fucking gnat larvae, and a fucking slug. Unbelieveable. Im finding more damage in the peat pellets im using so im going back to my old method, germing in paper towel than right to the solo cups of fresh promix bx. Enough of this nonsense. Im slowly watching the damn gnat larvae consume my entire seed collection. Im on round three with some varieties after theyve devoured every seed i put out, Im having to restart them days later.. Some of my limited seed stock, just got more limited!
Starting to feel like Im just feeding these bastards! Would the ag store carry this type of product i need to drench my soil to rid these fucking things? Does it cause any harm to the new seedlings? Im getting fed up with these dicks!

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

If you don't wanna use poison for the slugs, you can leave a few open bear cans with a little beer in them on the ground. Slugs will go right into them for the beer.

 

[neongreen]

No problem TR. I'd try ebay(or google for a web shop) if I were you, unless you have a garden center near you... not sure if ag stores would carry a product like that - give them a call perhaps?

The gnatrol is a biological control - predatory nematodes IIRC, so won't do any harm to plants at all.

Hope you get the situation under control! Such a shame to hear of all of these rare strains being munched away

 

[The Revolution]

If you don't wanna use poison for the slugs, you can leave a few open bear cans with a little beer in them on the ground. Slugs will go right into them for the beer.

First thing I did, was strategically place a perimeter of cups full of beer around the plants. Than I put a good layer of diatomaceous earth around and over everything. Slugs and snails will avoid this stuff, and go around it. It seems to be working so far. Just a few strays here and there, Im attributing to eggs hatching beneath the cups. The Diatomaceous earth will clump up when it rains but soon as it dries out it is effective as a powder again. I covered the entire fenced area in this stuff, and toss it over the seedlings aswell dusting the soil surface and leaves thoroughly. I seem to be winning the battle so far.. Now If I could just get control of the fungus gnat larvae, I would be on top.
Seems my only defense right now is to germ indoors until they have popped outta the shells with the first cotyledons, than plant with these above ground. They dont seem to be affected like the ones that are planted with only a small root tail. The Larvae are eating these within 24-48 hours before theyre able to break the surface.. They're everywhere! One this for certain they are affecting the peat pellets at a ratio of about 80%, The solo cups of promix may lose a seedling here or there. Also something I noticed is certain varieties are hit hard, while others not affected at all. They really like the lemon larry I assume, as they almost immediately attack these ones, and theyve not affected a single on of the Sleestack x Skunk#1/C99... Weird.

 

[Truthful]

Gnatnix cost a little bread but it works great, better than DE which has the tendency to cake up after it gets wet and it loses it's effectiveness. Gnatnix works whether it's wet or dry. Gnatrol is the best organic larvae killer I've tried, kills em dead in less than 24hrs after a drench and if used every 5 days or so (up to 4x in a 21 days) you'll be gnat free bro.

 

[The Revolution]

thanks truthful u know where I can get the gnatrol? Does it have to be orderedo online? I never did think bout the DE im using on the slugs, im sure it would help to a point on the Gnats.