Battle hard against gnats since years using only bio predator (nema and mite)never been able to eradicated them fully ,1 gal. air pot feed 5 time a day DTW 100% coco did someone ever try to top the upper part with a layer of crushed glass
Crushed glass topping
- Thread starter overbudjet
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goingrey
Well-known member
Do you mean crushed glass literally or diatomaceous earth?
I have not tried using a surface blocking approaches like diatomaceous earth , crushed glass or anything else. I used a different approach--sterilize the coco or soil before using it by letting the coco sit in freshly boiled water until it cools off then fill the pot with the treated coco and seal the air pot off from bugs using a fine mesh pot covering with a simple lid over the top of the coco/soil.
I can't figure out how to position my example photo of a covered pot here so look at the bottom
TLDR:
It'll take a little bit to explain but it is simple, inexpensive and provides extremely good prevention for the duration of the grow. It works much better than trying to kill bugs that may already be wide spread.
equipment needed: a five-gallon bucket, like the usual HD or other hardware store bucket. a wire mesh wastebasket (approx $7-10 at home supply stores or office stores), panty hose ( size depends on your air pot size), some zip ties that are long enough to completely go around the top of your air pot, thick protective gloves, ideally waterproof
process:
SOIL PREP:
1) put however much coco or other soil equivalent that you'll need to fill your pots into the mesh wastebasket. If you're using a lot, leave a couple inches of the wastebasket free of soil. It's better to use two or more partially filled pots than any single pot that is full to the brim with soil.
2) put the wastebasket with the coco into the 5-gallon bucket
3) for safety, to avoid spills, etc., put the 5 g bucket out on the driveway or in the garage
4) boil as close to 3 gallons of water as you can, a little more might be good
5) wearing cooking or gardening gloves, put a pot lid over each pot of boiling hot water and carry it out to the 5 g bucket--very carefully. if it sloshes, it can burn your hands or legs. take your time
6) carefully pour the scaldingly hot water into the wastebasket. keep pouring it as slowly as you need to to avoid burns and spills, until the water is near the brim of the 5 g bucket or until it reaches the top of the coco if you're not using a mostly full wastbasket of coco.
7) cover the bucket with something and leave it until the water cools (letting it sit overnight worked for me), then lift the waste can and let the water drain out of it passively.
the coco/soil is now sterile and ready to be primed with nutes or used straight for transplant depending on how you do things.
AIRPOT PREP:
8) for a one g air pot you will only need to use one leg of the pantyhose, cut off one leg near the top: Scrunchy up the pantyhose leg, stretch out the opening and bring it up over the airpot from the bottom up. you don't have to go all the way to the toe, just far enough in to get the hose fully over the top of the air pot with an inch or so extra. For a larger pot, 3-5 g airpot, get an extra large pantyhose and use the waist opening to pull up over the pot instead of one of the legs.
9) put the zip tie over the pantyhose around the top of the pot, just under the top row of bumps so it will stay in place. you can stick any portion of the pantyhose near the toe up under that. don't try to tie it off at the bottom of the pot or the post won't sit flat. you can zip tie around the bottom to minimize the covering from shifting around as you move plants but it's optional. Fold any extra pantyhose at the top out over the top of the pot/ziptie
10) fill your pots with coco or whatever soil equivalent. If you're using large pots in larger numbers, just get a few wastebaskets and 5 g buckets. I think I used nine 2 or 3 g airpots and it typically took 4 or 5 wastebaskets worth. it's been a while, so i could be misremembering but you'll get an idea how much you need after your first go-round.
Bonus step!) you can still put in your surface cover or glass or DE. Or you can put some kind of cover over the coco/soil, like a circle cut to size from the bottom of a cheap pie tin (get at any grocery store or from your wife). punch several circles of holes in that soil cover and water through that. cut a small circle in the middle that is at least 1.5 times your anticipated stem diameter at harvest. cut a straight line from the edge to that circle to make it easy to remove or replace the soil cover. The cover minimizes the access that gnats and other pests have to your soil over the rest of that grow
LAST STEP: put in your plants and start growing!!
Nothing in that soil will survive submersion in water that hot for that long. Once all living pests, larvae, eggs, and other reproductive forms are dead, then it's a matter of preventing any new invasion.
Air pots unfortunately make it very easy for pests to get into the pot and the sub soil after planting. The pantyhose prevent that, as long as you don't let tears, holes, or runs happen. Use a size that is big enough and if you get a tear, take it off and start with a new one.
If you are using a living soil medium, you can still do this, you will just need to re-innoculate the soil with beneficials after the sterilization step has cooled or when potting
Sorry for the wordiness. I can't find any pics from my old grows to show what I mean so I have to try to explain.
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I literally mean crushed glass
Thanks onavelzy ,i will try this hot water thing very soon ,the pic with the panty explain everything, again thank for that ! I was about to change my air pot for some regular cloth pot. The panty will take care of those tiny hole .Instead of putting a scoop over i will top it with crushed glass(just to clip their wing forever ha ha ha )
EastCoastGambit
Well-known member
I got some of this from my hydro store and had the best success against gnats with it. I didn't expect it to work but it did.
https://www.amazon.com/Microbe-Life...ywords=microbe+lift+bmc&qid=1644675434&sr=8-6
https://www.amazon.com/Microbe-Life...ywords=microbe+lift+bmc&qid=1644675434&sr=8-6
EastCoastGambit
Well-known member
And I moved away from air pots as my gnat outbreak with them was terrible. I tried covering the holes with like a mosquito netting. Those holes give them multiple points of entry in and out of the soil. I believe in a standard or fabric pot they typically live (larva) only live in the top couple inches of the soil. Just seems like it is more difficult to control the life cycle with an air pot. I'd still try that stuff I posted above, a couple drops a gallon in 3X watering and they should be gone. Its all natural too, basically just super concentrated BT bacteria.
Yeah, I kind of overdid the "instructions" up there. Sorry about that. Just curious, where do you get your crushed glass? Do you have access to an automobile window replacement shop or something?
You can buy something called gnat Nix to top dress ur pots with here’s the write up
- The only scientifically-proven, non-toxic fungus gnat control
- Made from 100% recycled glass
- University trials have proved Gnat Nix! used as a top dressing creates an effective physical barrier against fungus gnats
- Prevents adult emergence from hatching larvae and deters females from laying eggs in the growing media
- Apply 1/2"- 3/4" layer to fully cover the surface in your growing containers, making sure the entire top surfaces of all containers are fully covered
on amazon /abrasive for art work 60 grit between 1 and 3 mm sharp edge .
I have heard of this product before but i was unable to get some where i live ,so this is why i try this .
Neem oil. It's a hair product in the bigger supermarkets. Accessible and cheap. One drench. Done. Anything else is just fucking around wasting your time.
IIRC a teaspoon in a liter. How many liters you need, might mean a different supplier. Look up dosing though. I can never find my own post on the subject, but it stays effective for the whole cycle. Some like to tell stories it's poison, but its been approved for cannabis.
IIRC a teaspoon in a liter. How many liters you need, might mean a different supplier. Look up dosing though. I can never find my own post on the subject, but it stays effective for the whole cycle. Some like to tell stories it's poison, but its been approved for cannabis.
Neem oil = Azadirachtin == CHS for me. Nasty shit I've been calling out for over 10 years now. Cannabis has a built in ability to keep Aza fresh till harvest.
Gnat nix works, just be sure to rinse the dust off first or it will float on the breeze to your flowers.
Gnat nix works, just be sure to rinse the dust off first or it will float on the breeze to your flowers.
