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Fungus gnats or WINGED ROOT APHIDS???

woolybear

Well-known member
Veteran
I have the fungus gnats under control. 3-pronged attack ( i grow in coco):

#1 - Monterrey BT. Make sure its fresh - it should smell rather bad. Available online. I apply 2x a month.

#2 - physical. lights on in the morning, I watch the plant at bottom stem level. The gnats hang out on the bottom of the plant pot, in the medium of course, and also on the lower stems. When lights/fans come on, they wake up and I smash them with my thumb/fingers as I see them move about. I keep a chopstick handy to rake the medium and also as a weapon to smash gnats not within reach

#3 - sticky traps. I haven't used these for a while but got some as backup

Fungus gnats are weak fliers and live in the top of your growing medium. Thanks Hammerhead for the tip on raking the medium.
 

woolybear

Well-known member
Veteran
Great idea buzz! No room for a shop vac over here, hopefully someday. I found using a 1:3 h20/bleach mix in a sprayer really takes the fight out of them.

Luckily the gnats are mostly a minor nuisance, but I have some really big ones. A bit ago I found some worms / larve wiggling below the surface. Smashed those and immediately applied bt.
 

Miraculous Meds

Well-known member
Great idea buzz! No room for a shop vac over here, hopefully someday. I found using a 1:3 h20/bleach mix in a sprayer really takes the fight out of them.

Luckily the gnats are mostly a minor nuisance, but I have some really big ones. A bit ago I found some worms / larve wiggling below the surface. Smashed those and immediately applied bt.

Bt is for catapillars/moths. You want bti. It's in the mosquito dunks for small amounts or gnatrol for high strength amounts.
 
Got root aphids in my system! I think they are rice root aphids.

The pest manifested in inexplicable yellowing of the leaves about a week after planting the clones, stunted growth and no developed root system:

View media item 18121815
A bit hard to spot at first, I discovered those at the root area:

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Size is about 1mm, color grey - black. Also I observed an increased amount of little flies which look quite similar to fungus gnats.

Neem treatment was not successful, clones were badly damaged after two weeks so I had to dispose them. Got a second grow running at the moment which I fear might be infested too. So anybody got tips for an effective insecticide that is available in Europe? Couldn't find a source to buy those recommended in this thread.
 

ConeSmoker

Member
I have fungus gnats in an auto tent. They just kept coming back from the larva stage. I'd spray the tent and soil surface with sevin and a week later it was like nothing happened. I also bought a systemic insecticide but don't want to use it on something I'd be smoking. Really though one week the plants got super dry and now the problem is mostly gone for the moment.
 

buzzmobile

Well-known member
Veteran


The Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis in the video can be found in Gnatrol, Mosquito Bits, Mosquito Dunks.
 

Three Berries

Active member
I've been using the Mosquito Bits about ever watering. But have noticed some very small winged yet crawling bugs on the floor of the tent. Much smaller than the typical gnat but gnat like.

Today looking at the buds though a loupe I see one on there that with the naked eye was just a black spec. But through the loupe was a winged and black bug. Clear wings and black body and legs, legs were 90% of the bug. It had a very narrow/long abdomen not much thicker than it's legs.
 

Three Berries

Active member
Anyone use soap spray when in flower for insecticide? I'm thinking of making some liquid soap out of coconut oil, glycerin and potassium hydroxide to use diluted. Still a couple weeks at least away from the pick.

 

Hammerhead

Disabled Farmer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Sometimes I find 1 or 2 gnats buzzing my cloner trying to get in but zero in my veg room just from a quick medium fluff.. Any stagnant moisture will attract gnats. They have radar for it lol.
 

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
I have fungus gnats in an auto tent. They just kept coming back from the larva stage. I'd spray the tent and soil surface with sevin and a week later it was like nothing happened. I also bought a systemic insecticide but don't want to use it on something I'd be smoking. Really though one week the plants got super dry and now the problem is mostly gone for the moment.
You need to dry out your grow more often to kill them😎
 

AllStuff420

Member
Root aphids, on the other hand, have a bright body color whether in color yellow or white, whereas fungus gnats are dark brown or black. Although fungus gnat larvae have a white body, their long, slender form should allow them to be distinguished from aphids. Now, if you are into this and would like to inquire as to using merch products and smoking accessories as inspired by 420 then try AllStuff420® today. Go and figure it out for yourself now!
 

Grower82

New member
Think I might have root aphids but not sure. Growing in coco/perlite in fabric pots. Growth slowed significantly and started to see what looked like mag deficiency and slow water uptake. Found some fungus gnats and treated but no success. Cut a small hole in the bottom of the bag and this little thing came crawling out. Is this a root aphids? Also one with wings. Appreciate any help.
 

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patg1973

New member
Hey there folks, like many here I had fungus gnats AND root aphids.

I run a commercial high pressure areo system and use only synthetics. I use no growing medium at all. Foam collar. I tried multiple items with little luck.

After reading this thread I tried the riptide/orthene combo (2.3 grams of orthene, 2.5 MLS of riptide per gallon) using RO water and did the root drench for 30mins.

I did 2 treatments 4 days apart, then a 3rd 14 days after the 2nd treatment. Cleaned and sanitized everything in between each treatment.

This completely eradicated all bugs, larvae and eggs on plants in flower, veg and rooted clones.

After the drench, I cut the nutes in half and ran regenaroot at 5mls a gallon for 2 days.

All plants bounced back by the next day of treatment.

Important note..I had to pH up the solution prior to use. Read that this combo burnt plants but believe pH had something to do with it.

Thank you eclipse420 for posting this solution. Worked perfectly...for me.
 

Desert Dan

Well-known member
Veteran
After a initial knockdown using pesticide of choice (3 applications) the only thing which seems to keep them suppressed is alternating Botaniguard 22 and SNS 209 as a part of your IPM… Sticky traps for whatever flyers break through 🤞

Potential spread of HPLVD because of these bastards is another story.

-DD
 
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