Tribulations

[ToOldToCare]

First I put germinated seeds into infested Light Warrior. Took me a month to knock the gnats down. Almost lost the seedlings. Then I re potted into Roots Organic. Got infested again Almost lost the seedlings again. Thought it was left overs from the Light Warrior. Took another month to knock this infestation down. Then I re-potted into bigger pots again with Root Organics and discovered it was also infested with fungus gnats. So both soils were rotten with gnat eggs and maggots. Took another month to knock down the third infestation in as many months. I'm pleased to say that today, Christmas, The plants are finally beginning to thrive!
Merry Christmas

 

[growdady]

Sorry to hear about your soil, I'm ad you have it under control. Merry x MAS and have a Happy New Year. May the ganja gods bless your crop in 2019.

 

[paradoxlost]

Sorry to hear about your soil, I'm ad you have it under control. Merry x MAS and have a Happy New Year. May the ganja gods bless your crop in 2019.

great advice

 

[ToOldToCare]

Used to grow outdoors. Started growing indoors about eight years ago. Two to three crops a year. Have had gnats two or three times but never with seedlings. Usually get them, when I do, just before 12/12 from my over watering. I always veg til alternating nodes appear about two months or three depending on height and how they've been cropped and trained. .

When I did get gnats in veg a few times it was more a nuisance than anything else. Easy to recover. This was the first time I had to deal with them from seed. First week in Light Warrior they were looking good. By the second week I'm noticing that the first pair of smooth edged leaves are looking yellow sooner than usual. I give them a foliar treatment with Epsom Salts. Then I notice the adult flies. Now I know that the maggots are eating my roots! Same day I run off to a local grow shop and pickup some Roots Organic. First I want to kill the infestation before re-potting. Inch and a half of Gnatnix and repeated drenching with the appropriate mixing of H3O and water. still swarmed by gnats. SUPER GNATS! I move onto nematodes. Water them in according to instructions. By the end of their first month the plants look like they're only two weeks old. But at least the situation seems to be under control.

I decide to re-pot. The Roots Organic has been waiting for this. When I re-pot I give all the seedlings shaken baby syndrome as much as I dare to rid the roots of all that mess from Light Warrior and the treatments. The plants respond great. Everything is looking up. Gone from almost dead to greening up again. Two weeks later adult gnats again. Again with the Gnatnix and nematodes. After that treatments of BTi.

I'm thinking the second infestation was caused by incomplete eradication of the Light Warrior. Anyhow this second plague is brought under control. Now the plants are two months old and look like they've been stunted at least a month of growth.

I grow organic in 5 gal. fabric pots. I also grow with super soil or compost. So I put about an inch of perlite on the bottom of each bag, then fill them halfway or so with super soil then the top half with Roots Organic.

I do the shaken baby thing again and repot for the third time. Again plants recover well and I'm wiping my brow in relief. Two weeks later FLIES AGAIN. Now I realize that both the Light Warrior and Roots Organic were contaminated. So here we go again. Gnatnix, nematodes, and then BTi. Also used T-Drops this time.

Now the plants are three months old and are beginning to thrive like I'm used too. I don't want to think about the wasted electricity and money spent on sticky boards, nematodes, mosquito bits etc. Just happy that the plants seem to be doing well now.

I've been growing Chronic for 1/2 a dozen harvests now. Growing Chronic I find to have enough challenges but I love the strain. Time to breed some more seeds. Next grow that is.

Two more things I'd like to share.
From now on I will pasteurize any store bought soil before using.

Second. This experience led me to discover something called Recharge. It's beneficial bacteria, enzymes, and fungi that break down nutrients in the soil so plants can feed easier. This stuff actually makes a noticeable difference. Unlike so many other additives I've tried. Also forgot to mention that with each transplant I used kelp extract to help the plants with the shock.

Thanks for reading. Please any constructive criticism or questions would be welcome.

 

[yesum]

I feel your pain. Sounds like you know what to do with gnats. My problems with them I think were from soil that had eggs in it. Just add water and you have gnats!

One thing I did that helped was using a vacuum to suck the gnats out of the air. Mostly what worked was bti powder and soak the soil with it. Sticky traps did not work. I try to check if the bags of soil I am buying have been rained one, that is a real source of problems with with having bugs in it.

 

[ToOldToCare]

Tribulations

I use the yellow sticky boards because it helps alot to monitor whether what I'm doing is helping or not. Plus no corpses everywhere. I like big healthy root systems so gnat larva concern me alot. If you can put the sticky boards about an inch from the soil surface like resting on the rims, the adult gnat fly's kiss their asses goodbye as soon as they break the surface. I vacuum my grow areas twice a week and keep area's clean enough to enjoy sitting with my plants, checking them for any sign of trouble, deficiencies or molds. I'm thinking that I'm probably not the only grower that names their plants. Small growers anyway. (This helps me keep track of what I've given to each plant and when) I also enjoy thinking about my plants futures. Would a tie down be helpful here or there. Do I need to do a little thinning. Maybe some bending. Keeping a close eye on things allows me to nip problems at the start, (like powdery mildew)

 

[Magnificat]

Many potting soils come with the added benefit of fungus gnats and gnat eggs contained inside like a magical easter egg inside the bag of soil waiting to bless us with the love of gnats...

I have found Fox Farms ocean forest DOES indeed contain fungus gnats and gnat eggs, but usually not enough where you can stop the progress of mating before it becomes an issue.

I saw 1-2 gnats over the last 4 weeks of growth and i think they are now gone. I have used ocean forest in the past and had much worse infestations. if they are small containers I would put plastic bags over the pots and use twist ties around the stems. the bugs get stuck inside and die and no new egg laying into pots. but its not healthy for plants to be able to breath, and takes a couple weeks as the egg cycle completes.

i used miracle grow soils and found many kinds of bugs in it including gnats. some white tiny bugs crawling around seedlings did not make me feel good. i read they were healthy bugs but still, sheesh...