Fungus Gnats - Beneficial Nematodes?

Next round, I'm looking at insect parts (chicken feed) instead of crab she'll since the insect bodies have the chitin that the crab shell does. I don't add this for the Ca

GrowNube said:

Thanks so much, Final Phase... I may pick up some DE.. if you look at my reply to Dr.Pecker.. appreciate your insight there too!

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I will try sand next time (I don't plan on geting them again as I drill extra holes in the botom of pots now, and I grow directly into the soil. I have a bag of DE on hand, but I don't like the way it gets wasted each time the plant needs water. The sand suffocates and keeps them from thier food source.

Rrog said:

BTI = Bascillus Thuringiensis Israelensis

Same as you're talking with the dunks

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Thanks, if I use that if I ever need it again - Those freaking dunks are expensive.

I don't use DE anymore

@Rrog i use crab shell as well, it's been working out great - i forgot that so thanks for letting OP know. i dump my bag of happy frog soil into a blue container and keep it covered-it's how i know that gnats sometimes come from the soil. now i do a gnatrol watering and gnatrol in there on top and let all my soil sit for a while before using it.

knat off and sticky traps work everytime.

undercovergrow said:

@Rrog i use crab shell as well, it's been working out great - i forgot that so thanks for letting OP know. i dump my bag of happy frog soil into a blue container and keep it covered-it's how i know that gnats sometimes come from the soil. now i do a gnatrol watering and gnatrol in there on top and let all my soil sit for a while before using it.

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Do you add anything else to the Happy Frog?

undercovergrow said:

@Rrog i use crab shell as well, it's been working out great - i forgot that so thanks for letting OP know. i dump my bag of happy frog soil into a blue container and keep it covered-it's how i know that gnats sometimes come from the soil. now i do a gnatrol watering and gnatrol in there on top and let all my soil sit for a while before using it.

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This is smart because I have NO IDEA how the gnats got in... I have all exits and entries of airways completely screened with fine screening... Probably came from outside as my souls was sitting in bags in garage! Next time this is genius! Gracias!

TubePot said:

Do you add anything else to the Happy Frog?

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I've been using mix of FF ocean forest, FF happy frog, roots organic, black gold all organic, perlite, worm castings and mix in some mosquito bits to help fight the gnats, but clearly didn't add enough or add additional so enough!

I've found it more successful to use the natural predators rather than trying to block them out. I add a lot of top dressing with amendments and couldn't keep the surface undisturbed for long.

I add these when I first mix a soil and let it cook. These guys seek and destroy long before I introduce a plant

Rrog said:

I've found it more successful to use the natural predators rather than trying to block them out. I add a lot of top dressing with amendments and couldn't keep the surface undisturbed for long.

I add these when I first mix a soil and let it cook. These guys seek and destroy long before I introduce a plant

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id like to found out where i can buy sum lady bugs i heard they are awesome at gaurding a crop...

GrowNube said:

Thanks again Dr. Pecker! Thinking I will stick with the mosquito dunks and decreased watering for a week or so while adding nematodes, when they arrive and see if they look to disappear... When you say you would be worried about killing the nematodes... are you referring to with the SM-90 or one of the methods you recommended? Is food grade diatomaceous earth organic (believe I found some that is)? Trying to stick to organic for the first grow here... but not always easy... So I just sprinkle ontop of soil? how often do I do this, and how thick..? I do have clay pellets ontop of soil currently to help maintain moisture on top level of soil due to tons of airflow in tent... but maybe this is where some of my problem arose... hmmmmmm Ok to sprinkle ontop of them? Again - thanks for all the help!

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All of them would do it except maybe the ceylon cinnamon regular cinnamon would probably kill nematodes I know it will kill worms. Rrog is just the person to ask about the nematodes or what would kill them. Forgot about the crab shell. That's a good idea.

TubePot said:

Do you add anything else to the Happy Frog?

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yes: earthworm castings, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, rock phosphate, green sand, and probably a few others that i'm forgetting.

i also water with nematodes when i have them; i have a pack in the fridge right now that needs to be used. as you suggest @Rrog, i also water the cooking soil with the nematodes too. it helps me to be diligent in all areas to control gnats since i have fought them in the past and seem to have one or two flying around very easily if i get lazy about watering. keeping the soil covered since the buckets sit in my garage, i don't want other bugs to get in there. not all bags of soil show gnats in there either after i keep them covered, it's a small percentage, but it helps me to identify soil that might be a gnat problem.
also, just to clarify, i have two different soils cooking at different ratios - one for vegging and one for flowering. i also have a bucket that just has the happy frog soil in it with gnatrol watering into it and/or nematodes when i use them.

Rrog said:

Next round, I'm looking at insect parts (chicken feed) instead of crab she'll since the insect bodies have the chitin that the crab shell does. I don't add this for the Ca

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you should man, i don't know if you remember the thread i had about it, but the content of crickets and mealworms are high in other things too, like phosphorus, calcium and the like.
Cool stuff.

GrowNube said:

This is smart because I have NO IDEA how the gnats got in... I have all exits and entries of airways completely screened with fine screening... Probably came from outside as my souls was sitting in bags in garage! Next time this is genius! Gracias!

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i hate the little buggers...i really do. now that you've got them, you really have to be careful but once you figure out what you are doing to increase the population, you can end their life cycle pretty quick.

Plus the bug bodies come from more local source

undercovergrow said:

i hate the little buggers...i really do. now that you've got them, you really have to be careful but once you figure out what you are doing to increase the population, you can end their life cycle pretty quick.

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i can't remember where i read it, but somebody was saying a dish of vinegar attracts the gnats to it?
or something?
am i making this up? I can't remember what it was exactly...
i wanna say it was apple cider vinegar or something?
I don't know...

daloudpack said:

id like to found out where i can buy sum lady bugs i heard they are awesome at gaurding a crop...

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maybe i have bad luck, but ladybugs are super super stupid... they fly into your light..
I've tried like 5 times to make a nice happy symbiotic ecosystem for them and they are dumb as hell, they either simply LEAVE your damn garden, fly kamikaze style into your reflectors, or simply vanish like a ninja...
You can try them, but in my experience it's not something useful.
If that's your thing, you can get praying manitis' those work better, but they eat a lot of bugs and run out of food quickly and then they leave too, and they don't eat mites.. neither do ladybugs... contrary to popular belief, i don't give a damn what they say, ladybugs don't show any interest in spider mites...
Aphids? hell yes, but not mites.

greasemonkeymann said:

i can't remember where i read it, but somebody was saying a dish of vinegar attracts the gnats to it?
or something?
am i making this up? I can't remember what it was exactly...
i wanna say it was apple cider vinegar or something?
I don't know...

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it's apple cider vinegar