Tiny little flies, that look like fruit flies?! HELP!!
- Thread starter dnugs
- Start date
Immature587
Well-Known Member
gnats. put up a couple bug strips. you know the ones that hang from the ceiling. i've also heard that a small bowl of vinegar will attract them. add a drop or two of dish soap to break the surface tension and they will immediately drown.
someone correct me if i'm wrong
someone correct me if i'm wrong
Devlove
Active Member
I have them right now and the thing that sucks is throughout their short lives they can lay 100's of eggs on the top of your soil so its best to get rid of them as soon as you see them. My buddy told me to get a pyrethrum bomb since it fogs the area and then fog it every three days to ensure when eggs hatch they are taken care of.
Yeah lol, I just spent about thirty minutes sitting in front of my baby killing them one by one. If you are low on cash, a small cup or bowl of water will do. I refilled the cup I use to water & before Iknew it I had 3 corpses floating. I will for sure be lookin into some tape tho. My grow is in my bedroom, I really dont want that kinda shyt in my room.
DankShasta
Active Member
an affordable 100% solution to this problem is to use Safer brand caterpillar killer on your medium, that is if you're more than three weeks from harvest. Those could also be fungus gnats, in which case it isnt the adults you need to be worried about. Get the Safer shit either way, it's a great, great product that has been used by serious gardeners outside the weed scene for a long time. I bought a bottle of it for like 11 bucks a couple years ago, and i still havent even come close to using it up.
People are so misinformed about those yellow strips. You see how the have squares on them? Yeah they do kill bugs, but not effectively. Those strips are really a tool to get a census of the bugs. You hang one up for 24-48 hours and count the bugs in a square. While using some other effective treatment, you can count and estimate the bugs population by counting the dead ones again, or using a new strip or card. That's how I use them anyway, and they work great for that! i wouldnt count on them to knock out a fungus gnat population.
Those fungus gnat larvas actually do a lot of damage. They slow plant growth down to a standstill if they get bad enough, and I've seen infested root zones on a friends girls that looked heavily darkened and...well just shitty.Nuke the little bastards man, they're easy to get rid of when compared to mites or something, get the Safer brand shit!
Finally anytime you are treating something in the root zone it is especially important to use an enzyme mix like Hygrozyme, or Sensizyme. I'd say always use them nomatter what anyway, but they really help scrub up the damaged tissue left in the roots from larvas chewing on them. I'm making this a somewhat long post, but that's cuz i want you to get rid of them fast. Again it's not like mites, this is something you can nip right in the ...well..BUD so to speak! Good luck dude! Bomb 'em with something potent!! (and non-systemic, lol)
People are so misinformed about those yellow strips. You see how the have squares on them? Yeah they do kill bugs, but not effectively. Those strips are really a tool to get a census of the bugs. You hang one up for 24-48 hours and count the bugs in a square. While using some other effective treatment, you can count and estimate the bugs population by counting the dead ones again, or using a new strip or card. That's how I use them anyway, and they work great for that! i wouldnt count on them to knock out a fungus gnat population.
Those fungus gnat larvas actually do a lot of damage. They slow plant growth down to a standstill if they get bad enough, and I've seen infested root zones on a friends girls that looked heavily darkened and...well just shitty.Nuke the little bastards man, they're easy to get rid of when compared to mites or something, get the Safer brand shit!
Finally anytime you are treating something in the root zone it is especially important to use an enzyme mix like Hygrozyme, or Sensizyme. I'd say always use them nomatter what anyway, but they really help scrub up the damaged tissue left in the roots from larvas chewing on them. I'm making this a somewhat long post, but that's cuz i want you to get rid of them fast. Again it's not like mites, this is something you can nip right in the ...well..BUD so to speak! Good luck dude! Bomb 'em with something potent!! (and non-systemic, lol)
Immature587
Well-Known Member
innoculants and enzymes are seriously undervalued by the growing community. when i used them for organic growing my plants would become pot bound almost twice as fast. explosive root growth, and they get extra protection from pests an diseases.
ExileOnMainStreet
Well-Known Member
Like DankShasta said - sounds like fungus gnats. I lost a complete plant before I figured it out.
Dr Doom for the flies, though they don't live very long they can lay tons of eggs that hatch into larvae and start feeding on the roots.
Neem Oil added to the water will do a number on the little buggers in the soil.
DON'T WATER SO MUCH - let the soil dry out between waterings and that will keep the infestation down. That will also force the roots to grow in an effort to reach for water.
I used one plant to figure out how long it would take for the leaves to begin to drrop and then stayed with the same size pot and soil mix. I water about every six days now and haven't had an issue.
Dr Doom also works wicked on spider mites.
Immature, can you expound a little on organic enzymes and innoculants ?
Like many, I'm growing organic in soil so I'm always looking for new tools...
Dr Doom for the flies, though they don't live very long they can lay tons of eggs that hatch into larvae and start feeding on the roots.
Neem Oil added to the water will do a number on the little buggers in the soil.
DON'T WATER SO MUCH - let the soil dry out between waterings and that will keep the infestation down. That will also force the roots to grow in an effort to reach for water.
I used one plant to figure out how long it would take for the leaves to begin to drrop and then stayed with the same size pot and soil mix. I water about every six days now and haven't had an issue.
Dr Doom also works wicked on spider mites.
Immature, can you expound a little on organic enzymes and innoculants ?
Like many, I'm growing organic in soil so I'm always looking for new tools...
ok if you are using Miracle grow this crappy potting soil is harvested with gnat eggs in it so that by the time you buy it the bag is infested with gnat larvae. but are they harmful to your plants? NO! they are just a pain in the ass as they love moisture and tend to hang around the soil. I tried those yellow strips, they got rid of some of them but not all. but they did no harm to my girls at all! I grew in a basement closet, using a floor fan for a breeze and a dehumidifier (to keep the basement moisture to a minimum in the closet) and also for heat since the basement was unheated (the heat exhaust from the dehumidifier was enough to keep it at a steady 80F the fan kept it around 70F). They grew just fine, the temp in the room never dropped below 70F, but the gnats stayed right thru harvest bothering me more than my plants!
Immature587
Well-Known Member
check out humboldt nutrients organic lineup.
here's one of the additives i'm talking about specifically.
http://www.humboldtnutrients.com/mad.html
i use their whole organic line when i grow organic. it's expensive stuff but i can tell you first hand it works. here's some youtube video's explaining what each product does and how they work together to improve the performance of your crop. whoever said growing organic will cost you come harvest time was dead wrong
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=humboldt+nutrients&aq=f
ExileOnMainStreet
Well-Known Member
@ Immature: thanks!
@ faralos: I'm curious - considering what fungus gnat larvae eat, how is that not harmful to your plants
@ faralos: I'm curious - considering what fungus gnat larvae eat, how is that not harmful to your plants
TheRuiner
Well-Known Member
Yea, sounds like gnats for sure. The biggest problems I've found with those fellers is the larva as well. Those little bastards will lay eggs under the fan leaves and if you don't catch them then all of a sudden there are little green bugs crawling all over your plants sucking the moisture out of them. They say a light spray of a diluted soap water mixture wil suffocate them but te best way I've found to deal with pests like this is to fight fire with fire, go pickup some ladybugs from your local nursery, they'll sell you more than you'll need for your little space but if you let a few dozen loose in there then you'll be pest free in a matter of days... ladybugs die off, your golden, you can let the rest go free in your yard, or keep some of them in the fridge in case there is another flare up in the near future.
xroadsgrad
Active Member
i had the same prob in my small room.. got a HOT SHOTS NO PEST STRIP from home depot for 7 bucks... gnats gone in 2 days ( also hung up some yellow sticky traps )
TheRuiner
Well-Known Member
Wait, I'm thinking of aphids... the things is about those though is if you don't kill the eggs then you can kill all the flying ones you want but they'll never go away...
xroadsgrad
Active Member
no those litttle fungus gnat bastards lay thier eggs from the top of the soil to an inch below.. then the larva start hatchin and it's on! all the stuff above I tried and it slowed em down but didnt get rid of em.. like i said, the hot shot no pest strip worked within a day or two.. complete killage and it says it keeps em from hatching so must kill the larva? anyways, up here in humboldt it's always moist and humid so those things breed easy!
