Lots of gnats in my soil and on my plants... Need remedy fast!
- Thread starter Trapt1nw0nder
- Start date
Jack Larson
Active Member
Go Gnats has directions for use in hydro, says you can put it in the resevoir.
flowerpower64
Member
The hotshots do work. Also sprinkle some cinnamen and work down in the soil, this works also. But the main thing is quit using the vinigar. It breeds knats and your smoke will taste like shit. I learned this the hard way.
pilgram
Well-Known Member
Follow these directions and your golden
MsBBB
Active Member
Flowerpower, what is this HotShots you are talking about. What form does it come in, liquid, powder, gel, or a technique? Thanks
hellraizer30
Rebel From The North
Il look into the go gnats. thanks
Canon
Well-Known Member
Believe the Hot Shots they're refering to is the "No Pest Strips".
They do work on the adults. Directions say leave for up to 4 mos. or so.
12 hrs,,, followed by 12 hrs every 3-6 days will help break the cycle. But it does nothing for the lava. When not needed the strips can go into a baggie and sealed for future use.
Another way I've seen it dealt with was (if pot is shorter than sink heigth) fill the sink with room temp dish water. Totally submerge the plant for 10-15 minutes. You'll see the adults drown and float on the top. Emerging adults tend to drown. But you need to drain as much as possible and keep lightly moist / borderline dry for a couple weeks after.
To help drain,, push some heavy chord, rope, string or whatever fits into the drainage holes in the bottom by a couple to three inches. Leave strings about 12 inch long and set pot high to allow strings to hang. These will wick out the excess water fairly quickly.
I also add a thin sprinkling of sand to the top, then fill as much as possible with Perlite. Helps make the top dry and inhospitable to the flies getting to the soil to drop their eggs.
I use a organic soil. Fungus gnats love it. But only if it's kept wet (beyond moist) for longer periods of time.
The adults will also make home in the drain holes too. Best way to deal with that (if need be) put pots in larger bowel, saucers etc. higher than the drain holes and add sand / perlite around base to cover holes.
Best though,,, don't overwater, and keep clean.
If you're insistant on organic soil (as I am) bake your soil before use to kill the lava and bugs before using. Bring it up to 180 - 200 F with internal temps and hold for a 1/2 hr. plus (once it reaches temp).
It's a big PIA. Will likely set your plants back about a week in growth,, but I litterally hate them basterds with a passion!
The above should clear up the problem in about 3-5 days.
May be better ways, don't know, but it does work well.
They do work on the adults. Directions say leave for up to 4 mos. or so.
12 hrs,,, followed by 12 hrs every 3-6 days will help break the cycle. But it does nothing for the lava. When not needed the strips can go into a baggie and sealed for future use.
Another way I've seen it dealt with was (if pot is shorter than sink heigth) fill the sink with room temp dish water. Totally submerge the plant for 10-15 minutes. You'll see the adults drown and float on the top. Emerging adults tend to drown. But you need to drain as much as possible and keep lightly moist / borderline dry for a couple weeks after.
To help drain,, push some heavy chord, rope, string or whatever fits into the drainage holes in the bottom by a couple to three inches. Leave strings about 12 inch long and set pot high to allow strings to hang. These will wick out the excess water fairly quickly.
I also add a thin sprinkling of sand to the top, then fill as much as possible with Perlite. Helps make the top dry and inhospitable to the flies getting to the soil to drop their eggs.
I use a organic soil. Fungus gnats love it. But only if it's kept wet (beyond moist) for longer periods of time.
The adults will also make home in the drain holes too. Best way to deal with that (if need be) put pots in larger bowel, saucers etc. higher than the drain holes and add sand / perlite around base to cover holes.
Best though,,, don't overwater, and keep clean.
If you're insistant on organic soil (as I am) bake your soil before use to kill the lava and bugs before using. Bring it up to 180 - 200 F with internal temps and hold for a 1/2 hr. plus (once it reaches temp).
It's a big PIA. Will likely set your plants back about a week in growth,, but I litterally hate them basterds with a passion!
The above should clear up the problem in about 3-5 days.
May be better ways, don't know, but it does work well.
Trapt1nw0nder
Well-Known Member
Oh, yes... I hate these fuckers!.... I have 3 Medium plants going, and 5 seedlings on day 20ish.... and those fuckers are everywhere.... They made my seedlings grow like shit... I had never before had problems with gnats, till i started using Vinegar... And now I cant seem to get ride of them..... I got one of those hard plastic pressure spray bottles for mixing, and basically for foliar spraying, it's a half gallon, and i added about 5ml of dish soap to it, and mixed well, and sprayed my plants down the night i added this thread...... I seriously didnt even care if it killed my plants, as those things are so annoying, and my seedlings are not as healthy as my past ones..... Last time i take advice from someone on here without seeing their grows.... But when i added Vinegar, and noticed that it worked on dropping my ph, i thought it couldnt hurt my plants..... well the vinegar doesnt, but the things the vinegar can attract CAN!...
....My SAGE Plant is beautiful, and very healthy, so there is basically nothing the gnats can do to it, as it is growing so fast, but my little seedlings got stunted, and yellow leaves at the bottom, and growing so slow.. the tops of the plants kinda shribbled up, and are not growing so fast or at all.... so i just drenched them in the dish soap mix, and some of the gnats flew away, and i tried killing them all, but im sure some survived, as when i checked the next day, i saw a few...... but so far so good, as the soap didnt seem to hurt my plants at all, and i only saw like 3-4 gnats, compared to like over 20, and im sure they laid eggs in the soil that i didnt know about...... So tonight, I added more ph'd water to that pump, and this time added 7ml of dish soap and drenched my plants again as much as possible top and under the pot holes....... I'll let you all know tomorrow if it works out....... I have to go look for some sand also, as i dont have any near by... i'm gonna try that method also....
Thank all you guys for all the input.... I'm sure it will help alot of ppl other than just myself........ EVERYONE THROW THAT JUNK VINEGAR AWAY!!!!!
....My SAGE Plant is beautiful, and very healthy, so there is basically nothing the gnats can do to it, as it is growing so fast, but my little seedlings got stunted, and yellow leaves at the bottom, and growing so slow.. the tops of the plants kinda shribbled up, and are not growing so fast or at all.... so i just drenched them in the dish soap mix, and some of the gnats flew away, and i tried killing them all, but im sure some survived, as when i checked the next day, i saw a few...... but so far so good, as the soap didnt seem to hurt my plants at all, and i only saw like 3-4 gnats, compared to like over 20, and im sure they laid eggs in the soil that i didnt know about...... So tonight, I added more ph'd water to that pump, and this time added 7ml of dish soap and drenched my plants again as much as possible top and under the pot holes....... I'll let you all know tomorrow if it works out....... I have to go look for some sand also, as i dont have any near by... i'm gonna try that method also....
Thank all you guys for all the input.... I'm sure it will help alot of ppl other than just myself........ EVERYONE THROW THAT JUNK VINEGAR AWAY!!!!!
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mellokitty
Moderatrix of Journals
Oh, yes... I hate these fuckers!.... I have 3 Medium plants going, and 5 seedlings on day 20ish.... and those fuckers are everywhere.... They made my seedlings grow like shit... I had never before had problems with gnats, till i started using Vinegar... And now I cant seem to get ride of them..... I got one of those hard plastic pressure spray bottles for mixing, and basically for foliar spraying, it's a half gallon, and i added about 5ml of dish soap to it, and mixed well, and sprayed my plants down the night i added this thread...... I seriously didnt even care if it killed my plants, as those things are so annoying, and my seedlings are not as healthy as my past ones..... Last time i take advice from someone on here without seeing their grows.... But when i added Vinegar, and noticed that it worked on dropping my ph, i thought it couldnt hurt my plants..... well the vinegar doesnt, but the things the vinegar can attract CAN!...
....My SAGE Plant is beautiful, and very healthy, so there is basically nothing the gnats can do to it, as it is growing so fast, but my little seedlings got stunted, and yellow leaves at the bottom, and growing so slow.. the tops of the plants kinda shribbled up, and are not growing so fast or at all.... so i just drenched them in the dish soap mix, and some of the gnats flew away, and i tried killing them all, but im sure some survived, as when i checked the next day, i saw a few...... but so far so good, as the soap didnt seem to hurt my plants at all, and i only saw like 3-4 gnats, compared to like over 20, and im sure they laid eggs in the soil that i didnt know about...... So tonight, I added more ph'd water to that pump, and this time added 7ml of dish soap and drenched my plants again as much as possible top and under the pot holes....... I'll let you all know tomorrow if it works out....... I have to go look for some sand also, as i dont have any near by... i'm gonna try that method also....
Thank all you guys for all the input.... I'm sure it will help alot of ppl other than just myself........ EVERYONE THROW THAT JUNK VINEGAR AWAY!!!!!
are you talking about the little black dots? 'cuz those are too big to be any fungus gnat i've ever encountered.... and they're actually quite benign, IME, unless you get *infeeested* and it takes some doing to get infested enough for them to do any significant damage. (i hate the fuckers, but thrips are waaaay worse, imo) also, if you catch the adults actively munching on your plants, those are NOT fg's. the only damage fg's do is the larvae sometimes (but not always) munch on the roots, and the adults will occasionally ruin good bud porn by being snagged on a sticky trich, but the adults don't *eat plants.
it looks and sounds from the way your infestation is going that you have the dreaded root aphid.... in which case i will pray to the canna-gods for you....
Trapt1nw0nder
Well-Known Member
oh, no... Those black dots is just my soil which splashed up into the stem. leaves, and pot from me spraying the soil with the soapy water...... Those pics are just to show how i drenched the soil with soap, and so you can see my plant..... It's not a 10, but it's not doing bad or anything...... I had topped it, and been LSTing it with twistie ties.... supposed to be 6 "main" tops, but it's more like 9/10 since some of the middle branches really grew out thick, and quick.... Think i'm gonna clone like 4 of them besides the 4 MAIN MAIN colas, and then put it to flower..... Think it's time...... And if i flower it like this, I'm sure it would be too crowded and wont get as much...... definitely cutting off the lowest branches, as i dont see them ever being as big, as the others, or even the new growth might surpass it eventually...
jonblaze420
Well-Known Member
We picked up a bag of this powder dietomaceous earth at the grocery store co-op for ANTS. One morning I woke up and there was about 300 ants in one of our plants. I freaked out. We got that stuff and put in the saucers beneath the plants. They dissapeared! So if you ever have a problem with ants, remember this!
If you have ants, there is a really good chance you have aphids. Ants dont eat your plants or fungus gnats. They have no reason to be on your plant unless they are mining aphids. Ants will collect the aphids because they produce honey dew. If you see aything shiny or black on the underside of your leaf, its the honey dew.
TheTokingKing
Active Member
Lose the poisons and just lighten your water and add more ventillation and learn not to get them next time. I always say signs of pests are signs of plant stress or rot. Dont believe me? Try it.
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