Dwc. fungus gnats? Help

Grow medium is hydroton mixed with some grow stones. Starting from seed. seedling I have fungus gnats flying around I found out. I put up fly strips around my bucket and on the light so they stick to it when they land on it and it will kill the adults and stop them from laying eggs. How do I keep killing the eggs or larvae though in my grow medium and prevent it from happening again? Going to set up apple cider vinegar traps tomorrow also to trap them and tonight I poured 1 part 3 percent hydrogen peroxide to 4 parts water mixed and drenched my grow medium twice like this. I read it can kill the eggs or larvae? Is this sufficient? How often should I keep doing it if so? I heard azamax works but funds are low and don't have any. I have physan 20 but don't think that will work, that's more to sterilize and clean everything.

It sounds like you are on the right track with the sticky traps and vinegar. Those are good at keeping numbers low but won't eradicate them completely. Ur probably going to have to spray when u get a few bucks. Find root source. Poor ventilation? Humidity? What is attracting them? Must take out the underlying problem.

Kid Kannabi5 said:

It sounds like you are on the right track with the sticky traps and vinegar. Those are good at keeping numbers low but won't eradicate them completely. Ur probably going to have to spray when u get a few bucks. Find root source. Poor ventilation? Humidity? What is attracting them? Must take out the underlying problem.

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I read online to use hydrogen peroxide mixed with water 1 part h202 and 5 parts water. I did that and soaked all my grow medium and rooter plug in the solution and it literally killed my northern lights. I had to shut off all my shit. Fuck hydro. I'm buying soil and new nutes and new seeds and starting over in biobizz soil.

nicksol86 said:

I read online to use hydrogen peroxide mixed with water 1 part h202 and 5 parts water. I did that and soaked all my grow medium and rooter plug in the solution and it literally killed my northern lights. I had to shut off all my shit. Fuck hydro. I'm buying soil and new nutes and new seeds and starting over in biobizz soil.

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h202 should be like 1ml per liter not 1 to 5

Leighbraz said:

h202 should be like 1ml per liter not 1 to 5

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I was using 3 percent and that's what the ratio said on the site i read. I think it was wrong too. Too strong. Literally dried my plant right up to its death.

6 Autoflowers next run. All topped once above 4th or 5th node and then let them grow, when it's time to lst after they get some height I will lollipop them then lst for a army of colas. My next grow is to prove autoflowers are worth it. Quicker growing time and genetics have gotten just as good as photoperiod plants

Ah I see 3% 1 to 5 still sounds strong I dont use the stuff myself, on the bright side your fungus gnats should be gone though

Leighbraz said:

Ah I see 3% 1 to 5 still sounds strong I dont use the stuff myself, on the bright side your fungus gnats should be gone though

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They are gone now. And will be staying gone i hope. Will make a new journal when I get set up in soil

I don't see how fungus gnats can live in hydroton. I only see them on soil. I have had soil and hydro in the same room before and had a few gnats but they never went near the hydro plants. weird.

70's natureboy said:

I don't see how fungus gnats can live in hydroton. I only see them on soil. I have had soil and hydro in the same room before and had a few gnats but they never went near the hydro plants. weird.

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They can and they did. I think it's cuz I didn't sterilize it before using.

nicksol86 said:

They can and they did. I think it's cuz I didn't sterilize it before using.

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Should come sterile. Gotta wash the dust off which can be a pain, but I have re-used the same hydroton 3 times over just washing with dawn soap and warm water in between crops. My point being that probably wasn't the cause. I still think maybe they got over watered b4 put in clay, or got a little stem or root rot in the beginning. Something is attracting the gnats. It is usually stagnant air w/excess humidity, or decaying organic material. Don't give up that easy! I can help you, but if you want to go back to soil/soiless mix thats your call. You are missing out on big gains tho. Happy growing!

Kid Kannabi5 said:

Should come sterile. Gotta wash the dust off which can be a pain, but I have re-used the same hydroton 3 times over just washing with dawn soap and warm water in between crops. My point being that probably wasn't the cause. I still think maybe they got over watered b4 put in clay, or got a little stem or root rot in the beginning. Something is attracting the gnats. It is usually stagnant air w/excess humidity, or decaying organic material. Don't give up that easy! I can help you, but if you want to go back to soil/soiless mix thats your call. You are missing out on big gains tho. Happy growing!

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I started off in hydro and know my stuff for the most part. Learned from problem after problem on my own and reading and researching. My room is dialed in. I just suck at hydro. Til I become a better grower I think I'll give soil a shot. A guy taught me how to grow in soil and still get huge harvests like hydro so its all good. I'll nail it in soil I know.

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nicksol86 said:

I started off in hydro and know my stuff for the most part. Learned from problem after problem on my own and reading and researching. My room is dialed in. I just suck at hydro. Til I become a better grower I think I'll give soil a shot. A guy taught me how to grow in soil and still get huge harvests like hydro so its all good. I'll nail it in soil I know.

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It is the easiest method. Less to go wrong. Good luck

I got all my dro equipment and spent lots of money on it. I will use it down the road again. I just need to get a few grows under my belt. I mean I have 3 hydro grows under my belt and they all sucked so far, shitty yields from bad grow environments to grower mistakes. I finally got my grow room dialed in as far as temps and humidity now. And I'm learning from my mistakes. I will try it again someday. I have everything I need to do it. Just want to try soil for a few grows before I start the dro system back up. Maybe I'll get a cob light for my next hydro grow and just try 2 plants next time in dwc and the rest in soil. I do want to master hydro still. I know it's faster growth once they take off. They grow some huge plants that reward well if you do it right. I just keep fucking shit up.

I had issues with fungus gnats last grow. Never had issues over my 7 years of hydro.

Out of all bugs I'd rather have those. It didn't really cause too much issues and I still yielding decently.

I thought if I took a week off between starting new seeds they'd be gone, but saw a couple buzzing around yesterday on the plants in coco. But haven't moved to the new seeds I started in root riot cubes.

I'll take the h2o2 approach, but won't be mixing that high strength. First im going to get the plants out of the coco since there's probably eggs in there and I'm not digging coco. I'll wait till they recover from that strrss before I use the h2o2.

I'll be careful though as I got about $200 in seeds out currently and would hate to lose them.

firsttimeARE said:

I had issues with fungus gnats last grow. Never had issues over my 7 years of hydro.

Out of all bugs I'd rather have those. It didn't really cause too much issues and I still yielding decently.

I thought if I took a week off between starting new seeds they'd be gone, but saw a couple buzzing around yesterday on the plants in coco. But haven't moved to the new seeds I started in root riot cubes.

I'll take the h2o2 approach, but won't be mixing that high strength. First im going to get the plants out of the coco since there's probably eggs in there and I'm not digging coco. I'll wait till they recover from that strrss before I use the h2o2.

I'll be careful though as I got about $200 in seeds out currently and would hate to lose them.

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I have a bag of opened ancient forest soil in my basement. Could they have come from the soil possibly? I'm getting rid of the bag of soil. Just throwing it in my back yard garden dirt so no I'm not wasting it. But I found 2 products that may be able to help with the fungus gnats and maybe other problems in the future. For under 30 bucks I think I shall pick up both just to have them on hand when or if needed

nicksol86 said:

I have a bag of opened ancient forest soil in my basement. Could they have come from the soil possibly? I'm getting rid of the bag of soil. Just throwing it in my back yard garden dirt so no I'm not wasting it. But I found 2 products that may be able to help with the fungus gnats and maybe other problems in the future. For under 30 bucks I think I shall pick up both just to have them on hand when or if needed

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When i first started growing I did it in soil and had fungus gnats. This was ocean forest. They were pouring out of the bag. So I believe that is the case.

For me I've been in and out of my basement a lot and probably tracked them in.

Haven't saw any buzzing around for a few days now so not sure if I have them still

Get some BTI which is bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. It HAS TO BE the subtype israelensis. I use it from time to time in my rdwc and it works great. It is a specific bacteria that kills certain types of fly/mosquito/caterpillar larvae.
Take half a dunk, mix it with around 100ml warm water in a clean water bottle and let it sit for about 4 hours. Shake it vigorously from time to time.
Strain out the solids and pour the liquid into your bucket. In 48 hours all the larvae in your roots will be dead. They just end up dead in my filter and I clean them off.
The bacteria kill the larvae and your sticky strips will take care of the adults.

Caveat is that this wont work if you are running a sterile res.