Fungus Gnats; a potential solution?

CannaCountry

Well-Known Member
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm wondering if I've perhaps stumbled upon an effective way to rid my medium (Re-hydrated Coco) of Fungus Gnats, before the grow? Simply put, I use Coco that is initially dehydrated in block form. I go through the usual hydrating, rinsing, buffering back etc. I know many don't like this method and would prefer to just pour the Coco out of a bag and go, however the dehydrated blocks work for me save for a little work and effort. So early on I re-hydrated a block of Coco, used what I needed for the grow in question and took the remainder of the now hydrated / wet coco and put it in a plastic garbage bag, tied off the top of the bag, ridding it of as much air as possible and tossed it in a dark corner of my garage. At any rate the grow in question, as most experience using coco, had a few fungus gnats that drive us all crazy. No worries, I did the sticky traps, etc and eventually eliminated them over time. So on the next grow, I went back to the coco in the plastic bag, potted up and went again. However this time, although I was prepared for fungus gnats, as usual, I didn't see any nor did my traps pick up any. I figured, 'well that's nice, no gnats...I got lucky'. The next grow, I went back to the same bag (yes I grow very small so things like coco last me a while), did the same routine as usual and just like the last time; no fungus gnats in the grow. I'm now wondering if by putting this wet coco in a bag and allowing it to sit, again with the bag tied so no air was going in or out of the bag, that whatever gnat eggs were in the coco, hatched, ran through their life cycle or cycles and eventually died, thus leaving me with a gnat free medium.

Has anyone observed this before? Am I simply crazy? Did I just luck out? Or is there something to this?

My thoughts are, that in general, and I'm no entomologist so bear with my ignorance, the gnat eggs that are fundamentally existent in the Coco, hatched out as usual in the wet coco, but because the conditions (sealed up bag, fixed oxygen level, etc) were not conducive for them, they simply died off and the life cycle if you will was completely eliminated.

I'd enjoy hearing back from anyone who's experienced this and / or any theories that you have. I'm only one brain and as they say, two heads (or many more) are better than one. Thanks all.
 

natureboygrower

Well-Known Member
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm wondering if I've perhaps stumbled upon an effective way to rid my medium (Re-hydrated Coco) of Fungus Gnats, before the grow? Simply put, I use Coco that is initially dehydrated in block form. I go through the usual hydrating, rinsing, buffering back etc. I know many don't like this method and would prefer to just pour the Coco out of a bag and go, however the dehydrated blocks work for me save for a little work and effort. So early on I re-hydrated a block of Coco, used what I needed for the grow in question and took the remainder of the now hydrated / wet coco and put it in a plastic garbage bag, tied off the top of the bag, ridding it of as much air as possible and tossed it in a dark corner of my garage. At any rate the grow in question, as most experience using coco, had a few fungus gnats that drive us all crazy. No worries, I did the sticky traps, etc and eventually eliminated them over time. So on the next grow, I went back to the coco in the plastic bag, potted up and went again. However this time, although I was prepared for fungus gnats, as usual, I didn't see any nor did my traps pick up any. I figured, 'well that's nice, no gnats...I got lucky'. The next grow, I went back to the same bag (yes I grow very small so things like coco last me a while), did the same routine as usual and just like the last time; no fungus gnats in the grow. I'm now wondering if by putting this wet coco in a bag and allowing it to sit, again with the bag tied so no air was going in or out of the bag, that whatever gnat eggs were in the coco, hatched, ran through their life cycle or cycles and eventually died, thus leaving me with a gnat free medium.

Has anyone observed this before? Am I simply crazy? Did I just luck out? Or is there something to this?

My thoughts are, that in general, and I'm no entomologist so bear with my ignorance, the gnat eggs that are fundamentally existent in the Coco, hatched out as usual in the wet coco, but because the conditions (sealed up bag, fixed oxygen level, etc) were not conducive for them, they simply died off and the life cycle if you will was completely eliminated.

I'd enjoy hearing back from anyone who's experienced this and / or any theories that you have. I'm only one brain and as they say, two heads (or many more) are better than one. Thanks all.
I'm not a coco guy,I use promix mainly.i do know that the promix instructions recommend wetting and using the promix immediately. Letting wet promix sit apparently screws the ph up.not sure if this would be the case for coco?
 
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