Fungus Gnats...Am i fucked or what?

LucidLuke

Member
I used DE for my fungus gnat problem, took care of and the larva and I killed every flying one by hand. Im surprised you cant find it in your area, it seems to be a common product sold in most hardware stores with a gardening section. Some places may try and rip you off tho, it should be real cheap, I've seen 5lb bags for 10 bucks.
 

carokann

Active Member
i ran outta my 1 lb of de, so luckly i have perlite which is even cheaper. does anyone know if perlite damages the gnats like de?
 

sparkabowl

Active Member
I don't think it damages them by piercing their exoskeleton like DE, but they don't lay eggs in the dry layer of perlite. A layer of perlite and a sticky trap in my cab did the trick for me.
 

akgrown

Well-Known Member
layer 1" of sand over your soil, it will not hurt and will stop the fungus gnats, it works 100% of the time!!!!
 

SSHZ

Well-Known Member
A three prong attact is what I do........ (1) Gnatrol or something with bTi will kill the larva, (2) use a perythium based spray to kill the adults flying around and (3) YELLOW STICKING TRAPS around the garden perimeter- this works great. Keep things as dry as possible in the pots. After harvest, bomb the room and you'll be ready for the next crop...
 

SSHZ

Well-Known Member
Sand works well to kill off the larva. The adults already flying around the room live for up to 3 days and are nothing more than pests. They don't harm the plants, other than eat the decaying material in your pots. Spray or yellow stocky traps knocks down the flying population quickly........
 

pointswest

Active Member
A drench with hydrogen peroxide water at 1tsp/gal will help control fungus gnats. Control is not possible by only treating the foliage. the larvae are in the soil and have to be killed along with the flying adults. Over-watering and never letting the top of the soil dry off is the main cause of fungus gnats. Never use the Hot Shot Pest strips indoors if you are living with these plants. These strips are carcinogenic.
 

sparkabowl

Active Member
I've heard of the hydrogen peroxide also, but I feel any concentration of H2O2 strong enough to kill a larvae is going to hurt roots or the microbes you want to live in your soil.
 

pointswest

Active Member
If you can't control the gnat problem they could destroy the plant and soil microbes become a moot point. The microbes will re-establish themselves in time. If your concerned about this factor use Gnatrol or as others have suggested or thin layer of sand on the top of the soil will help control this pest. A thin layer is enough 1/8 -1/4 in. The soil will not dry out as fast with the sand, so you have to be more aware with your watering schedule.
 
i have this problem but on flow tables(rockwool) i dipped EVERY cube in a 5 gal bucket(b/c its costly with 3 100 gal res)with azamax and sprayed the shit outta the plants, i've used go gnats 2wice! this is what i'm gonna try now. i'm putting covers on the cubes, and i found some predator mites that go in your medium that i'm gonna get tomorrow should i bomb also? i dont like the idea of using bombs but these little bastards are pissin me off! there is 1 table that is about week 7 the others are almost 3 weeks. any suggestions?
 

ENDLSCYCLE

Well-Known Member
Currently in the same position....used azamax and no results....used sticky traps but only catch a few here and there......went to the hydro store today to buy DE and the dude told me before buying more pest products...use flour on my topsoil....all purpose cooking flour.....he said like a 1/4" of flour....theory is that flour expands when moistened.....when they lick their legs and bodies they ingest it then swell up and basically pop...cool!!!!!exploding fungus gnats!!!!also when the flour coats the wings they cant fly....any one ever hear of this?????gonna try it myself when the lights come on in a few.
 

dewbzillla

Active Member
Diatomaceous Earth is the shizzle... If there's a nursery / garden store near you, they will have it.

I had the gnats so bad that I had to vacuum 100's of dead ones off the floor of my cabinet every other night.
While I was transplanting, I covered the bottom of the pots with DE, filled with soil and the plants, then a nice dusting of DE on top of the soil...
A week later, poof... No more gnats to be found.
 
Top