fungus gnats best way

hey iam currently flowering for 3 weeks and just today when i open the grow room i see some little flies flying around so i start searching around and found out they were gnats so i take a look at the dirt closely and moved it around and like half an inch inside the dirt they were little group of little crawly white worms(fungus gnats) so i moved alot of dirt around and by the looks of it i have several groups building up so i have to hop on this asap...for now iam now watering so by the time i have to turn on the lights dirt will be dry and gnats will be exposed....for now i hanged some pieces of duct tape to catch the adults but i really have to do something for the worms so whats the best spray to use that will not effect the plant ??????

I have the same problem. from what i've read the best cure is diatomaceous earth, its a silicon that doesnt effect the plant but goes into the soil and basically cuts the larvae open as they move, in turn killing them. ive also read that if you put a liberal layer of sand over the top of your pots (if you are growing form soil) it will have the same effect. very annoying.

Yup that silicon stuff is priceless for dealing to gnats if you can get a hold of some. What the sand does is kill the newly hatched lavae. Gnats lay their eggs an inch or two from the surface, so if you have put a layer of sand there, they will lay their eggs in the sand. When they hatch they need immediate moisture, so the dry sand kills them.

i just noticed i have the gnat problem too. i'm using a hydro tray system so can't use the sand solution. is there another option?

any help would be apreciated

dam thats some bs i jusgt really inspected my plant with a microscope and it was full of spider mites too!!!! dam i had to trim all of my fan leaves!!!!!

as for the diatomaceous earth is this it right here???

http://cgi.ebay.com/Diatomaceous-Earth-16oz-kills-fleas-ticks-lice-bedbugs_W0QQitemZ170391934976QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27ac269800

I would use hot water out the tap. ph it is u want but i had catapillers and i would take the hot water and poor it into the pot till it started to pool and it actually burned them to death and it would go a few inchs into the pot and kill what i couldnt see. i did this a few times and it didnt hurt the plants at all just dont over do it and burn the plant

not that hot. just a lil warm that's enough.

nassos said:

not that hot. just a lil warm that's enough.

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thanks alot guys will let you know how it goes

Azamax will kill those fuckers. I had a bad gnat prob and used Azamax as a drench full strenght. Killed all of them. Did not bother my plants one bit. Dont be scared. It works.

@i81two

i just foliar sprayed with 2Tbs/gal of Azamax. I only used about 1/2 gal when spraying. Think I should just use the rest of whats in the sprayer as a drench solution, and add another 1/2 gal + 15ml of Azamax? i'm using coco btw

buraka415 said:

@i81two

i just foliar sprayed with 2Tbs/gal of Azamax. I only used about 1/2 gal when spraying. Think I should just use the rest of whats in the sprayer as a drench solution, and add another 1/2 gal + 15ml of Azamax? i'm using coco btw

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wondering the same thing. been fight them for a few weeks now, and they keep coming back. i been useing mosquito dunks (same as gnatrol) and seemed to help somewhat, but they are still pretty bad. i been spraying with azamax (damn spider mites)also, and wondered about watering with it to see if it helps kill some larvae. been drying them out for the last few days and i'm going to spray everything tonight with azamax and either water with azamax or h202 at 1 tsp/ gallon. heard this works to kill larvea also.

i81two said:

Azamax will kill those fuckers. I had a bad gnat prob and used Azamax as a drench full strenght. Killed all of them. Did not bother my plants one bit. Dont be scared. It works.

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i just used that azamax stuff the other day. i noticed them things flying around and then noticed some leaves getting all fucked up. i used a little to spray on the leaves since i only have 5 plants and also poured some in the soil. how long did it take to notice a big difference or how long until they were completely dead. this is my first grow so this is the first time ive had to deal with any kind of pests.

This might be kinda a stupid question, but is neem oil pretty much the same thing as Azamax? I just read that the main active ingredient in Azamax is Azadirachtin, and it's derived from Neem, and I just picked up some neem oil...Just as good?

Also, would it be safe to use some diluted neem oil as a soil drench?

ive had luck with neems killing the gnats but not the larve when used a a soil drench i will aply some gnatrol this week as a soil drench.

I had a problem when growing with soil. I could never get rid of them completely but what helped was to let the soil dry out completely before watering the next time. They thrive on damp conditions, I only watered my plants a little amount every 3 days like 100ml in a 1.5 gal pot and then most of them disappeared. I heard using some bio friendly soap works too when watering (I think sunlight is one of them), they get stuck in it and die or something, you only need a little amount of soap like 1 drop per liter.

Yeah. Let your soil dry out for an extra day or so and then water with plain water with a couple drops of regular Dawn dish soap. A lot of people here seem to think they dont harm the plants but the larvae feed on roots. I got those first fuckers on my first grow and that took care of them. And now I always water my soil with this solution before I use it in my garden.

Don't bring food into the grow-op, unless it's a big fat steak, fresh cut fries and gravy, lots of seasoning. You'll have to settle for a black coffee and a big fatty to wash it all down with. Feed what's left to your mutt.

Vinegar Method

1 Find a jar that has a lid. It is best to use a jar that you can throw away, because you will be poking holes in the lid.

2 Using a sharp knife, carefully push holes into the lid.

3 Fill the jar with vinegar and place near your infected plants. Gnats are attracted to the scent of vinegar. The gnats will climb into the vinegar-filled jar but will not be able to climb out.

Other Ways to Combat Fungus Gnats

1 Keep a small bowl of vegetable oil around your plants. Once gnats become coated with the oil they are unable to breed, which can greatly reduce the infestation.

2 Refrain from over-watering your plants. Soggy plants are a perfect breeding ground for them. Remember moist, not soggy.

3 Let the top couple of inches of soil to dry out. They can not live in dry soil.

4 Empty trash cans in your grow room regularly, and never allow rotting plan5t material to accumulate.

5 Remove any dead leaves from around the inside your pots.

6 Hang fly traps.

The gnats are laying larvae in the bottom of my buckets. I just lifted some buckets and there are lots of very small white larvae dancing around in the water sitting in the bottom to my buckets. I just ordered diatomacious earth and will put it on top of the coco. Peroxide dosen't bother them. Nor does bleach. These things are very aggressive. I guess I'll have to mix Azamax into the resivoir and try to get them that way. Does anyone have any more ideas?

I recently bough some neem oil and yellow sticky "Whitefly Traps", on a thursday, and by sunday I had a noticible reduction in the amount of gnats. Thursday I just sprayed the soil good, and friday I used it as a drench, 0.5% concentration, and so far so good. I've heard that mosquito dunks work, they have BTi bacteria, which totally fuck with the little buggers. Apparently it is a "naturally occuring" bacteria that was discovered on the grounds of a closed down rum distillery by a scientist on vacation. Since then, it hasen't been found again in nature, so they think it's the result of the brewing materials that seeped into the environment, thus creating this weird strain of microbial pesticide. here's what the EPA has to say about it...

Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis is a naturally occurring soil bacterium registered for control of mosquito larvae. Bti was first registered by EPA as an insecticide in 1983. Mosquito larvae eat the Bti product that is made up of the dormant spore form of the bacterium and an associated pure toxin. The toxin disrupts the gut in the mosquito by binding to receptor cells present in insects, but not in mammals. There are 26 Bti products registered for use in the United States. Aquabac, Teknar, Vectobac, and LarvX are examples of common trade names for the mosquito control products.

Supposed to work on fungus gnats quite effectively when you make a solution and use as a drench.



EDIT: I just read this in another post, kickass info

http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/11/neem-oil/