Gnats are killing my little babies

Im tired of all the reading i've been doin. This is my first thread so please be gentle. I have 16 plants that are sitting on the stupid mg organic soil, i will never use again. I've have some successful outdoor grows with mg but now im inside. I have these gnats and i believe they are killing my babies. I 've tried neem oil, beer in a cup, and the sand over the soil and i dont see them anymore. I should be happy but i believe the damage is done. They look like crap. Bout 7" high and lower leaves are getting crispy and brown. There all wilted and i believe its the compost they put in that mg crap thatgot the gnats to come over and hang out.. i want to switch to a perlite medium, hempy style but before i do that i would like to know if these gnats are living in my mg munching on roots? Can someone tell me if these are the symptoms of gnat munchies on the roots? i will post pics after work but its embarressing to show. oh well, to hell with mg... i'm hoping to return this unopen bag....
ps... i got my new 400w mh/hps on monday and its so exciting... thats my only good news

i need a pic i have the same problem

vdubfanatic said:

Im tired of all the reading i've been doin. This is my first thread so please be gentle. I have 16 plants that are sitting on the stupid mg organic soil, i will never use again. I've have some successful outdoor grows with mg but now im inside. I have these gnats and i believe they are killing my babies. I 've tried neem oil, beer in a cup, and the sand over the soil and i dont see them anymore. I should be happy but i believe the damage is done. They look like crap. Bout 7" high and lower leaves are getting crispy and brown. There all wilted and i believe its the compost they put in that mg crap thatgot the gnats to come over and hang out.. i want to switch to a perlite medium, hempy style but before i do that i would like to know if these gnats are living in my mg munching on roots? Can someone tell me if these are the symptoms of gnat munchies on the roots? i will post pics after work but its embarressing to show. oh well, to hell with mg... i'm hoping to return this unopen bag....
ps... i got my new 400w mh/hps on monday and its so exciting... thats my only good news

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Well, first off..........
Welcome to RIU!!!!
Now the gnats are a pain in the ass....we all know this! The best thing i found for the problem is the glue strips or glue pads they sell for like fly's, or hell even the small ones for mice.
You can get these at lowes, depot, or walmart.
If ya get the strip you hang from the ceiling, if you get the pads, lay them right on top of the soil.
Gnats only aimlessly fly around the lower part of the plant, so if they fly, then land, they will stick to the traps. They work great.

Next, the MG soil is shit, trust me i started with it and will never do it again. I get the Sta-Green brand from lowes and it works wonders. Mix about 50-50 with perilite and it does wonders! I think the gnats are a smaller problem then you think and most of the problems are from the soil. But won't know till isee pics.

Good luck to ya and let me know how it goes. Get them pics up and we'll figure it out!

put sand on top of soil to stop them getting in and out.

he already did that

sorry should have read it properly lol

it's hard to tell untill he gets the pics up, you think the gnats could really mess a plant up like that?
He said the leaves were brown and crispy, sounds more like what happened to mine when they got to cold, or from the MG soil.

mg and cold sounds more like it unless hes got a large swarm of gnats, mg mmmmmmmm can b hard to use.

Ok i promised some pics but i was so excited to find my local hydro store. I feel in love. I wanted everything in there. i bought a huge bag of perlite from foxfarm for 30 bucks and he gave me a bag of some really good soil. i explained my problem with my babies and he said that it might nute def. mg says 2 months of nute in it. as far as being to cold in the closet, that might be it cause i have the 400w in there and it went up to 95 quick so i added exhaust and it runs 24/7. in the morning the closet was 66. its a ghetto setup on the exhaust so i have to add a switch or timer.. fuck me... the dude at the hydro store says the gnats should not be causing tbis problem .. got some foxfarm nutes and will try that today.. should i go hempy bucket style? it seems easier according to az grow thread...
thanks for the warm welcome fellas...
i will post pics today i promise. it might be overwatering which i cant believe cause i water every three to four days. my avator is when they where really happy at about a month with t12f24 4 bulbs... should i water in the morning before the lights turn on? i dont eant to burn em.. peace fellas and i will get back on at about 5 after work

Here are the pictures I promised. I got rid of the mg soil today and decided to go hempy style. I want some of that kind bud.. i watered with ditilled water and added no nutes. I will wait for next watering to start adding nutes. I havethe fox farm nutes 3 pack. \
Let me know what you think about the droopy and the crispy brown stained leaves. The gnat issue is gone so hopefully the worst is over..
MG suck balls!!!!
never again... thanks everyone for your input and patience... Keep growing

looks like they arent getting enough light or that u have overwatered them greatly

Last time i watered was 4 days ago. When i transplanted today they were completely dry although i did notice on some of them had the roots goin up instead of down and around.. u dont think the combination of crappy mg soil and a small gnat issue can give me this problem. i just switched to a 400w mh light which is about 20 inches away.. thanks for the input Krypt..

vdubfanatic said:

Last time i watered was 4 days ago. When i transplanted today they were completely dry although i did notice on some of them had the roots goin up instead of down and around.. u dont think the combination of crappy mg soil and a small gnat issue can give me this problem. i just switched to a 400w mh light which is about 20 inches away.. thanks for the input Krypt..

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Ok, they are definitly overwatered, and krypt is right, not enough light. You want that MH at about 16-18" away from the tops, trust me that extra two inches in height is like a mile to those babies. Move it down slowly though to get to the perfect height that won't be too hot, yet close enough to give good light.
They also look a little N deprived, but that MG is screwy. Before you do anything with those other nutes, i also have the same ones, make sure you flush out that MG crap really thorough. Don't want to end up nute burning them!!LOL!!
Also, don't use the directions on the foxfarm trio bottles. It's too much.
http://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/feedingfox.html
Check out that site for good dosage amounts. It's a good calender to follow through the whole grow.
Don't forget to introduce the nutes to the plants slowly, and at half dose of what that schedule shows you.
Good luck to you man!!!

I just lowered the light from 20 to 18 inches. I was just buggin cause of the temp in the room when i first added the light. It shot up to 90f quick. After adding exhaust it went down to 80f and i have a fan in there as well. At night when light is off, exhaust stays on and closet goes down to 66f.. Is that gonna be ok? I also do not have intake. is that gonna be ok for now or should that be next on my list?
As far asthe foxfarm schedule, should I use the soil or hydro? Thanks for the info Lilmafia

vdubfanatic said:

I just lowered the light from 20 to 18 inches. I was just buggin cause of the temp in the room when i first added the light. It shot up to 90f quick. After adding exhaust it went down to 80f and i have a fan in there as well. At night when light is off, exhaust stays on and closet goes down to 66f.. Is that gonna be ok? I also do not have intake. is that gonna be ok for now or should that be next on my list?
As far asthe foxfarm schedule, should I use the soil or hydro? Thanks for the info Lilmafia

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18 inches is cool, but as far as the temps, it doesn't matter as much at the top of the plant as at the root level. Roots have to stay warm!! Ideal is about 70-80, with a 10-15 degree difference at night. So if you are at80, you don't wanna drop any lower than about 70 degrees at night.
Get a thermometer for above the plants and one for the bottom of the plants, at the root level. I just prop it against one of my buckets.
Intake is a good thing to have if you can afford the extra fans, duct work, and crap. If you are in a closet, there should be air being pulled around the door. Also if you open it throughout the day it gets circulated and freh air comes in. An intake would be a wise investment, especially with summer around the corner!!
Foxfarm: if you grow in soil use the soil one, but if you do aero or hydro, go with the hydro directions. Foxfarm sells the trio in soil and hydro, so make sure you get the right ones.

Also, make sure you adjust the PH of your water BEFORE adding any nutes. Ideal for soil is between 6.0-6.8. Hydro is lower like 5.8-6.0 i think.
Adjust PH to desird level, then add the bigbloom, then add the grow big for vegging plants, or tiger bloom for flowering plants. Don't use the tiger on vegg plants, or vice versa.
The grow big says like 4 TBSP per gallon, i use it at that amount and noticed no problems, but the other two i would use less of untill you get the hang of it.

Its been a out 5 days sinced i switched to hempy from mg and i can not be happier.
No More Gnats
I'm waiting for the roots to hit the res so they can start the explosion everyone is talking about. new growth is looking really good. light is at about 10" away from babies now so light should be good. I have a 4" exhaust pipe right near light to help with heat. some are still droopy but i believe its from the transplant to hempy. only time will tell and i have lots of that. will post pics soon

i just about got rid of my bug problem

Hey Chucktown, what soil u using and how did u get rid of bugs?