Is this a Fungus Gnat?

Dizzler82

Member
I'm about 2 weeks in...so really small ladies still. FFOF soil is being used. I have been very careful with watering, not to over do it - let them dry out and stuck a finger in the soil to check. I also weigh them every time before I water and after I watering just to have another level of protection. I even weighed them before I wet the soil to germ the seeds. I was using very minimal amounts of water the first 5 days. Now have increased the watering amount to 3.5 cups (28oz) of water which saturates the soil in my 2 gallon containers and produces probably about 4oz of run off. I test the ph of the run off, which has been good, and then empty and dry the drip tray so that there is no standing water.

When I watered them this morning I noticed a gnat flying around on the top of the soil, also noticed another in the drip tray -caught in a small amount of runoff. I got a decent macro shot of one (they were really really tiny) so I've attached a croped picture of the little bugger that was caught in the runoff. Based on my searches I think they might be fungus gnats but I'm not sure. I looked at my planters for awhile and could not spot anymore movement at all, just the two aforementioned buggers, but can only assume that there are more, maybe below the surface.

I've done a bit of reading. Before using any kind of spray application or oils I decided to try to smother them. Stumbled on a few posts that recommended diatomaceous earth....which I just happen to have. So I just covered the surface of the soil with around 1 centimeter of food-grade diatomaceous earth. Will that really do the job? I'll keep a close eye on this but wanted to know if the treatment I applied will likely do the trick or what my next step should be if I need to take a next step.

Many thanks!!
gardening-pest2.jpggardeniing-pest1a.gif
 
De works as a preventative measure and a way to combat adult gnats from laying eggs. The DE, from what I hear, cuts into the bodies as they try to get to suitable layer to lay eggs. A few here and there is no big deal, could have been in the soil. When you shake your pot and like 10-20 come a buzzing, you have a problem lol. Way to be proactive, I honestly have fun hunting the few gnats I get here and there. For some reason they like flying up people's noses... Yellow sticky traps attract adults too if your looking for more protection from gnats.
 
I'm thinking no, looks kinda big for a fungus gnat... could be a different species?

Either way, where there is one there are 100 more, and where there are 100 gnats there are 1,000 gnat larva

no good!
 
Thanks for the replies! I will get some sticky fly strips then, and maybe Bacillus Thuringiensis just in case I need more.
 
I too am getting a gnat problem under control in my veg closet. I don't have a lot of them but enough to keep me shaking my head. I ordered some gnatrol tonight and put up my sticky traps a few days ago. I need to look into some DE also.
 
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