Is this the product of Fungus Gnats? HELP!! Used to be healthy plant dying

So this problem has been going on for the past 10 days. The problem starts at the tip/edges of the leaves and continues to the whole leaf..the problem has been effecting the plant from the bottom up (new growth is fine but slowly becomes effected)...AVG RH: 40-50% rarely goes to 60%...AVG temps are 79-84 degrees (room is hotter by the plants and not the ceiling which is weird considering my lights are 24-26" away from plants. (They were 18" away for awhile). I'm using HLG quantum boards (hlg260-hlg135-hlg65) and the plant is a g13 haze. In a smart pot with a fan blowing directly on the pot for better airflow. **I'm using coots super soil****with ewc/composted plant material as my compost/peat moss/pumice 33% of each. Only water when soil is dry. ANYWAY I saw a couple of black gnats crawling around/flying around (poorly might i say as i have alot of circulation) my room that look like fungus gnats.. I ALSO work at a nursery with a ton of flowers/vegetables that are damp and riddled with flying gnats..it's like gnat city over there..i'm thinking they're fungus gnats that clung on to me and rode over to my house with me...keep in mind I don't step into the room until I take a shower/put on clean clothes. Anyway what do you guys think? The g13 haze has been vegging for about 5-6 weeks. Thanks!

Edit*the problem starts out with a discoloration of the leaf (light green) then becomes crispy/dry and breaks up into dust when rubbed. The tips are also curling up and down

Usually fungus gnats are a sign of overwatering

if you had fungus gnats bad enough to do that, they'd be all over the place. at first glance, you might have a little root rot. i'd try watering with some hydrogen peroxide a few times and see if it stops spreading, and effecting new growth.

only other thing i can think of is your roots grew into a hot pocket in your soil, maybe where some ewc or something clumped up. doesn't do much good trying to flush organic soil....

Roger A. Shrubber said:

if you had fungus gnats bad enough to do that, they'd be all over the place. at first glance, you might have a little root rot. i'd try watering with some hydrogen peroxide a few times and see if it stops spreading, and effecting new growth.

only other thing i can think of is your roots grew into a hot pocket in your soil, maybe where some ewc or something clumped up. doesn't do much good trying to flush organic soil....

Click to expand...

Thanks alot man for all the help much appreciated..yeah they need watering today so I think i'm gonna try that hydrogen peroxide idea. Straight 3% or should I dilute ? That clumping makes sense, the compost was clumping up while the soil was cooking...

if you're using 3% go 20ml per gallon first time, then drop down to 15 ml per gallon. use it the next three or 4 times you water. at that strength it can't hurt your plants, but it'll kill any benes you're running, you'll have to re-innoculate when you get done running the h2o2.
if you are running benes, and if you have quick access to a hydro shop, you might want to try hydroguard, instead. it doesn't kill anything, it just out competes it, eats everything the bad organisms are trying to eat.

Hydrogen peroxide is a good choice for fungus on an indoor garden.

Neem oil extract is a great defense against gnats, mites, and powdery mildew. But at the root level its kind of harsh imho.

mycorrhizae May be worth a try to introduce beneficial microbes and fungus to an organic soil and is a great boost for the whole plant at or around flowering time. Depending on the type of gnats and fungus it may or may not help getting rid of gnats ?

Best of luck , nice herbs !

Roger A. Shrubber said:

if you're using 3% go 20ml per gallon first time, then drop down to 15 ml per gallon. use it the next three or 4 times you water. at that strength it can't hurt your plants, but it'll kill any benes you're running, you'll have to re-innoculate when you get done running the h2o2.
if you are running benes, and if you have quick access to a hydro shop, you might want to try hydroguard, instead. it doesn't kill anything, it just out competes it, eats everything the bad organisms are trying to eat.

Click to expand...

Okay sounds good. Are benes beneficial bacteria/fungi? I usually apply undiluted ewc/Alaskan compost/kelp meal/molasses aerated compost tea every other watering. I’m also using a super soil. I haven’t used myco. So will the h202 completely stop this rot? Or does it just keep it under control? I don’t have quick access to hydroguard i have to order that asap as it seems like a better alternative to h202

Definitely not fungus gnats.

Not sure about root rot. I've never seen that in air pots. Not seeing any droop either.
But... I've also never seen companion clover plants in an indoor grow either.
How did you get that?

Before you start watering with hydrogen peroxide try pulling the lights back.
I initially thought nute burn but you say you're only using water.

OK i just saw your last post.
Hold off on the nutes too.
I think you're burning your plants.

well, h2o2 will stop root rot, but it will kill your beneficial bacteria and fungus, yes. if you want to go with hydroguard, i'd get some recharge as well, or some great white, actually anything with a lot of endomycorrhiza, ecto isn't that great for weed.
so, you have them in super soil, and you're feeding them every other time you water on top of that? you may just be over feeding them. if your soil was pretty well built to begin with, they won't need the ewc, compost, or kelp meal that often. the white tips on your leaves are a sign of too much P, you don't have a lot of claw, and your leaves aren't really dark, so probably not way too much N.
i think i'd cut back on the tea too, while you're trying the h2o2.

H202 will keep it from future rot and clean up most fungus by releasing much needed oxygen in the root system, it may also dissolve the bene fungus from you super soil, beaware thr you are also increasing the potential for hydrogen this may change the nutrient uptake of the plant and lead to further use and possible problems in the future in natural soils. But Rogers ratio above may or maynot cause pH changes enough to change absorbtion of nutes.

Tht is great organic soil ! Looks as though it has plenty of organic benes, with good clean results.
Great choice using pumice i havent seen many use it in soil.

I am unsure but assumed that most gnats, would be attracted to fungus wether it is beneficial to the plant or not.

They probably love the flavor of cannamollasses

you add your nutes, and h202 to the water, then you ph it...so it doesn't change the ph of the medium very much, if at all

the gnat are there to breed, they look for wet conditions to lay eggs. the gnats themselves are just an annoyance, the maggots that hatch from their eggs are the problem. if you have a heavy infestation, they can eat enough of your roots to at least slow down growth, if not outright kill a plant. the good news is that the h20o2 will kill them. as long as you're allowing the top three inches of soil to dry out between waterings, gnats should never be more than a minor annoyance.

drsaltzman said:

Definitely not fungus gnats.

Not sure about root rot. I've never seen that in air pots. Not seeing any droop either.
But... I've also never seen companion clover plants in an indoor grow either.
How did you get that?

Before you start watering with hydrogen peroxide try pulling the lights back.
I initially thought nute burn but you say you're only using water.

Click to expand...

I brought em up to 26" with a fan blowing across the lights..I bought some seed and just topdressed / kept the top a little moist..they're coming in pretty good in my other pots..have to keep cutting it..i remember seeing somebody using it indoors lol i figured if it works outdoors why not indoor

Thanks alot guys..I watered with @Roger A. Shrubber 's h202-water ratio last night...so the consensus is that it's some sort of nute burn? Yeah, i've been applying that compost tea every other water on top of the super soil as I thought you can't burn plants organically ..i'm still a newbie

nutes are nutes, ewc is usually something like 1-.5-1, depending on what the worms have been eating, alfalfa meal is 2.9-.29-2.4, any kind of compost is going to be at least 1-1-1, and some can be as high as 6-4-3....so if you have good organic soil to begin with, that's a lot for them to digest

alphapinene said:

Thanks alot guys..I watered with @Roger A. Shrubber 's h202-water ratio last night...so the consensus is that it's some sort of nute burn? Yeah, i've been applying that compost tea every other water on top of the super soil as I thought you can't burn plants organically ..i'm still a newbie

Click to expand...

You don't happen to foliar feed your plants do you? Looks more like water damage to me than gnats or burn. Either of those is going to affect leaves all over the plants and not just a few leaf tips.

Gnats eat the fine root tips which stops water and nutrients from getting up to the plants so you will generally see the whole plant fading to yellow and if really bad the plant can look like it's dying of thirst no matter how much you water it. Root rot does much the same.

Get some yellow sticky traps around the plants and a couple at dirt level to catch the adults if present. The adults only fly around to mate then the female deposits eggs on the soil surface and when they hatch the larva go to town on the root tips. They don't feed at all so no leaf damage to spot. Adult gnats are about the size of fruit flies tho all black with skinny abdomens. Hard to spot unless there are lots and there would have to be lots to really affect the plant.

You should always be certain of what you're dealing with before taking measures that could do more harm than good. Know thine enemy to best defeat him!

thanks man..it's coots super soil...it's amended with kelp meal, neem/karanja cake, crab shell meal, ewc, oyster shell flour, gypsum, glacial rock dust, and basalt...i love the pumice but should’ve gotten a smaller size (i’m Using 3/8”)

Kent Sage said:

H202 will keep it from future rot and clean up most fungus by releasing much needed oxygen in the root system, it may also dissolve the bene fungus from you super soil, beaware thr you are also increasing the potential for hydrogen this may change the nutrient uptake of the plant and lead to further use and possible problems in the future in natural soils. But Rogers ratio above may or maynot cause pH changes enough to change absorbtion of nutes.

Tht is great organic soil ! Looks as though it has plenty of organic benes, with good clean results.
Great choice using pumice i havent seen many use it in soil.

I am unsure but assumed that most gnats, would be attracted to fungus wether it is beneficial to the plant or not.

They probably love the flavor of cannamollasses

Click to expand...

Roger A. Shrubber said:

nutes are nutes, ewc is usually something like 1-.5-1, depending on what the worms have been eating, alfalfa meal is 2.9-.29-2.4, any kind of compost is going to be at least 1-1-1, and some can be as high as 6-4-3....so if you have good organic soil to begin with, that's a lot for them to digest

Click to expand...

Yeah it’s highly amended ^^

OldMedUser said:

You don't happen to foliar feed your plants do you? Looks more like water damage to me than gnats or burn. Either of those is going to affect leaves all over the plants and not just a few leaf tips.

Gnats eat the fine root tips which stops water and nutrients from getting up to the plants so you will generally see the whole plant fading to yellow and if really bad the plant can look like it's dying of thirst no matter how much you water it. Root rot does much the same.

Get some yellow sticky traps around the plants and a couple at dirt level to catch the adults if present. The adults only fly around to mate then the female deposits eggs on the soil surface and when they hatch the larva go to town on the root tips. They don't feed at all so no leaf damage to spot. Adult gnats are about the size of fruit flies tho all black with skinny abdomens. Hard to spot unless there are lots and there would have to be lots to really affect the plant.

You should always be certain of what you're dealing with before taking measures that could do more harm than good. Know thine enemy to best defeat him!

Click to expand...

No foliar feeding here, yeah I have 4 traps around my plants..a son of a bitch gnat got stuck to one last night. I see gnats flying around/walking occasionally but nothing crazy. I have like 2-3 circulating fans in my room so they have trouble flying around. They’re small black gnats with clear wings..they look like fungus gnats to me but i’m Still new to this..i also forgot to mention I have a couple of vegetables (tomato’s, cucumber, basil, pepper) seedlings in the same room..maybe that attracted them?