sand for fungus gnats

how long should i leave the layer of sand on my pots that i have to get rid of a fungus gnat problem?

Until you dont see any more.


BUt no seriously i hate this method of dealing with fungus gnats. Mainly due to the fact that you are adding copious amounts of sand to your plants medium and the fact that the fungus gnats will just enter through your drainage holes at the bottom of your pots.

I personally like using SPINOSAD for around 1 week treating the medium and the underside of the leaves.

Or you could use something like gnatrol or GoGnats or Gnatgone or anything with BT becilus theringiencis or something to that effect. Mosquito dunks also have BT in them.


J

thanks. its been over a week and i havent seen anymore. there were hiding around the drain holes at first but havent seen any lately. i did spray some extra strong neem in the area. i dont want to add any chemicals cause i am less than a month away from harvest. i dont think i need to treat the undersides of leaves though. the gnats stay around the soil for the most part. then i was finding shit load of larva in the soil. i dont like adding sand to my medium either but i didnt want to use any chemicals besides neem at this point. however those chemicals you mentioned, are they safe to add to water around harvest? im probably going to start flushing in a couple weeks. the fungus gnats arnt like a huge problem but i dont like having anything living in my soil unless it's something beneficial like my pet earthworm herman. poor guy has been ingesting neem for a long time now cause of these bastard gnats.

SPINOSAD is not chemical its an Organic Product OMRI listed , it is a living bacterium that kills many insects,

BT is very similar it is another bacterium.


NO CHEMICALS INVOLVED!



J

jondamon said:

SPINOSAD is not chemical its an Organic Product OMRI listed , it is a living bacterium that kills many insects,

BT is very similar it is another bacterium.


NO CHEMICALS INVOLVED!



J

Click to expand...

awesome i will have to look into it. how would you say it is compared to the insecticide pyrethrim? i know it's pretty safe.

SPINOSAD kicks ass bro.

It is my one stop shop for killing pests.

It even gets rid of the nuclear resistant THRIPS.

I will never grow without spinosad in my arsenal.

But then i use a multitude of things.

NEEM OIL
STICKY TRAPS yellow and blue
SPINOSAD (Conserve Naturalyte)
Pyrethrin Bombs ( as a last resort )
HOT SHOTS NO PEST STRIPS ( as a last resort )

I will only use Neem Oil fortnightly to protect my plants.

and spinosad once a month.

So far i havent had to use any pyrethrins thanks to spinosad. ( i use spinosad to get rid of Fungus Gnats)


J

very interesting history behind the spinosad. i know wikipedia isnt always the most reliable but they say "The active ingredient is derived from a naturally occurring soil dwelling bacterium called Saccharopolyspora spinosa, a rare actinomycete reportedly collected from soil in an abandoned rum distillery on a Caribbean Island in 1982 by a scientist on vacation[1] . It has not been found in nature since that time, and was subsequently described as a new species. The bacteria produce compounds (metabolites) while in a fermentation broth. The first fermentation-derived compound was formulated in 1988. Spinosad has since been formulated into insecticides that combine the efficacy of a synthetic insecticide with the benefits of a biological pest control organism."

thanks a bunch for the info. my local hydro shop didnt have it so i got some gognats instead. they said it worked good. i will try and keep posted my results.