Grow Mediums Fungus Gnats in New Soil

Flowers From Mt. Zion

Flowers From Mt. Zion

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I’m a first time Grower who slowly gathered all my necessary equipment and products to start a 4x4 tent in my basement. I’m in the midwest so we know it’s cold this time of year. All of my grow stuff It’s been stored in my basement including the soil. The first bag I bought which was a few months ago. Was a bag of roots organic.

Over the weekend I Found a hydroponic shop About 40 minutes away from me it made perfect sense to go there instead of ordering everything else that I needed Plus I figured I could get some real time answers to any questions and I have.

Fast forward I bought another bag of soil same brand a couple other things when I went to basement to take it new stuff down there to open the box that the first bag of soil came in from Amazon and as soon as the box opened gnats flew out.

My question is how can I treat it before I start my Grow?
Should I take the soil and put it in a bin add some nematodes and monitor it for a week?

Should I put the soil in bin and just put a top on it?

Should i put the bags outside and freeze the pest to death?

Any suggestions would be appreciated and if there’s any spelling errors Forgive me I’m at work and I’m talk texting. ✌
 
I'm only on my second grow and not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but when I had this issue just recently, someone recommended using Mosquito Dunks, left in a gallon of water overnight, then watered over my pots (they were already potted when I found them). Fixed it right up, not 100% but definitely 95%+. It's a bacteria that's friendly to the other soil microbes but eats at the larvae. After the soil surface dried, I dusted with Diatomaceous Earth to catch as many hatchlings as I could. I plan to repeat this if I notice flareups, but haven't seen many yet, a week or so later. The yellow card has caught a couple but I haven't even noticed one flying around in the 12-15 hours I've spent in there since application.
 
High @Killabe I also grow in my basement and use the roots organics original media. The bags have air holes so the gnats will get in. I am in a cold region for winter so when I can I let Mother nature help by setting the bags outside to freeze. Then I bring them in and when warm use it. I have used the nematode (Steinernema feltiae) on my last grow (in the photo period section here titled Blueberry basement boogie) and it helped greatly they munch the larvae in the media they need the larvae for their food. I purchased them from walmart online 30 bucks with 15 going for shipping them. I also recommend diatomaceous earth to sprinkle lightly on top of the media to have another weapon in your arsenal for the fungus gnat battle. Some grow shops have infestations so beware. This works for me good luck and do not over water. :vibe:
 
also grow in my basement, due to where I live. Upstate NY's winters are cold, my basement ranges 55 to 60 this time of year. Hoping the ruderalis present in autos make it more resistant to temps below 60. I'd rather not run an infrared space heater down there during "lights out."

I had to do this running my photos this time of year (if starting up in Jan or Feb).

I'll have pics up soon. tent went back up today, the AC Infinity T6 got installed and the HLG 550 v2 Rspec went up. Waitin on a RocBud order, but have other auto seeds I can run. I'll wait on RocBud a few more days........if he fails me I have Nirvana Original Glue auto, Emerald Triangle's "Headlights Kush" and Sensi Super Skunk auto........thats the backup plan.
 
Killabe said:
I’m a first time Grower who slowly gathered all my necessary equipment and products to start a 4x4 tent in my basement. I’m in the midwest so we know it’s cold this time of year. All of my grow stuff It’s been stored in my basement including the soil. The first bag I bought which was a few months ago. Was a bag of roots organic.

Over the weekend I Found a hydroponic shop About 40 minutes away from me it made perfect sense to go there instead of ordering everything else that I needed Plus I figured I could get some real time answers to any questions and I have.

Fast forward I bought another bag of soil same brand a couple other things when I went to basement to take it new stuff down there to open the box that the first bag of soil came in from Amazon and as soon as the box opened gnats flew out.

My question is how can I treat it before I start my Grow?
Should I take the soil and put it in a bin add some nematodes and monitor it for a week?

Should I put the soil in bin and just put a top on it?

Should i put the bags outside and freeze the pest to death?

Any suggestions would be appreciated and if there’s any spelling errors Forgive me I’m at work and I’m talk texting. ✌
Click to expand...
Your best bet is Baccilus thuringiensis israealensis, abreviated as Bti, otherwise known as Mosquito Dunks. The dunks are solid donuts meant to be floated in standing water to kill mosquitos, but ground up and watered in to your soil, will kill the gnat larvae in there. You may need to do more than one application, and you are unlikely to kill them off entirely. Lots of yellow sticky cards help kill the emerging adults.

The dunks are often carried in local stores and garden centers, but I found that Amazon had a better price for a larger quantity, so I ordered mine on line.

Unfortunately, there is not much point in freezing them. Research in Alaska showed that the little buggers recover from being frozen at -25F, so don't waste your time, just hit the soil with Bti a few times before planting in it.

Also, I would not plant seeds directly in soil known to contain fungus gnats. Get them well started in sterilized potting soil first, and then transplant into your treated soil mix. The main damage the gnats do is that the larvae eat plant roots, and this can seriously stunt early developing seedlings. My attempt at a semi-organic grow earlier this winter was defeated by the little bastards in spite of liberal use of both Bti and Diatomaceous Earth.

Diatomaceous Earth will kill the adults, but only if it is dry. I doubt that there is a lot of point trying to use Diatomaceous earth on plants that are being top watered regularly. If you sub-irrigate and keep the soil surface reasonably dry, laying a good dose of DE on the soil surface might kill off some of the emerging adults.

Good luck with it. :pighug:
 
Mosquito dunks and Safers BTK..
The biological warfare starter pack..
:muahaha:
Fungus gnats are my age old enemy...
I know we will meet again in battle and I will be the victor...:warrior:
20210127_231000.jpg
 
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