Grow Mediums Fungus Gnats in New Soil

[WildBill]

I read somewhere its not good for soil quality, guess I assumed it hurt beneficial microbes. Its been a few yrs since I have dealt with dia, have a big bag of it. Tried it once. In the tomato patch out back, I'd not use it in a closed environment.

If you apply it really heavy, it could crust up on top of the soil. I don't see how it can do harm to your soil. It will still be slightly effective if wet on hard shelled bugs. The sharp structure of DE kills by getting in the joint areas of the bug and penetrates the waxy cover of the exoskeleton in those areas and basically causes the bug to lose hydration.
Besides, it's a good source of silica.

D.E comprises the silica/glass skeletal remains of Diatoms...microscopic organisms that live in water, they die and fall to seabed where they build up in dense layers over time, this is the mined/ processed and it becomes a fine powder that is fatal to insects with an exoskeleton...they die from a thousand cuts when the glass gets into the creases and hinges on there exoskeleton when they crawl/ walk through it...hence it needs to be kept dry to be efficacious.....i just use Bti, nematodes and sticky trap cards....

Yeah, I've used it since the early 90's. That's not an answer to my question.
Unless you use a ton, I don't see how it hurts the soil microbes or the soil itself.
Someone educate me.

 

[Couch_Lock]

It doesn't. I researched it after u replied earlier. And stated it doesn't.

Hydrogen peroxide will kill gnats, but any beneficial microbes do get affected. Apparently DE will not hurt these microbes, its probably good if you BOTTOM feed your plants. Sprinkle it on the top of ur soil, in that case.

 

[DIRT]

D.E is excellent...I mix gallons of the stuff directly into my soil mix.
Floor Dry is a economical source if needed in bulk. I usually add a bag to roughly 200 gallons of soil.
It does work great against surface dwelling pests when used as a top dressing, but it's not efficient to use in larger grows with reapplication after watering...biological and stickies work best in these situations.

D.E is completely safe to water into your soil and shouldn't hurt anything ..
it is an excellent source of calcium and silica and makes plants strong.

Diatomaceous earth is a mineral-based pesticide and its composition is approximately 3 percent magnesium, 5 percent sodium, 2 percent iron, 19 percent calcium and 33 percent silicon, along with several other trace minerals.

 

[WildBill]

D.E is excellent...I mix gallons of the stuff directly into my soil mix.
Floor Dry is a economical source if needed in bulk. I usually add a bag to roughly 200 gallons of soil.
It does work great against surface dwelling pests when used as a top dressing, but it's not efficient to use in larger grows with reapplication after watering...biological and stickies work best in these situations.

D.E is completely safe to water into your soil and shouldn't hurt anything ..
it is an excellent source of calcium and silica and makes plants strong.

Diatomaceous earth is a mineral-based pesticide and its composition is approximately 3 percent magnesium, 5 percent sodium, 2 percent iron, 19 percent calcium and 33 percent silicon, along with several other trace minerals.

Thank you MR. DIRT!
Be sure not to get pool DE guys! It's been heated and processed and no longer has the sharpness that kills bugs.

 

[terp182]

Ok well the Recharge benefits seemed to be limited at best. I’m still noticing yellowing in lower and upper leaves, some weird thin growth on the 50 Shades of Grape. And some odd mid-leaf faded streaks on a few random leaves on 3 plants.

Any ideas how to address this? I did fuck up a bit last week adding probably 100 ppm bud explosion to MC, other than that, I’ve been rock solid on 525-550ish MC and 6.4ish pH. I refilled the res today with just MC at the same specs.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

Freezing is just fine to kill the live gnats but some eggs my survive. In regular pots I just top dress with tobacco and never have a gnat problem. Air pots. The ones with cones and holes on the outside are a bit harder to control. Because the holes create dozens of easy access nesting spots. With them I will mix a cup of tobacco per gallon of soil. I have been doing this for over ten years. And have not had a gnat problem since.

 

[bulldog1952]

Freezing is just fine to kill the live gnats but some eggs my survive. In regular pots I just top dress with tobacco and never have a gnat problem. Air pots. The ones with cones and holes on the outside are a bit harder to control. Because the holes create dozens of easy access nesting spots. With them I will mix a cup of tobacco per gallon of soil. I have been doing this for over ten years. And have not had a gnat problem since.

top dressed with tobacco....is that a flaked tobacco or a tobacco drench?...very interested...respect.

 

[OregonBlackBear]

Be careful with tobacco. I don't know how long TMV can stay alive in dead material, but I'd hate to have introduced TMV to my grow when BTK, sticky pads, and dunks can seal the deal.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

top dressed with tobacco....is that a flaked tobacco or a tobacco drench?...very interested...respect.

Just pure leaf tobacco. I have made compost tea with tobacco. The tobacco is a nerve agent.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

Be careful with tobacco. I don't know how long TMV can stay alive in dead material, but I'd hate to have introduced TMV to my grow when BTK, sticky pads, and dunks can seal the deal.

Before tobacco became politically in correct. Nicotine bombs were widely used in vegetable and flower greenhouses. With no side effects.