Fungus nats

[skuff]

this is a problem i have is that most have never heard off there bio range if ur in usa i dnt think its there

 

[Waira]

Oh, right you are! --pardon!.. they have it under a completely different web page and everything--

 

[skuff]

Oh, right you are! --pardon!.. they have it under a completely different web page and everything--

yip i dnt even no any 1 here thats even heard off it i just stumbled accross it and wanting 2 go organic so thought this was ideal

 

[derek420colorado]

If you are using organics then you really should look into if your water is chlorinated or not, as stated above if it is your organics are not going to work

 

[AutoIndi]

I've just gotten over a fungus gnat issue which thankfully wasn't severe and I don't think they have affected growth significantly, if at all. I use vinegar to bring the pH of my water down, and as I find out, vinegar attracts fungus gnats. After a while of trying to allow the pots to dry fully to keep them from reproducing, they kept coming back so I switched it up. I tried to sprinkle some cinnamon on the top of the soil to act as an antifungal to discourage the gnats from reproducing in the top soil layer. Still didn't work. This past week I went and got yellow sticky traps and 3% hydrogen peroxide which I mixed one part with 4 parts of water. I put a sticky trap in each pot and sprayed the top layer of soil with the peroxide solution after watering the plant. It has been a few days now and I think I have finally won my war against the gnats. :smoking:

 

[skuff]

If you are using organics then you really should look into if your water is chlorinated or not, as stated above if it is your organics are not going to work

na as it working very well no gnats now litrally got em bye hand now no more lol if there is chlorine I would jst have dead plants, there doing great now

 

[skuff]

derek420colorado this bio canna isn't like anything uv seen b4 it works tottaly dif from anything ive ever seen ! I cant even find ppl or info on growing with this online even which I find pretty odd considering its made bye canna lol

 

[AutoIndi]

And the fungus gnats have returned in full force! I've got some gnat nix coming in on the way, and I'm also thinking about getting some mosquito dunks (BTI) as well if the gnat nix doesn't do the job. They're also coming out of the bottoms of my pots so I'm going to tape over the holes with a fibrous tape to allow water and air to pass through. Hoping this will keep them out of the soil to some degree. I'll probably have to keep spraying with the peroxide solution, or maybe just give the entire soil a peroxide soak before throwing the gnat nix on top and covering the holes up. Damn they're resilient!

Edit: Oh I also mixed a tablespoon of Espoma Bio-Tone starter plus to the surface soil of each of my pots. My chocolate chunks were showing damage indicative of Nitrogen deficiency, but I think it is due to the gnats. The Bio-Tone creates a fuzzy layer of fungi that seems to be keeping the adult gnats out, and hopefully offering something other than the roots of the plants for the larvae to eat. It also has nutrients, so if the plants are experiencing N deficiency because of the gnats damaging the roots, they will have some readily available to them.
And I feel I should add, I read that near-boiling water effectively kills the larvae without damaging the roots, so I attempted it this morning only with hot water from the tap (I'm not yet bold enough to pour extremely hot water yet, but I will if these other options don't pan out!).

 

[AutoIndi]

Here are a couple pics I snapped of fungus gnat larvae at 10x magnification. I'd never been able to see the larva in the soil, but I took some chocolate chunk clones and used clear wrap over the bucket for them. I guess the adults got caught in the wraps moisture and layed their eggs up there. Kinda cool if they weren't such a nuisance.