New Grower New to growing...Need all the help and advice possible

[cpinks]

Aw, crap.
I've never lost a plant to a fruit fly, pinks, something else is happening here. Did you find them just flopped over?

Ur right it wasn't fruit flies, I went online to research more and it looks like they were root maggots. Their look like small flies I believe their the adults and their are very very small white maggots u almost miss them if ur not specifically looking for them. As I moved the soil around I found more. Ew. Gross. So I'm looking for ways to get rid of or keep away. I checked the soil of the other 2 plants and none so far. Fingers crossed. Gonna see if I can "clean" the soil in some way as an Experiment to see if it can still be used. But I'll prob have to get
Some new soil for my new seedlings I have germinating. Will update later. Ty

 

[cpinks]

Aw, crap.
I've never lost a plant to a fruit fly, pinks, something else is happening here. Did you find them just flopped over?

Okay, so I lost some of my plants to the bugs which after countless nights of reading I have discovered them to be fungus gnats, but 2 were still good, and somewhat doing well. Then one got some white powdery mildew (sigh) took care of that with a milk water mix misted on leaves and in sun. Then the other ( even bigger sigh) had these little red aphids on top of and under her leaves. Oh my. I took some castille soap and water to create an organic insecticide spray and fingers crossed they are gone. Now I am still dealing with that fungus gnats as the adults keep laying larvae in the soil, so at the moment I am drying out the soil. I guess beginner mistake, Over watering was the domino effect in all this. So I have purchased some miosquito dunks to crush sprinkle around and will be watering thoroughly to kill the larvae. Then I will be sprinkling some food grade Diatomaceous Earth around the top to kill any adults that are still lingering. whew! With all this they still are doing good, one has its 3rd set of true lleaves coming in, but for some reason just 1 leaf from the 2nd set shriveled up, it didnt dry up it just shriveled it still there, weird, but okay.

Now for my question...... How big should I let the 3rd set of true leave get before I begin nutrients and fertilizer??

Thanks all for any advice.

 

[Renaissance Redneck]

So I have purchased some miosquito dunks to crush sprinkle around and will be watering thoroughly to kill the larvae. Then I will be sprinkling some food grade Diatomaceous Earth around the top to kill any adults that are still lingering. whew! With all this they still are doing good, one has its 3rd set of true lleaves coming in, but for some reason just 1 leaf from the 2nd set shriveled up, it didnt dry up it just shriveled it still there, weird, but okay.

Now for my question...... How big should I let the 3rd set of true leave get before I begin nutrients and fertilizer??

On the dunks, if you can soak them in water for 12 to 24 hours, then use the water, it'll be more effective than crumbling them. When I take a bug hit, my bubbler is always brewing dunk tea
The DE will do wonders, Pinks. It mostly kills the emerging nasty sucking little bastards ( sigh... I don't like fungus gnats)
Do you have pics of your gals? It's hard to say when to start feeding without seeing what is going on with the leaf shriveling.
BTW, you want your soil to dry out to damp, but not bone dry. True, F gnats like wet areas, but you need to maintain proper water for your gals. Neem oil can also be a good, if slower control, and pyrethrins will give good quick knock down.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Grab some Azamax. You can feed it systemic or foliar and should help to kill off the soil based larvae as well as leaf miners, mites etc.

 

[cpinks]

On the dunks, if you can soak them in water for 12 to 24 hours, then use the water, it'll be more effective than crumbling them. When I take a bug hit, my bubbler is always brewing dunk tea
The DE will do wonders, Pinks. It mostly kills the emerging nasty sucking little bastards ( sigh... I don't like fungus gnats)
Do you have pics of your gals? It's hard to say when to start feeding without seeing what is going on with the leaf shriveling.
BTW, you want your soil to dry out to damp, but not bone dry. True, F gnats like wet areas, but you need to maintain proper water for your gals. Neem oil can also be a good, if slower control, and pyrethrins will give good quick knock down.

Red - Thanks for the tips, will be brewing up some tea soon. okay so the first 2 photos are of MAX you can see the shriveled leaf at the bottom. (Any idea what it could be?) The other leaves look fine. I think I got ride of the aphids with my spray I haven't seen one yet. I zoomed out so you can get an idea of its actual size, its in a 5 gal. The 3rd is of my MED Gom 1.0. Who suffered WPM but seems to have a little dry leaves. I gonna go ahead and water both and sprinkle some DE afterwards.

 

[Renaissance Redneck]

you can see the shriveled leaf at the bottom. (Any idea what it could be?) The other leaves look fine.

Could be genetic, but I'm also seeing some off color on the tips of the other leaves. Make sure your not getting your light too close. I think it's a touch of nute burn, hopefully just a hot spot in your mix, or possibly a reaction from the castille soap.
Keep us posted!

 

[cpinks]

So I was gonna change my tomato plants location and as I started to I saw a bunch of nematodes, I've been trying to hatch some I bought online for my girls with no luck. I've been having a fungus gnat problem. Thought it was gone but not yet. Go figure their in my garden. So I took some and put them in my girls pots. I have 2 outside. I'm hoping to nip it in the bud.

But if I put mosquito dunks tea and water them with it, to help the process will those kill my nematodes?

Also will DE kill my nematodes ?

Any advice will be helpful. Thanks.

 

[EuIsso]

So I was gonna change my tomato plants location and as I started to I saw a bunch of nematodes, I've been trying to hatch some I bought online for my girls with no luck. I've been having a fungus gnat problem. Thought it was gone but not yet. Go figure their in my garden. So I took some and put them in my girls pots. I have 2 outside. I'm hoping to nip it in the bud.

But if I put mosquito dunks tea and water them with it, to help the process will those kill my nematodes?

Also will DE kill my nematodes ?

Any advice will be helpful. Thanks.

I'm newbe like you, no advices from me, only good luck wishes