Olderfart's Dive Down the Living Soil Rabbit Hole

[Olderfart]

Is the sand for gnat prevention?

yes. I had a few around initially, so I did all my early top watering with water that I had soaked Mosquito Dunks in. The combination of the dunks and lots of sticky traps seem to have done the job this time. Last year the little buggers shut my soil grow down.

Once all the plants are bigger and the sand is in place, I should be done with the so and so's for this grow.

 

[CannabisMingus]

so I did all my early top watering with water that I had soaked Mosquito Dunks in

I have started doing that as well - as a prophylactic measure in the last couple of soil grows. Seems to have worked but were are past prime gnat season. I will think about adding sand as well. Thanks!

 

[Olderfart]

I have started doing that as well - as a prophylactic measure in the last couple of soil grows. Seems to have worked but were are past prime gnat season. I will think about adding sand as well. Thanks!

I have read on here that some growers have found that sand does not stop the buggers, so it remains to be seen how the sand works for me. For now, the combination of dunks and stickies seem to have pretty much killed them off, and I expect the sand to prevent them from coming back once all pots are on sub-irrigation. We'll see, but at this point, I have not seen a gnat for about a week.

But as you know, it is not the adults we can see that do the damage... My one seedling in the CBD pot is really slow, so perhaps the buggers are chewing on the babe's roots... At least this soil grow is still alive and mostly well, unlike the last one.

 

[Suki]

Does no one top with ground cinnamon for gnats?

 

[Olderfart]

Does no one top with ground cinnamon for gnats?

I've heard of the approach, but not tried it.

 

[CannabisMingus]

Does no one top with ground cinnamon for gnats?

Do tell!

 

[Suki]

Do tell!

It was a very popular solution in the houseplant groups I used to be in. I'm barely awake and can't recall the exact why but I think it was because cinnamon acts as an antifungal and essentially starves them of their food source.

 

[MotaZona]

I’m lucky when it comes to fungus gnats. As long as I keep my topsoil hot, they don’t want any part of it. Obviously during late flower, it’s going to be a little bit trickier, but not an issue nonetheless.

I brought up the sand thing because we regularly test our clients AG fields for CO before sunrise. This gives us an excellent idea of the quantity & how well the microbes are performing.
Sand would definitely hurt the breath & skew our readings. I’ve never tried checking for CO emitting from pots though. A study may be a fun project.

 

[Olderfart]

I’m lucky when it comes to fungus gnats. As long as I keep my topsoil hot, they don’t want any part of it. Obviously during late flower, it’s going to be a little bit trickier, but not an issue nonetheless.

I brought up the sand thing because we regularly test our clients AG fields for CO before sunrise. This gives us an excellent idea of the quantity & how well the microbes are performing.
Sand would definitely hurt the breath & skew our readings. I’ve never tried checking for CO emitting from pots though. A study may be a fun project.

I'd love to see a proper study on the issue. So far, the sanded plant is the healthiest and fastest growing in the "drobe". At the rate she has been coming on in the last couple days, she could turn into a big plant. I topped her quite late after debating for too long whether to do it, but she seemed to shake it off almost immediately. I think she is now about ready to explode, if the soil does the job.

 

[MotaZona]

I'd love to see a proper study on the issue. So far, the sanded plant is the healthiest and fastest growing in the "drobe". At the rate she has been coming on in the last couple days, she could turn into a big plant. I topped her quite late after debating for too long whether to do it, but she seemed to shake it off almost immediately. I think she is now about ready to explode, if the soil does the job.

Cool.
It’s super hard trying to figure stuff like this out since a consistent control is next to impossible.
Outside, I still get mosquitoes in my soil. I’ll probably just use dunks like you next year.