PREVENTING FUNGUS GNATS AND SPIDER MITES

[Oldbie]

thanks for that Nuggz, I will check it out in case I ever need it.
did you know that a certain percentage of the worlds population have a gene that makes them hate coriander?
thankfully, not me, I love it.
party on dude.

 

[Grim Reefer]

Good info Nuggz. I wonder would cilantro (I call it coriander) be considered a companion plant to cannabis?
I think I will try it!!!
as for damn fungus gnats, I had 3 months of the little shits on what should have been a top shelf grow (NL5Xhaze); it became my worst grow ever!
the reason I got them in the first place was because I included organic (supposedly) manure in my mix.
fungus gnats thrive on organic matter. everyday I was squashing the little ****ards,
yellow sticky cards were of little use; what I needed was entire yellow walls smeared with Vaseline.
I had to redecorate the room afterwards there was that many black spots all over the place.
then it got worse I ended up with aphids for the next 3 months; I thought fungus gnats were bad!
if I am not mistaken, some people refer to aphids as "the borg"; I can tell you...my resistance was futile!
after 6 months I had to pull the plug on the whole show because I was loosing,
they were sapping the life out of my immature buds; it was going nowhere.
lesson learned???
Never, grow indoors over winter when you have no recourse to natural predators;
never put organic matter into your mix if its an indoor only show.
I am sure I learned a few more "nevers" but it was a few years ago.
I am also sure others regularly grow successfully during winter, but I don't use poisons, so no more winter growing for me,
and organic matter is great...outdoors.

Hi @Oldbie

You do not need poisons to grow using organic matter indoors. First you have to make sure the organic products you are going to use are washed carefully or baked in order to get rid of pests. Usually when you buy organic products at a store they have gone through some kind of process to decontaminate them so that they are ready for use.

On the other if you end up having pests like fungus gnats. Organics like Hydro Garden gnat off are not made up of poisons but yet beneficial bacteria which stop the larvae from feeding without causing nay harmful toxins to both humans and the plant. You should ceck out some agro-bacterias if you ever plan on doing another organic grow indoors.

 

[Oldbie]

Hi @Oldbie

You do not need poisons to grow using organic matter indoors. First you have to make sure the organic products you are going to use are washed carefully or baked in order to get rid of pests. Usually when you buy organic products at a store they have gone through some kind of process to decontaminate them so that they are ready for use.

On the other if you end up having pests like fungus gnats. Organics like Hydro Garden gnat off are not made up of poisons but yet beneficial bacteria which stop the larvae from feeding without causing nay harmful toxins to both humans and the plant. You should ceck out some agro-bacterias if you ever plan on doing another organic grow indoors.

Thanks G-R, rest assured I have not abandoned organics,
I just exclude problematic ingredients and rely on organic feeds,
fish pond water (aquaponics), nettle tea, comfrey tea (which I more or less discounted as being inappropriate for photos,
but will re-visit for autos as it is more appropriate as a bloom feed).
party on dude.

 

[turfsire]

Hey. Ive question regarding gnats,
I'm on a budget so excuse me, I heard peroxide will kill larve when first inch is dry.
3% peroxide mixed with 4 parts water.from what I read,
I got 6% hydrogen peroxide will it be a case of 8 parts water to mix with?? ..
That's all
Thanks

 

[Grimharvester]

I use sns-209 for gnats and spider mites its all natural and its mostly made from rosemary, humic acid and Quillaja saponaria. Takes care of them quickly and 1 bottle will make 60 gallons of water last a long time.

 

[Feenix]

Hi Guys, Don't DUNKs pass for organic. They release nematodes that eat the larvae. They work pretty quick.

 

[oldcoot]

how about deciduous (spelled it way wrong ) earth - just ground up shells,suppossed to kill fungas knat larvae by spreading around the plant.
anyone try it ?

 

[Oldbie]

Hi Oldcoot,
yes I ve read something similar. in case anyone wants to research further, I think it is spelled Diatomacious earth.
seems like there are plenty of remedies for fungus gnats.
I almost went down the nematodes road when I was experiencing gnat infestation,
but being a live product it is not available, (or was not for me at least) in the middle of winter.
I think GrimReefers tip to bake any organic matter is a good one.
spread out flat and sunbake under glass or clear plastic should do the job.
I only ever had gnat-probs the one time; aphids are a far worse menace IMO;
keep an eye out for them and go to defcon 4 as you soon as you find one, cos they reproduce asexually;
in other words, it only takes 1 to start a population and in theory 1 aphid can become an entire roomful of aphids in a relatively short period of time.
the numbers are staggering; its worth Googling.

 

[briman]

Dunks and diatomaceous earth is a great combo with yellow sticky traps! Other stuff on the market to boot, gnatnix and the like.

 

[Feenix]

how about deciduous (spelled it way wrong ) earth - just ground up shells,suppossed to kill fungas knat larvae by spreading around the plant.
anyone try it ?

I've read a few different articles about the layer of fine sand and they all said the sand deters the gnat from laying eggs. Birth control. They like to hide them but don't dig. The fine sand gives them nothing to hide the eggs under.