Mrmojoey1990
New Member
Like the title says, i have a fungus gnat infestation..call it mild..ive seen 4 on it at a time...any suggestions on getting rid of them?
How do I kill these damn fungus gnats?
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iwltfum
New Member
Spinosad, diatomaceous earth, neem oil, peroxide (for sterile, non-soil environments) can all be used in the medium at the right dilution to keep the gnats at bay.
White fly/Aphid paper on the medium or next to the pot will attract them and trap them.
A fan blowing on the surface of the medium usually keeps their activity down too.
I believe that vaporizing sulfur or using a sulfur spray will kill them too, but I wouldn't use the sulfur spray on your root or in your medium because it can be toxic to the plant at high levels.
White fly/Aphid paper on the medium or next to the pot will attract them and trap them.
A fan blowing on the surface of the medium usually keeps their activity down too.
I believe that vaporizing sulfur or using a sulfur spray will kill them too, but I wouldn't use the sulfur spray on your root or in your medium because it can be toxic to the plant at high levels.
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Mrmojoey1990
New Member
So peroxide isnt okay to use in soil? I read one part peroxide to 4 parts water...but it did kind of sound odd to use that in soil
iwltfum
New Member
I've heard rumors that it can be used in soil, but by the nature of it, I wouldn't do that unless you have plenty of beneficial microbes on hand so you can re-inoculate the soil once you've sterilized it.
Assuming you are using 3%, that ratio is way more than I use in my hydroponic reservoirs to keep growth out. So, that would definitely kill most of your beneficial colonies, if not all of them.
If it's 30% h2o2, then don't use that ratio, your plants would die very quickly at those levels.
Try some mosquito dunks. I work them into all my soil when I cook it. But, you can add it later to the top layer of soil, and/or water it in. It's all natural bacteria that kills fungus gnats in addition to, well, mosquitos.
You can find it at most hardware stores and usually garden centers.
Watering from below works good also, and it's free
Good luck!
You can find it at most hardware stores and usually garden centers.
Watering from below works good also, and it's free
Good luck!
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Mrmojoey1990
New Member
Im gonna try the mosquito dunks, do i just put the entire tablet on top of the soil?
BuddroGreen
New Member
You can also cover the top of the soil with sand, it will act like glass/razor blades to the gnats, also yellow sticky cards work well for catching the flying beasts (they are attracted to yellow).
They come in various sizes, go small first. I found some at one store, the bits that worked great after the fact. I worked them in the top few inches of soil... I think I spread a half teaspoon or so, maybe more, the bartender in me tend to do things like I made drinks..I use the tabs now, to maintain, but I leave it in a five gallon bucket of rain water and fagetaboutit.. Once every other week I water from that bucket..easy peasy
If you only find the tabs,, I'd crush it up and go light... Less is more, you can always add,, tough to remove...
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Mrmojoey1990
New Member
Awesome thanks for the advice! I could only find the tabs so i crushed it up and worked 1/8 tsp. In the soil...hopefully the gnats will go away and never come back!
No problem, happy to help.
Try watering from below. Keep that top layer dry and they'll find another place to chill... Good luck!!
ChangeofIdea
New Member
Personally if I were you I'd be doing some hardcore research into Hydrogen Peroxide and I don't mean just for soil and plants... Hospitals are using 35% Hydrogen Peroxide to sterilize rooms and kill off everything where standard cleaning can't reach. They use it in Food Production at the end of the day's shifts to sterilize the food equipment there as well. I've seen Hydrogen Peroxide at 3% solution being used to add oxygen to root systems, to kill off root rot, fungi, and the list goes on and on... It is even being used in now to reduce the use of chlorine in both water purification plants and sewer treatment plants before releasing the water back into the wild, it falls under some government chlorine reduction act. 35% Hydrogen Peroxide is being used in well shock systems I've read to kill of harmful bacteria's there as well.
And all these things just really boil down to adding more Oxygen to the area/system which makes it kills off harmful stuff and makes it a better environment for healthy stuff to grow. But seriously I encourage you not to take my word for it, do your own research you will be blow away when you see all the ways it is being used to control human health and plant health in so many ways nowadays.
Now to answer your fungus gnat issue... as I have researched pest problems and Azamax comes highly recommended by a lot of people I've seen (professional growers) and is $20 for 4-oz's which makes 4-Gallons of spray. I personally like it myself because its an all natural solution to the problem and then I don't have to worry about burning chemicals later on down the road.
And all these things just really boil down to adding more Oxygen to the area/system which makes it kills off harmful stuff and makes it a better environment for healthy stuff to grow. But seriously I encourage you not to take my word for it, do your own research you will be blow away when you see all the ways it is being used to control human health and plant health in so many ways nowadays.
Now to answer your fungus gnat issue... as I have researched pest problems and Azamax comes highly recommended by a lot of people I've seen (professional growers) and is $20 for 4-oz's which makes 4-Gallons of spray. I personally like it myself because its an all natural solution to the problem and then I don't have to worry about burning chemicals later on down the road.
I have had this issue on my first grow because I used cow manure. First let the plant dry out. These bugs like a moist plant. Hang the yellow sticky paper on edges of your light. Place a small fan in your grow area that blows up from the bottom of your pot on your plant. After the plant has dried out, water with a mix of 1 cup hydrogen peroxide to 4 cups of water and water plant soil until the water runs out of the bottom into the pan. If it's a 5 gal bucket, it should take a gallon of water, maybe a little more. Put a 2 inch layer of Harvest Hero enhanced perilite mix that has diatomaceous earth on top of the soil. This does several things at once. The fan keeps them from landing on the underside of your leaves where they lay their eggs that drop into the soil. The peroxide mix kills larva that are currently in the soil. The perilite cuts them up if they try to crawl out of the dirt once they mature and stops them from having direct contact with the dirt because they need direct contact to hatch, feed and mature. I now keep the yellow sticky pads hanging in my grow because you will immediately see any bugs that crop up and always put that layer of perilite on top of the soil to block them. The peroxide mix will not damage your plant and actually will help deliver oxygen and nutrients to your roots. It won't sterilize your soil but it kills any larva from the black flies that have dropped into your soil.
Mountainman80
Well-Known Member
Beer works good in a bowl they will all go to it and drown
Mountainman80
Well-Known Member
Beer works better then vinegar and soap does
it’s from 2015, -strongly suspect those cats have moved on….
Nine Toed Hippie
Well-Known Member
Happens to the best of them. Like another member said” I got the T-shirt too”. Haha.
I had good success with the peroxide treatment for fungus gnats though so not a bad bump. Sticky pads, DE, fans and letting my soil dry out correctly in between watering all helped too.
Puff Puff Peace.
NTH
